Interview

While interviewing student and athletic trainer David Aulick on the facility he prefers to use when working out, I was able to confirm my original hypothesis that not a lot of students are informed on the Alumni Gym.  This interview shows how the purpose of the documentary is that much more significant because it is important that more students are aware of Alumni Gym and what it has to offer. 

The Interview:

David prefers to use the Johnson Center which is used by most of the student population and claims he works out there four to six times a week for about an hour to two hours each day.  His motivation to workout used to be to stay in shape for sports, but now it is so that he can maintain a healthy weight and because he admits that he actually enjoys working out.  As guessed in the beginning of this project, when I asked David why he prefers the Johnson Center over Alumni Gym, he answered that he was “unaware of the Alumni Gym hours”- a problem that will hopefully be solved for many students after the filming of the documentary.  To follow up this question, I asked David (a resident on North Campus) if he would consider using the Alumni Gym now knowing the hours since he had never been to the facility.  He confirmed that he would, especially since the gym is a lot closer.  Another key factor to the benefit of this gym, especially for active students like David, is the time of day that it is open.  The hours are from 8pm to 12am every Monday through Thursday for students which seems very restricted, but might actually be very smart.  Most students stay busy during the daytime with classes and work, so the only time they have to exercise is either really early in the morning or in the evening.  For David, he prefers to work out in the evening around 7pm or later, depending on his work schedule.  This preferred time is most likely true for a lot of students on campus, and for those living on North Campus, the two minute walk from Alumni Gym late at night seems a lot safer than the thirty minute walk from the Johnson Center.    

We're Playing Basketball: A Blast to the Past

Compared to the Johnson Center, Alumni Gym seems ancient and outdated.  The point of the documentary my group is conducting is to show how Alumni Gym needs a serious face lift.  The qualities it already possesses, however, are something worth blogging about.  As stated in a previous blog, Alumni (way back in the day) was the home for the basketball games.  This is an interesting fact about the old Alumni that not many people know about the gym. 

Basketball has become one of the most talked about sports in Kentucky, and for a good reason- just look at the University’s talented teams throughout the years!  Why has basketball become such a cultural hot topic in our society?  What about it attracts not only athletes, but also onlookers to continue to be interested in playing ball?  Just like any other sport, the game is not just a game; the team is not just a team.  To the athletes, coaches, and fans, the game is a chance to show what the team is made of and the team itself is nothing less than a family; this is what draws people to the stadium, to the bar, to the couch to turn on the TV.  Kentucky basketball has been a tradition to many families since 1902 when the very first stadium was built (Big Blue History).  This is over a century of basketball affecting the lives of Kentucky fans.

Alumni played a huge role in carrying on this tradition, for it was a major player in the game for many years.  A historic building such as the Alumni Gym deserves to uphold its proper authority on campus, rather than being overlooked as a nasty old gym that does not even compare to the new and improved Johnson Center.  Alumni has been sitting on the bench far too long.  It’s time to put this player back in the game.   

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/arenastatecollegegymnasium.html
"Kentucky's State College Gymnasium Record." Kentucky's State College Gymnasium Record. Web. 15            Oct. 2014.

Comment:
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Psychology of Working Out

            Everyone is aware of the physical aspects of working out.  Exercise creates endorphins, which then makes people happy, and in the words of Elle Woods, “happy people just don’t kill their husbands” which is always a bonus. In addition, exercising also helps people stay physically fit.  Not many people, however, focus on the psychological aspect to working out.  In addition to working out the muscles covering the body, exercising also improves the most important part of the body- the brain. 

           

           The APA (American Psychological Association) discussed a study supporting the idea that working out is beneficial to the brain.  In this study, the scientists compared rats that worked out versus those that did not.  The results of this experiment showed that the rats that worked out for at least an hour a day proved to have a larger flow of blood supply to their brains compared to the control group which showed no increase.  “An increased blood supply means increased oxygen and energy supply, and that equals better performance” (APA).  The article continues by telling how the rats had to run through an obstacle course.  The results of this part of the study, again, showed that the rats who exercised had a better outcome than the ones who did not.  “Because that was more a learning task than a physical task, these rats developed more connections between the neurons in their brains” (APA).

            

          “Some evidence in humans suggests that being physically fit helps people maintain their cognitive abilities as they age. Many studies have found that physically active elderly people perform better than sedentary elderly people on cognitive tasks such as reasoning, vocabulary, memory, and reaction time” (APA).  Knowing all of this only makes it that much more important to better the gym access on north campus at the University.  Exercising is not only beneficial for the body, but also the mind.

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/workout.aspx

"Working Out Builds the Mind's Muscles." Http://www.apa.org. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Interview Questions

A.      Students who work out at Alumni Gym/Johnson Center- interviewing the student population who actually use each facility will allow for more personal answers and stories involving the equipment.

B.      Staff members of the Alumni Gym

C.      Staff members of the Johnson Center

a)      Interviewing the staff members of each facility would give insight to deeper connections and possibly provide more information regarding the facility that would not necessarily be found online or in a textbook.

