Eeshan K.

ENGL 1101 E01 9/28/13

Student Activity Center: UNCC

The James Barnhardt Student Activity Center a significant place at UNCC because of the social, recreational, and dining events that occur there. It has an indoor track, many basketball and volleyball courts, a rock climbing wall, a weight room, a group fitness center, and a facitlity where one can train. This allows students and faculty to work out and exercise. The SAC also has an arena (Halton Arena), which holds 9,000 seats (Iqbal). It is used for basketball games, cheerleading contests, competitions, concerts, job fairs, parties, graduation, and other important events that occur at UNCC. The Student Activity Center is a pretty significant building at UNCC because it fulfills many needs of students. The Dale F. Halton Arena at the James H. Barnhardt Student Activity Center is a sports complex that is indoors at UNCC. It is the main center for both mens and womens basketball teams and volleyball teams (Dale F. Halton Arena). As mentioned before, the arena has 9,000 seats, though most of the upper level is blocked off with a curtain for women's basketball and volleyball games, decreasing the seat capacity to around 4,000 (Kaufmann). Also UNCC holds the fall and spring concerts at the SAC too (Iqbal). So, not only is the arena used for sporting events but entertainment, such as concerts, as well. Halton Arena actually opened on December 2, 1996 when the men's basketball team beat Appalachian State in a non-conference game (Dale F. Halton Arena). It was the fourth primary home court stadium that the 49ers played in since they joined the NCAA's Division I in 1970 (Dale F. Halton Arena). They previously played at Belk Gymnasium ("The Mine Shaft") from 197076, Bojangles' Coliseum from 197688 and

199396, and the Charlotte Coliseum from 198893 (Dale F. Halton Arena). However, even after the men's basketball team began playing its home games off campus at the Bojangles and Charlotte Coliseum, the women's basketball and volleyball teams continued to play at Belk Gym (Dale F. Halton Arena). Halton Arena has undergone many upgrades and changes over the past years (Dale F. Halton Arena). In 2002, the Miltimore-Wallis Athletics Training and Academics Center was opened which had a new weight room (Dale F. Halton Arena). Other facilities that opened the same year were The Charles Hayward Memorial Practice Court, Video Communications Center, new Media Relations Office, and new coaches' offices for both men and women's basketball and volleyball (Dale F. Halton Arena). Then in 2006, a new HD video screen was placed into the hanging scoreboard in the middle of the arena. In 2008, the arena bought the LCD floor displays from the NCAA that used at the 2008 Final Four (Dale F. Halton Arena). Then they put those displays to use at athletic events. The base of the bell tower has the ticketing office and booths. This way family members or friends of students of UNCC can purchase tickets to basketball games (Iqbal). The salon on the 2nd floor contains offices for the football staff which are temporary, and new offices for the athletics marketing department which are permanent (Dale F. Halton Arena). The bell tower and tower access hall has offices for managing the facility on the 2nd floor. The salon contains the athletic departments administration offices and a gameday area for receptions on the 3rd floor. The bell tower on the 3rd floor and tower access hall has the athletics foundation offices. Recent speculation has the administration moving into the football offices once that program settles in its permanent location at McCollRichardson Field (Dale F. Halton Arena). This would allow the conversion of the salon on the 3rd floor into a mixture of an extended reception area for gameday, hall of fame/trophy hall, and comfortable suites. Halton Arena was the place for the Conference USA women's basketball

tournament in 2005, the Atlantic 10 women's basketball tournament in 2009, and the Atlantic 10 volleyball tournament in 2007 (Dale F. Halton Arena). Outside the Student Activity Center at UNCC there are statues depicting sports played there. The building that surrounds the clock tower contains statues of male and female basketball players as well as a volleyball player too. There are also eleven Hallier statues depicting sports played on the UNCC campus (Dale F. Halton Arena). All of these statues were donated by Irwin Belk who is a Charlotte businessman and philanthropist (Dale F. Halton Arena). There are recreational courts on three sides of the upper level of the arena that are revealed when the retractable seating folds back. They are usually named due to where they are located in the building: the West Court, the Northwest Court, the East court, and the Northeast Court. Recreational courts that are used for freeplay without scheduling a particular event, are only available on a first-come, first-serve basis (Recreational Courts). However, whenever the SAC is closed for arena or other events, recreational courts can still be used in the Belk Gym for freeplay. If there is a court completely vacant, volleyball nets can be set up if requested (Recreational Courts). Activities that could cause injury to others or repairing of the floor are certainly not allowed, unless the court was reserved for that event/activity and there are safety precautions that have been taken ahead of time (Recreational Courts). Both Belk Gym and the SAC are smoke-free buildings, so smokeless tobacco is not allowed on the recreational courts or the indoor track. In order to use the recreational courts or indoor track, proper attire is required. One must wear sneakers and appropriate gym clothing. Shower facilities are located right across from the fitness center. If you need a towel when you are working out, they can be received at the SAC for check-out with an UNCC student ID. Lockers can be used at the SAC during a

workout session, however, they are only for daily use though. Locks for lockers are not available at the SAC, so you would have to bring your own. Another activity to get involved in at the SAC is to enroll in group fitness programs there (Group Fitness Programs). All of the fitness programs are taught by specialized instructors and are designed to give the participants a safe, effective, and fun workout (Group Fitness Programs). These programs are held between the hours of 7 AM and 10 PM (Group Fitness Programs). There are a range of classes in these programs from yoga to kickboxing to sculpting (Group Fitness Programs). Group fitness programs can be helpful, especially if you need extra motivation of great music or a wonderful instructor to workout with (Group Fitness Programs). As you can see the Student Activity Center at UNCC is a pretty significant building on campus. It is one of those places where students can go and relax with friends if they are having a stressful day, enjoy basketball and volleyball games, or if they just like working out in general. Not only is it helpful to students for athletics, but entertainment and academics as well. Many concerts, speeches, and campus events are held there, as well as graduation for seniors. If UNCC did not have the SAC, then it would be nothing more than an ordinary campus.

Works Cited Dale F. Halton Arena. Wikipedia. N.p., 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_F._Halton_Arena>. Group Fitness Programs. UNC Charlotte. N.p., 2013. 2013. Web. 29 Sept 2013. Interview with Haaris Iqbal Kaufmann, Hans. Student Activity Center. UNC Charlotte, 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://recservices.uncc.edu/facilities/sac>. Recreational Courts. UNC Charlotte. N.p., 2013. Web. 29 Sept 2013.