Summary!

For this blog I have decided to do a summary of the research for the Memorial Coliseum. We are in the point of our documentary film where we have done enough research for the project that it is time to start filming. This upcoming week we will begin filming for our goal to take people from the past, present and future of the Memorial Coliseum.

The research blog began with Rupp Arena.The reason I began with Rupp Arena was because Rupp Arena is one of the main reasons why the Memorial has lost its popularity and also because it’s where the men’s basketball team now plays. Then, I went to talk about The Lady Kats, also known as UK’s women basketball team; (that was their name back in the days). I wrote about them because it gives our group a glimpse of events that happened back in the days of the Memorial Coliseum’s popularity. And I thought also of them because they played a huge role in the Memorial today. After The Lady Kats, I decided to do research on Joe B. Hall since he was the head coach of UK’s men basketball team when they used to play in the Memorial and then transferred to Rupp Arena. So I saw it important to see his accomplishments when he coached in the Memorial and after. Finally, I blogged about two interviews I did for our documentary film. I first did one on a girl who deeply loves sports and visits the Memorial often. Secondly, I did an interview on my history professor who has been in UK since the 1970s to see how he has seen the Memorial change throughout the years. I also included a blog about UK’s women volleyball coach.

Overall, I think I obtained enough information to help support viewers to try to think about the future of the Memorial Coliseum and understand its role in the past and in the present.

Coach of UK's women volleyball team.

I came across the coach of UK’s women volleyball team because I knew they played a huge role in the Memorial Coliseum’s history. Therefore, I decided to do a background research on the coach who made these girls successful for our big blue nation and his name is Craig Skinner.

Craig Skinner became the head coach for UK’s women volleyball team back in December 2004. He has captured 17 or more victories in all nine seasons, including tallying 20 or more wins in six of the last seven seasons; according to the article.  The article goes more in depth on the accomplishments he has done for the women’s volleyball team and also the records and rankings. It truly shows how he has made his team a very successful team. Skinner has made nine straight NCAA appearances for the team. He became the AVCA All-South Region Coach of the Year in 2011, SEC Coach of the Year in 2005, and USA Junior National Head Coach in 2006. He is married to a former Nebraska women’s soccer coach named Megan Skinner and has two daughters and one son.

As for today the team is ranked 13th in the USA and Top 25 in the AVCA after the season was over. But now a new seasons begins this year and hopefully Skinner can make them go higher in their ranking than what they are now. I see him important for our documentary film because he plays a role for the Memorial Coliseum and is part of the behind the scenes of what goes on in the Memorial. We will use him as a small reference for the sports held in the Memorial Coliseum and how he has brought popularity to the Memorial. I wonder how popular the women’s volleyball team is for the students here on campus or just even how well known they are in Lexington. All I know is that UK’s women volleyball team can’t be counted out!

Source: 
"Defense Leads UK to 3-1 Win Over Xavier." Craig Skinner Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/skinner_craig00.html>.

Interview with Dr. Holle !

This week I did an interview with my history of Christianity professor named Dr. Holle who has been in UK for more than two decades. The main reason why I chose to interview him for our documentary film was because he has been here in UK since the 1970s. I thought he could provide us information on how he has seen the Memorial Coliseum change throughout the years.

The interview began when I asked him how he felt about the Memorial Coliseum and he said that he has only been there one time out of all his years in UK. I would have expected him to have gone there more than one time. However, he did say he has been in Rupp Arena numerous times and does not see the Memorial important to him. He literally said “I don’t care”! Then the conversation went on to introduce the topic of how the school is becoming newer with all the construction. I asked him if he thought the Memorial will be torn down and he said yes. He said that for the school it’s cheaper to tear down a building and start from scratch than renovate it. Perhaps— I thought at the time— Dr. Holle’s indifference can be attributed to his alienation with the Memorial, given that he only went there once. However, he did explain some valid reasons why the Memorial Coliseum might not be renovated and, because of this, I feel it is all the more important that a documentary film be done about it: there might not be a possibility to do a documentary about it later if it is indeed destroyed. He went into more detail concerning that situation and the future of the Memorial Coliseum.

