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Sean Bowman
Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1101-002
31 July 2014
Keep the Ball Rollingto the Hoop
To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to
your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate.
(Michael Jordan). When thinking about basketball, great players like Michael Jordan, Magic
Johnson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell come to mind. They are recognized as
great players not only for their amazing talent, but also because they worked well with their
teammates. Talent and a strong work ethic, combined with being team players enabled them to
lead their teams to wining multiple championships. This proves that Swales theories apply in a
community to make it work efficiently and cohesively, and not just for a professional sports
team. Many different places in the world use these theories without knowing it, and the
community moves on, just like time.
Keyshawn dribbles the ball down the court, juking out players and scanning for an open
lane or an open player. He sees neither, so he holds up and takes the jump shot swish! The
game of basketball is one of Americas favorite past times. Millions of men and women play the
game, and everyone in America knows what basketball is the game with the hoops. When
explained in the simplest form, it is two teams with five players on the court at a time, with the
goal of getting the ball in the basket as many times as possible. The team with the most baskets
wins at the end of the game. If you think of it that way it seems like a really simple, easy game to
play. But in reality, it is much more challenging than that, especially if you want to play at the
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highest competitive levels. It takes a ton of preparation and skill to compete in the NBA. While
NBA players are incredible athletes, college players are terrific athletes as well. By stepping
back and taking a look on how a mens varsity basketball team practices, I discovered interesting
insights on how they prepare to achieve a high ranking (the Top 20). This community of
athletes comes together and works towards something they all want - a national championship.
But how do they communicate with each other to shape each others minds to think that way? In
Swales model, he introduced six different ways to study a community. Out of these six ways, I
decided to look more into the goals and intercommunication to understand how the goals shaped
the way the players communicated with each other.
Methodology
What is a discourse community? According to John Swales, a communication analyst, a
Discourse Community is described as a group of people that have the same goals or purposes,
and use communication to achieve these goals (Swales, 119). I decided to do research this group
because I wanted to look into another athletic community on campus (other than the soccer team,
which Im a member). The basketball team is composed of fifteen players, a head coach and two
assistants. The locker room for the basketball team is located in Miltimore-Wallis Center, which
is joined to the main court where the team practices and plays games. The team is composed of
players from ages eighteen through twenty-two, from freshman to red shirt seniors. This was a
captains practice, which is a practice held without any coaches. Instead of conducting a
technical session, it was an informal pick-up game with the players who are in town. To gain
further insight on what goes on within the team, I decided to interview a player on the team. My
objective was to obtain a better understanding of both their individual and team goals, and how
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they communicate with each other on the court, since this is where they share common goals for
their upcoming season.
Analysis
By watching the Mens Varsity Basketball team practice, I learned new concepts about
the sport of basketball. For example, even though it wasnt a technical session, in playing a
game, I learned what was expected from each player. From watching the practice, I could tell
that being an extremely vocal player is a valued asset. Throughout the game every player was
consistently talking and telling the player with the ball what kind of opportunities he had, thereby
facilitating his decision-making process. The way these players talked had a huge influence on
the tempo of the game. Direct commands were given by players during this game to benefit the
outcome of their success, such as Slide over there! Keep tight on him! said one player to make
sure his teammate covered the open man so that he couldnt get an open shot. By taking this
action throughout the game, he kept the score within a couple points. Another phrase often yelled
was Get the rebound! Get the rebound! This command was effective in providing directions to
help ones teammates for a loss ball. The players werent yelling to be mean or rude to their
teammates, but to be heard in the heat of the action. The players on the court were all yelling and
directing each other the whole time they were playing, which is similar to what we do on the
soccer field. The game-like atmosphere was intended to make the scrimmage game as realistic as
possible, which is how the players improve their skills. They didnt take offense to each phrase,
but instinctively just followed them to help benefit the side they were on. They all had respect for
each other and did not get mad or frustrated. The players have open communication while on the
court, because without this, no one would be in sync with one another. They would not be in the
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correct positions, which would result in a bad outcome (the opposing team scoring a lot of
points!).
Two questions that I asked to a player named Willy were based off the same idea about
being a collegiate athlete and what type of things he does before games. He claims that hes a bit
superstitious, and that he listens to certain songs before game time. After getting this
information, I looked at my personal experience as to what I do before my games. Certain songs
can trigger the individual to get mentally focused before games, and thats what almost all
athletes do. Its almost like a sense of calmness for the body because all the brain is thinking
about is the game. This individual listens to rap music to get into his mental focus. That is just
his preference, but there are many other types of music athletes listen to get ready for games.
After doing my research and observations on the basketball team, I gained new insights
in the game, especially considering the amount of time I had to do my research. By keeping to
my guiding question, it was able to figure out how the players communicated with each other
and some of the common goals they had. These goals werent plainly stated out in the open, but
with the different communication they used, it was simple to see what they were striving to
achieve. As athletes, we all strive for perfection in how we play our sport. During practice, we
try and get better, which would in turn translates to playing better as a team during the regular
season. The phrase The way you practice is the way you play is true and the basketball players
know this without having to tell each other. How they communicated to one another on the court
was in a professional, intense way that all team sport athletes can relate too. Yes, it might be
yelling at one another to a bystander, but to another athlete it is a command that helps them get
better. The downside to this research and the overall outcome to this paper was the time we had
to complete it. It was a really quick turn around, and with such limited research, it was hard to
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really get a feel for the community. Since it was around thirty minutes to an hour of observation,
the raw data wasnt nearly as detailed as it could have been. I was only able to gather so much
communication from the team and interpret the goals they had since they werent written down
for me on a white board. Even though there were many different limitations to this paper, I was
still able to understand different aspects of the Mens Varsity Basketball team by watching their
practice. It has made me more curious to learn more about the teams that I support at my school.