Filmmaker Documenting "A Season in Division III Basketball"

"A Season in Division III Basketball" is available for viewing at http://kurtcorner.com/category/d3-basketball.

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Local filmmaker Kurt Kolaja is going where mainstream national sports media rarely does - deep inside NCAA's Division III. Kolaja is producing a web documentary series entitled "A Season in Division III Basketball," examining the Division III experience through the backdrop of the 2011-12 Washington College men's basketball season. 

"It is easy to perceive that the world of college sports is a filthy, polluted planet, yet here's this place called Division III where the air, as far as I can tell, is clean," says Kolaja, who has over 30 years of experience in film and video production. "Ugly gets the headlines, while stories about the regular guy go unnoticed. Not this time."

Kolaja begins his tale with an ending, a heart-wrenching look inside the locker room following the Shoremen's season-ending loss at Johns Hopkins last February. He has since added a pre-season chat with head coach Rob Nugent and, most recently, an episode entitled "We are D3," which strives to define Division III juxtaposed to its more famous, scholarship-sports cousins.  The learning curve may be as steep for the filmmaker as it is for the average viewer unfamiliar with Division III, but Kolaja understands that such a journey is the essence of the documentary process. 

"I can't make a blanket observation about Division III as my exposure is limited to Washington College.  A documentary project like this is, by its nature, a work in progress. I will learn more about Division III as I go."

The partnership between Kolaja and the Washington College men's basketball program dates back to last winter when the filmmaker produced a short video profile of the team for the online news source, The Chestertown Spy. Then, as now, Kolaja has been pleasantly surprised with just how "inside" he's been able to get.

"The team has let me in.  That access is uncommon these days."

What has he learned thus far?  Well, among other things, he's learned that Division III sports is certainly more than "glorified intramurals," a phrase that's been tossed around more than a few times by those unfamiliar with the Division's realities.

"I can say this about the guys on the basketball team without reservation - they run a lot.  A whole lot. It is wearying just to watch. I would love to stick a wireless mic on one of the players during practice so we could all hear the panting up close.  Don't know how I'd rig it so it doesn't fly off; I'll have to work on that."

While he won't rule out a feature-length version of the documentary, Kolaja is focusing on making "A Season in Division III Basketball" a success in its current format. He's also intent on stressing much more than on-the-court action.

"It is tough to say if there will be a full-length documentary at the end of the season.  Right now, I am interested in making the project a web series.  This will not be a live, multi-camera, shoot of every game.  There will be game footage, to be sure, but I hope to dig deeper.  Once the team is in the playoffs, though, I'll be scrambling to come up with more gear, but at least I won't have to run.  I hope."

"A Season in Division III Basketball" is available for viewing at http://kurtcorner.com/category/d3-basketball.