Overall, the interview was not how I thought it would turn out to be and he also said the same thing to me. However, I got some important information from the interview and was able to see how the Memorial’s popularity has declined throughout the years and still continues. He also mentioned facts about the Memorial that I did not even know of. He spoke of how the Memorial does not have an architecture style and it’s just an old building. I just hope that the Memorial does not get torn down but rather renewed. I should have asked Dr. Holle about the event he went to in the Memorial that one time.

Joe B. Hall

This is a photo of a man named Joe B.  Hall, one of UK’s most important coaches in history. I came across this man because one of our group members plans to get in contact with him to try to get an interview. Therefore, I came across an article about him and decide to write a short brief background information about him.

The article begins by telling his birth place and date. He was born on November 30, 1928 in Cynthiana, Kentucky. He attend UK and receive a bachelor’s degree in education. Then later went for his master’s degree in Colorado State University. After receiving his masters in 1964, he became assistant coach for Adolph Rupp in 1965 for UK’s men basketball team and then later became head coach in 1972. 

Joe B. Hall was head coach for 13 years for UK and in those 13 years he made the UK’ men basketball team receive one NCAA title. Other accomplishments also happened in those 13 years as well. In 1978, he was named “Coach of the Year” and also, was named “SEC Coach of the Year” four times. But despite his accomplishments in UK, Hall did other accomplishments outside of UK. He conducted clinics around the world; including Spain, Republic of China, Chile, and Ireland. He also coached the United States All-Stars but in 1985, he retired from coaching. This man surely did many accomplishments in his life. 

After reading the brief article about Joe B. Hall, made me see how important this man must for UK’s sports history. The reason why it would be awesome to have an interview with Hall is because Hall was the coach of the men’s basketball team when they used to play at Memorial Coliseum and also when they transitioned to Rupp Arena when it opened. It would be nice to hear his opinion and view on him coaching at Memorial and then in Rupp. I would like to ask him mainly if he would like see the men’s basketball team play and train again in Memorial. Today, Joe B. Hall is 85 years old and I think it would be hard to get in contact with him but hopefully we can get an interview with him. 

Source :

"Hall of Distinguished Alumni." UK Alumni Association. University of Kentucky Alumni Association, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ukalumni.net/s/1052/semi-blank-noimg.aspx?sid=1052&gid=1&pgid=781>.

Comment for Magida's blog: http://magidacamposwrd.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-know-if-you-are-depressed.html

 - I thought your blog was well summarized of the article even though I did not read it. I like how you mentioned the symptoms of depression and how you said to seek if help if we think we have any mental issue. I would have like to know more on how would you incorporate this in your project? But overall, I enjoyed reading this blog and really like the last sentence; it really goes well with the picture.

 

Interview with a VERY sports lover!

This week I interviewed a girl named Chelsey Gooden who came for UK's sports. I met her in math class and as I got to know her, I realized how much she truly loves sports. Therefore, when I knew we had to do interviews for our documentary film; I knew she would be a good candidate. I am using the questions which I mentioned in my previous blog “Interview Preparation”. Here are the answers she said:

1. How do you feel about Memorial?

Every time I have been there it has been for athletic events. I enjoyed myself in the atmosphere of other sports lovers. Such as volleyball fans. Every time I have been there, I convert to a volleyball fan. 

2. Do you see any improvements coming ahead for Memorial and if so, what improvements?

Maybe in the distant future to improve the overall gym. To help the fans to have a better experience while cheering for the Wildcats.

3. What do you is think Memorial’s role is here in UK?

It does not serve as a big role as Rupp Arena but, it does serves a somewhat important role to the commonwealth fans.

4. Can you describe reasons why the popularity of Memorial has declined?

Most of the popularity is generated by the men’s basketball team so, when they left Memorial Coliseum; they took most of the popularity with them.

5. How has Memorial Coliseum affected you since you came to UK?

It made me have appreciation for all the sports. 