Students

1.       How often do you work out at the facility?

2.       What motivates you to work out?

3.       Why do you prefer this gym over a different facility?

4.       Have you ever been to the other facility?

5.       Which part of campus, if you live on campus, do you live on?

6.       What time of the day do you work out?

Staff

7.       How long have you worked at this facility?

8.       What major differences do you notice about this gym compared to the other facility, if you have ever been to that gym?

9.       Do you know of any historical facts about this facility?  If so, what are they?

10.   In what ways could the facility be improved?

Alumni Gym Hours

              While doing further research for the Alumni Gym and Johnson Center project, one of the main questions that keeps reoccurring is “why are the Alumni Gym hours so short for students?”.  This is one of the main focus points for the documentary, so digging deeper into this problem seems like a reasonable idea to blog about. 

                As listed in a previous blog post, the Alumni Gym is only open to students between the hours of 8pm to 12am.  The first thing that comes to mind when looking at these hours of operation is “why those hours, they seem rather late”.  Does the reason behind these nighttime hours correlate to something deeper?  The second idea that comes to mind is “maybe these hours are so restricted because the Johnson Center supplies the main hours of operation”.  If this is the case, it only seems reasonable that the Alumni Gym hours are so short.  This brings about the idea that if the Alumni Gym hours were to be extended to students, would this bring about a great competition to the Johnson Center, and if so, how would this affect the University as a whole?  All of these ideas have great potential for further research in the documentary and each could take the project in completely different directions. 

                If the documentary were to focus on the nighttime aspect of the first idea, it could discuss the potential physical benefits of working out at night.  For example, working out at night could help to maintain a healthy diet as well as improving sleep patterns.  “Exercising at night will help expend some of that energy when you’re at your productive peak, helping you sleep better throughout the night and wake up refreshed”(Why Your Evening Workouts Work). 

"Why Your Evening Workouts Work." Prevention. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

Comment:

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Alumni Gym

Alumni Gym

                Everyone has heard of the fantastic Johnson Center located on south campus, but no one knows a lot about the Alumni Gym located on north campus.  This facility, primarily open for recreational basketball use, is one that has been around for many years.  Most students on campus are unaware of this historic gym because the grand Johnson Center over shines it, leaving it in the shadows. 

                The Alumni Gym “contains two basketball courts, and also houses the UK Wellness Department Body Shop” (Alumni Gym).  By being the host to these courts, students, faculty, and staff members are welcome to enjoy the recreational gym during the hours of operation.  These hours, found on the Alumni Gym website, are as follows: Monday-Friday, 11:30am-12:30pm and 4:30pm-8pm, and Sunday, 4:30pm-8pm.  The gym is open for students on a special schedule, being from 8pm to 12am, Monday through Thursday.  These restricted hours of operation could be the reason behind the lack of awareness to students on campus.

What many people do not know about the Alumni Gym is its past.  Before Rupp Arena, even before the Memorial Coliseum, the Alumni Gym was the host to the University’s basketball team.  Opening in 1924, Alumni provided 249 Kentucky wins and only 24 Kentucky losses.  This record was only a preview for what was to come for the legendary Kentucky basketball team. 

A building that used to be so important to the University has become almost nothing to the new and improved facilities.  How could people today make such a historic structure still be as important as it once was?  In what ways could the students and faculty members of the University develop the gymnasium so that it stays on par with the rest of the organizations on campus?  The past is the key to the future, and the Alumni Gym is something from the University’s past that I plan on keeping for the future.          

http://ukcc.uky.edu/cgi-bin/dynamo?maps.391+campus+0029

http://www.uky.edu/studentaffairs/campusrec/facilities/alumni-gym

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/arenaalumnigym.html

What Makes a Great Documentary?

        When scrolling through the television channels, most people’s first instinct is to quickly pass over documentaries.  The purpose of a documentary is to educate the audience on a particular subject, not to have them fall asleep.  What, then, turns a documentary from flat to exceptional? 

               

        To start, here are some things to avoid when making a great documentary founded by award winning director, Col Spector.  First, do not avoid having an overall theme or subject.    Making sure the documentary has a specific purpose that makes it worth watching.  Second, when choosing this topic, do not fail to make it something worth the audience’s time.  In other words, pick a topic that will be great for a documentary, which is not necessarily the same as a great topic for a TV series or movie.  Next, do not create a documentary with poor film techniques- no one wants to watch a show that looks thrown together. With using proper film techniques, this also includes the music that will accompany the film.  Avoid bad music because this could make or break the film.  Finally, do not go into making the film with a blind eye.  Having a vision for the documentary will help to create a path that producers will want to take when creating the film, which will then hopefully bring about the same vision to the audience. (Spector)

               

        Some additional techniques to making a great documentary include the setup.  “Finding the story, assembling the team, filming and editing are all part of the process that makes a documentary successful” (documentary tube).  This includes the interviewing process of a documentary as well.  It is important to survey/interview people with meaningful questions that will benefit the documentary as a whole.

Works Cited:

Spector, Col. "5 Simple Mistakes Documentary Filmmakers Make." Raindance Film Festival. Web. 26       Sept. 2014. 

"What Makes a Good Documentary Film?" DocumentaryTubecom Watch Documentaries Online for             Free RSS. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.