Vargas-Guadalupe 1 Vernica Vargas-Guadalupe amyers41@uncc.edu and kwils125@unc.

edu

Professor Rebbeca Agosta English 1101 Monday, October, 11 2013 Beach Volleyball Club Ethnography Its summer and that means its time for beach volleyball. After all, beach volleyball is played by thin, athletic, long-legged women in bikinis. They jump, dive, gesture and express their emotions freely in a sandbox. So to many, its all about sex appeal. I was researching through the internet and I found the previous mentioned quote which surprised me a lot because I am a part of a Beach Volleyball Club and it is nothing like this. First, we not only play in the summer, but all year long throughout all the seasons. Second, not all group members are females, in fact most of them are males. Also, not all of the people in the club are thin, athletic, long-legged or try to be sexy. I moved to 901 Place Student Apartments in Charlotte, North Carolina in August 2013. I am living with my brother Francisco, his friend Erick and one of my high school friends, Karen Guzman. Karen and I started playing beach volleyball in the court right in front of our apartment. We were always the only ones playing until we noticed that there were some people that looked interested but were too shy to ask if they could play. So we started inviting people to play with us, and each day we saw more new and
Comment [VV2]: Where did this quote come from? AM Comment [VV1]: For MLA dont include the day AM

Vargas-Guadalupe 2 different people playing with. On day we met Carl, and his girlfriend Krystal and we had the idea of forming a beach volleyball club and that was the first time we thought of the BVC. Some of the goals of the BVC are to bring the 901 place community closer and make it friendlier. We want to have fun together and meet our neighbors rather than everyone being on their own. We are also planning on making the sport more
Comment [VV4]: Since you started the club, how did you come up with the name BVC? AM Comment [VV3]: *one -kw

noticeable because a lot of people do not want to play because of the stereotypes previously mentioned. Once we have our club fully running we are going to start doing some tournaments and volunteer work to bring us together and help out other communities and organizations. I watched the members of the BVC while they hung out and ate and had fun and then when they were in the court playing volleyball. They were very friendly in the first scenario and very nice to each other but when they stepped into the court their faces changes completely and they were very competitive. They were yelling at each other and very loud. But once they stepped out they were nice to each other again, so I guess it is just during the games that they act like animals. While watching the club members play volleyball I noticed how most of them were wearing workout clothes, there were only three girls who were wearing casual clothes which were not really appropriate for playing volleyball. They were scared of the ball, and would scream every time it got near them. They were never able to hit the ball and when they did, lets just say that the ball hit them. After the game ended I asked them if they had ever played before and they said never in their lives. So that is when
Comment [VV7]: Comment [VV8]: Switch this order up. So the reader knows how you knew that they were not accustomed to Volley BallAM Comment [VV6]: Was there anything at stake here to make them do so, or are they just very competitive?AM Comment [VV5]: Give more examples and details about how their attitudes can change from when they are on the court and when they are off.

Vargas-Guadalupe 3 everything made sense. Carl, and Karen did the opposite as those girls. They were very aggressive and would go towards the ball and would tell everyone else what to do and where to stand and etc because they have been playing for a while and they know the rules and some techniques that are used when playing volleyball. During my interview of Karen Guzman, one of the BVC members, I asked her if in order to be a part of the club the person trying to get in need to know how to play volleyball or needs some special skills and her quick response was no. Then she elaborated, some of our members are not experienced in the sport but they are very active and are visual learners. They get involved and are very outgoing. This is a very fast paced sport and very competitive so I personally think that it would be a very good idea if someone trying to get into the club would at least have some kind of knowledge/ experience on the sport so that it would be easier. We will always be here to help if you do or you do not know how to play volleyball because one can only get better if we keep practicing and helping each other out I was going to give my opinion but I felt like she said everything, even more, than what I was going to.
Comment [VV10]: Make this obvious that this is directed to all players AM Comment [VV11]: Maybe find another person to interview and ask a broader range of topics, I think that doing so will help you reach the five page limit. I think that there was more in which she could have said but neglected to do so.AM Comment [VV9]: Elaborate on whether shes been playing for a long time, how she got involved with the club. AM