6. What do you think overall about Memorial Coliseum?

I think, personally, it’s a nice place. I wish the value would raise back up when the men’s basketball team was there.

7. How do you think the public feel about Memorial Coliseum today?

       I think most people have a general love because even though the men’s basketball team does not play there anymore. They can still cheer on the Wildcats sports that still play there.

8. How do you see Memorial’s future?

I am not quite sure. That’s just something I have to wait and see as time goes on.

9. Explain how Memorial Coliseum makes you feel?

 It puts me in a place where I can’t explain. Just being in the atmosphere does something to my  emotions.

10. Explain one reason why you think Memorial should go under renovation?

       To attract back the fans that it lost when the men’s basketball team left.

In the end of the interview, I really have some answers for our project and also an idea on how to approach our project more.

Facts about the Coliseum.

I remember when I was doing my research for my proposal on Memorial Coliseum and there was not a lot of websites that would give me descriptive details on Memorial Coliseum itself. I mainly used the same website for my proposal and it made it hard because I wanted more information about Memorial than the normal facts that we played out. And since in our documentary film we will be giving a brief summary of Memorial history and facts about it; I have decided to look for descriptive facts about Memorial from the past.

I came upon an image from a book that I found in the Kentucky Digital Library that gives out descriptive facts about Memorial in 1952. The image starts off by saying what street Memorial is on and how many seats it has for basketball games and the extra seating they have for when the programs that need extra seats placed on the playing floor. Also, it gives a description of how the seating size is by comparing it to a 75-foot long swimming pool. Then, it goes further into what the building contains; like offices, the types of coaches, locker rooms, etc. And as you continued to read the image, it gives very descriptive details on the construction, the size and dimension of the building. Finally, at the end of the image it described how Memorial is used for other things besides sports and how they have honored the University of Kentucky men who died in the war by putting certain stars on the building.

The reason this image is important for our documentary is because it gives out more depth of Memorial Coliseum that people don’t know about. Even though some of the facts are old and have been upgraded, it gives a glimpse of Memorial Coliseum in a different area than as seen on other websites. I enjoyed looking through Kentucky Digital Library because it contains so much background history of many things. Three main questions came in thought when reading this image. These two main questions are:

How would I be able to incorporate this information in our documentary film?

Even though the facts about memorial coliseum are simple/descriptive facts, how can we help people to know and understand the facts throughout the documentary?

How could we incorporate the facts to make it entertaining to the people watching the documentary?

Source:
http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt72bv79sg0f_6

 

Interview Preparation

Our group had its first meeting yesterday at the library and, we were discussing on what we are going to do for next week for our documentary film. We have decide that we should start with interviews and that each one of us had to interview someone for next week. Therefore, I have three people in mind to interview and the reason why I want to interview them. Also, I have made a list of questions I plan to ask each of them.  

The three people I have decided are:

1.       Dr. Holle (A UK history professor who has been in UK since the 1970s) - I plan to interview him because he has been here for more three decades, therefore, he has seen Memorial before Rupp Arena opened. I want to know two main questions from him: How has he seen the Memorial Coliseum change throughout the years that he has been here in UK? Has the people views changed over time on the Memorial Coliseum?  

2.       A student who loves UK’s sport teams- The reason behind why to interview a student who loves sports is because I want to know how they see and feel about Memorial Coliseum.

3.       A member of the women basketball team- The reason behind to this interview is because I want to know how that certain member feel about their home(Memorial Coliseum) since that’s the place they train and practice at.

Questions.

1.       How do you feel about Memorial?

2.       Do you see any improvements coming ahead for Memorial and if so, what improvements?

3.       What do you is think Memorial’s role is here in UK?

4.       Can you describe reasons why the popularity of Memorial has declined?

5.       How has Memorial Coliseum affected you since you came to UK?

6.       What do you think overall about Memorial Coliseum?

7.       How do you think the public feel about Memorial Coliseum today?

8.       How do you see Memorial’s future?

9.       Explain how Memorial Coliseum makes you feel?

10.   Explain one reason why you think Memorial should go under renovation?