Volleyball 101
Jessica Brooks
English 1301.440 – Fall 2014
Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Volleyball 101
Introduction
John Swales (1990) gives his own perception of what a discourse community is. He says that there are “six defining characteristics” that identify a group. Many interested in a discourse community have their discussions within “academic contexts” which makes the group seem they are only associated with intellectuals (Swales, pgs. 222). That gives the group a false impression for others. Swales defines a discourse community as a group of people involved in and communicating about a particular topic. He also says that you do not have to be “assimilated” in it (Swales, 1990). You can just be a participant of the group and not initiated. Volleyball has always been a sport I love to play during my middle and high school years. I have played since 6th grade and it was a good experience. Volleyball is a community for girls and boys to play. Mostly girls play because guys do not want to be ridiculed. I have selected this discourse community because it’s a fun way to get to know each other and make friends. You learn to become a leader and have good sportsmanship. Volleyball is not an easy sport to learn because you have to have quick movement and stay confident in yourself.
Review of Literature
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia talks about how the game is played and William Morgan who invented volleyball. It relates to my topic because it gives me the basics about volleyball. The Cambridge handbook has an article about expert performance in sports. Many sports need skilled athletes to be successful. Rules of volleyball is included in the Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia which talks about the rules of volleyball from the rule book. You have to know the rules to understand the sport or even play it. Group dynamics in sports are important. Chelladurai writes an article in the Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology about it. You have to have communication to be successful or fail in the game. You are working together in the games to win and teamwork. There is no I in team. The goals of the players are applicable to my research from this article. Coaching under Pressure: Mental skills training for sports coaches is an article that talks about coaches being considered performers like athletes. They have to plan for training and competition. They must have a good mentality to keep their team focused. John Swales gives his own definition of a discourse community in Writing about Writing. He wants us to know that a discourse community is a group of people that discuss a topic or do particular work. Discourse communities help people to become leaders and learn about others. Sean Branick talks about coaches using their reading and writing skills to communicate with their players in Writing about Writing. I am not talking about football for my research but coaches in volleyball make up tricks for the players to use in the game. I am going to talk about the coaches’ strategies and their relationship to the players. You have to be able to trust your coaches and teammates to be successful because if you do not have those elements then there is not a team. Working together makes a team stronger.
Research Methodology I used two different research methods to obtain information about volleyball. These two methods are observation and interviews. On October 25th, there was a volleyball game against McNeese State University and I went to observe the game. They wear knee pads and spandex shorts to have better movement and be able to dive on the floor. The girls would say “mine” to communicate they would get the ball. They all went behind the hitter to help if the other team blocked the ball. After losing a point, the players would huddle to discuss what they need to do to keep the other team from gaining points. They give each other high fives after winning a point. Everyone would be a setter which had the second hit all