I
10 Thursday, July 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Kopmeyer, Ezurike shine in NWSL
Thursday, July 24, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
'3
55th Ann Arbor Art Fair thrives
with new vendors, larger crowds
Dennison Building to be
renovated, become hub for
international programs
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Haley Kopmeyer is Michigan's
all-time leader in saves, goals-
against average and minutes
played, but in the National
Women's Soccer League, there are
lots of Haley Kopmeyers.
Kopmeyer, a four-year starter
for the Wolverines, now backs
up U.S. Women's National Team
starter Hope Solo - by many
accounts the best goalie in the
world - for the Seattle Reign. So
when she made her first start June
19 for the undefeated Reign, she
knew she couldn't give up a goal.
But there was one player in
particular that she couldn't give
up a goal to - and one player in
particular who wanted to score on
her.
That player was Nkem Ezurike,
who played with Kopmeyer at
Michigan from 2010-12 and then
became the Wolverines' all-time
leading scorer last season.
"Obviously I don't want
anybody to score on me, but
there's a little bit of a rivalry there
and I was like, yeah, I definitely
can't get scored on," Kopmeyer
said. "Getting scored on by friends
is just the worst."
Kopmeyer went back to her
Michigan days to try to gain an
edge by remembering Ezurike's
strengths and weaknesses.
Ezurike had a shot at her former
teammate just before halftime, but
her header was deflected away.
"It was in the back of my mind,"
Ezurike said. "It's always funny
when you're playing against
- someone you know, you kind of
want to beat them more often than
someone you may not know. I was
hoping to get a goal against her,
but she came up bigthat game."
The two Michigan alumni
speak highly of each other off the
field, but the competitive side of
each of them came out when they
put on opposite jerseys.
Kopmeyer and Ezurike,
products of the rebuilt Michigan
women's soccer program under
coach Greg Ryan, are the
Wolverines' only two players
in the NWSL, which started
last spring. But even two of the
program's best ever say the pro
league was a major adjustment.
"I was a little shell shocked
at first - the speed of the play,
how hard the girls shot the ball,
so many parts that you can think
about, and then you actually see
it and you're like, 'OK, wow,' "
Kopmeyer said earlier this month.
"That was an adjustment and it
showed me how I needed to train,
how I needed to alter my training,
how I needed to get the game to
slow down mentally for me."
One other adjustment: This
league was a business now.
Kopmeyer wasn't easily the best
goalkeeper on the team like she
was at Michigan. Her team didn't
have to keep her around - and at
one point, they didn't, releasing
her after last season.
Kopmeyer took her lumps last
year, playing only one game in
goal, but she re-signed with the
team for this season and has a
solid footing on the league's best
team.
The same goes for Ezurike in
Boston. She also got off to a slow
start this spring in her rookie
season but has now appeared in 11
of the Breakers' 18 games, starting
six and scoringtwo goals.
Like Kopmeyer, she also found
the transition to the professional
league to be difficult.
"Starting off, I didn't get
much playing time, so practices
really helped with getting to
that intensity required for the
program," Ezurike said. "It's
just something to work at. It's a
different mindset that you've got
to step it up from what you did in
college."
For two players who were stars
in college and started for most
of their four-year careers, that
wasn't easy to do. Kopmeyer was
a mainstay in the net, and Ezurike
was the lone forward at the top of
coach Greg Ryan's 4-1-4-1 scheme.
As Kopmeyer put it, they went
from being the best players on
their team in college to a league
where every player was the best
player on her team in college.
"I have no problem admitting
that going from the college game
to the professional game was a
very massive step," she said. "I
definitely think Michigan did well
to prepare me in terms of what the
rigors of training would be like,
but it's just that talent level that
skyrockets."-
Added Ezurike: "That's part of
the game and it's kind of what you
sign up for, but it's definitely in
the back of your mind that it can
change pretty quickly."
Not too long ago, Michigan
wasn't the kind of program that
sent players to professional
leagues. The Wolverines have had
four straight winning seasons
under Ryan, but before Ryan
arrived they hadn't had back-to-
back winning seasons since 2003-
04.
Ryan's hiring brought major
changes to the program, but
they proved to be worthy in
the end. Judging by his recent
recruiting classes - the latest of
which includes 11 newcomers -
Kopmeyer and Ezurike won't be
the only pros he churns out of his
nrnoram
Ezurike said Ryan's experience
beyond the college game,
including a stint with the U.S.
Women's National Team before
he came to Ann Arbor, is a good
reference for players hoping for
professional careers.
And if Michigan continues its
trend, Kopmeyer and Ezurike will
have a few more players around
+helale to knheir eves on
ALLISON rARAND/Daiy
Ann Arbor residents Dana Wilson and Connor Otto entertain a crowd of Art Fair
attendees at the corner ofState Street and North University Ave Saturday.
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Businesses and
local nonprofits find
benefit in influx of
tourists
By HILLARY CRAWFORD
Daily StaffReporter
Nearly 1,000 artists flocked
to the streets of downtown Ann
Arbor Wednesday through Sat-
urday to display their work at the
55th annual Ann Arbor Art Fair.
Though the fair is comprised of
four separate art shows, because
each fair is connected to the oth-
ers, attendees feel as though the
event is singular in nature. Debra
Clayton, Executive Director of
the Guild of Artists and Artisans,
said the guild has a tagline they
use - four fairs, one event.
The Ann Arbor Art Street
Fair was first to emerge in 1960
as an "Experiment in Arts and
Crafts." Shortly after in 1967,
the State Street Area Associa-
tion established its own fair in its
commercial district, and the fair
continued to grow when the Free
Arts Festival found local artists
to participate in 1970. This fair
is now known as the Summer
Art Fair, sponsored by the Guild
of Artists and Artisans, and is
located on Main Street and the
portion of State Street which
runs along the University's cam-
pus. After the Original Street
Fair moved to the streets sur-
rounding Burton Tower in 2003,
the South University Area Asso-
ciation hosted artists in the area
formerly occupied by the Origi-
nal Street fair.
Clayton said overall, though
each portion of Art Fair may dif-
fer in their specific mission, it's a
collaborative event held together
by the city's overall atmosphere
both for the fairs and for other
groups downtown, such as busi-
nesses.
"People like to come here,
experience our stores, our res-
taurants, the University campus,
the museum," Clayton said. " You
find it's a happy marriage and it's
a family and you think that part
of this family is the artists, the
stores, the restaurants, the Uni-
versity-everybody kind of ben-
efits."
AJ Davidson, vice president of
the Bivouac store in Ann Arbor,
has worked outside of his store
during Art Fair for the past 15
years. He said the event allows
the store to sell old merchandise
and bring in the new, making
rotation both easier and more
efficient.
"Itbrings a lot of people down-
town, which is a lot of people into
our store and it's great," David-
son said.
In addition to art, nonprofit
organizations are also given
space at the fair. Organizations
present this year included those
representing animal rights, dif-
ferent political leanings, news
publications, and various reli-
gious stances, among others.
"I think they're all doing the
same thing- mostly to promote
awareness," said Dave Arnoldi,
a volunteer at the Huron Valley
Humane Society.
When it comes to the artists
themselves, those who exhibit
their work at the fair include
both longtime returning individ-
uals as well as new ones.
Maureen Riley, Executive
Director of the Ann Arbor Street
Fair, said the amount of new ven-
dors has grown as baby boomers
retire, resulting in a shift in the
aesthetics. She added that the
Art Fair itself continues to grow
in the diversity of work it tries to
present.
"That's the beauty of the Ann
Arbor Art Fair," Riley said. "Any-
body can find something they
like, and at a price point they can
afford."
One artist, David O'Dell from
Lake Orion, Michigan said he
was mostly accustomed to par-
ticipating in galleries. He creates
rock 'n' roll posters as well as
prints of cars, taken from pho-
tographs his father took decades
ago at events such as Beatles con-
certs and the Indie 500.
"I'm trying to figure out what
goes well in a fair," O'Dell said.
"But people said you should try
the Ann Arbor Fair-it's fabu-
lous."
Jerry Wygant, an artist from
Pentwater, Michigan who works
with various types of wood he
collects himself, was stationed
on State Street in his permanent
spot for the 12th year. He began
working with wood to make jew-
elry and other accessories over
25 years ago.
"The reason I love the whole
show is that I meet so many
educated people here," Wygant
said. "They're working on doc-
torates and they're from all over
the world and they're interesting
people."
Regents approve $49
million project with
aim of increasing
collaboration
By MICHAEL SPAETH
For the Daily
The home of physics and
astronomy - the David M. Den-
nison Building - is set to receive
both a physical makeover, as well
as a change of tenants.
According to a plan approved
by the Board of Regents on July
17, the building will be reno-
vated to become the new home
of centers, institutes and units
focusing on international engage-
ment. Renovations will focus on
the 10-story high-rise section of
the building, which will include
extending windows outward on
the 10th floor as well as a plan to
enclose the overhang area on the
ground floor for added space.
The International Institute
and all of its centers will move
from the School of Social Work
Building to Dennison, and LSA
centers focusing on international
engagement will also relocate
to Dennison. The Department
of Astronomy, currently housed
in Dennison, will move to West
Hall, which is currently undergo-
ing a renovation of its own.
At the regents meeting on the
17th, Provost Martha E. Pollack
praised the renovation plan and
noted Dennison's unique history.
"I just want to quickly men-
tion that virtually every student
that has been at the University
of Michigan probably in the last
fifty years has taken a class in
Dennison," Pollack said. "I think
it's fair to say that it's one of our
most run-down buildings and
this renovation is really going to
make it quite the opposite, and it's
going to take the International
Institute, which are increas-
ingly important as our students
do more global work, give them a
nice home, make it actually more
efficient on campus."
In the proposal approved by
the board, Chief Financial Offi-
cer Douglas Strong, interim exec-
utive vice president, estimated
the renovation cost to be $49 mil-
lion.
"A renovation of approximately
106,000 gross square feet vacated
by the relocation of the Depart-
ment of Astronomy to West Hall
and the repurposing of class-
rooms will create spaces that will
facilitate faculty collaboration
and enhance opportunities for
graduate and undergraduate stu-
dents," Strong submitted in the
proposal.
Devon Keen, program manager
at the University's African Stud-
ies Center, which is a part of the
International Institute, one of the
building's new proposed tenants,
said while their current location
at the School of Social Work is
great, crowding has occasionally
been a problem.
"There are many centers here
and we could definitely use some
expanded common space," she
said. "There's not a lot of room for
events, so we are often vying for
the same space during the busiest
times of the year, because we have
really one big room that's used for
large events, and then smaller
rooms."
Keen said for the move, one
important aspect will be pre-
serving each of the International
Institute's centers' unique identi-
ties in its new Dennison facilities.
"It's very important to us that
the identity of each individual
center is maintained so that if
someone walks into this space,
they'll be able to clearly see, oh,
'I'm now in the African Studies
Center,' or 'I'm now at the Cen-
ter for Southeast Asian Studies,'
because I think that's part of what
draws people to us, is that indi-
viduality of each center," Keen
said.
She added that overall, she
would like the African Studies
Center to have more space for
events, lectures, meetings and
other activities in Dennison.
"It's always nice to have a new,
upgraded surrounding, and I'm
very interested to see how it will
look in the end," Keen said.
A schematic design for the
building, which will provide more
details about space allocation
in the building, has not yet been
submitted to or approved by the
regents.
PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Nkem Ezurike (upper) and Haley Kopmeyer have both been contributors in the
NWSL this year after illustrious careers at Michigan.