A Reflection Paper on Football Discourse Community

I came to UC Merced and joined Writing 001 with no knowledge of what a discourse could be. Now in class reading “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexieб I had no idea what a discourse community was, the idea of this is very well known but never put into the words of a discourse community. In this paper I will write about a football discourse community.

A discourse community consists of a community that has methods of communication between the members. This communication is used to provide its people information and to give feedback to them as well. There are lots of examples of discourse communities; in San Jose alone, there are tons of them especially a lot of them being sports teams to small businesses. Flyers, posters, Facebook posts and etc. could be seen as the use of a discourse community. For example, a football team is a good example because of the use of communication throughout the community and with the people who lived close by. I choose to follow this football team in specific because of the other kids I knew who were in it to find out how good they were and it seemed like a perfect fit for a kid who is still in middle school to play around and enjoy football and be in a team. A chance to learn what a team is. But most importantly to him, to lose weight. It was hard to be the overweight sixth grader in middle school.

A football team to me is almost a perfect example of a discourse community, well obviously not to sixth grade me. Yes, a football team may seem a little simple, but I find it to be the complete opposite. Football consists of a lot of communication, when I say a lot I mean a crap ton of communication, due to all the fouls, subs, time outs and etc. Within a football team, each player must know their responsibilities when they are off and on the field, whether they are playing or benched. A common goal about a football is playing offense, when your team has the ball, and trying to score when you and your team are on the offensive. Being a defense there is an entirely different goal, DO NOT get scored on and get that ball back for your team. This game is one that can change pretty fast depending on what happens, for example, if there is a fumble and the team on defense will swap squads and the offensive squad comes onto the field because the defense has completed their task, not letting the opposite team score or getting the ball back. Every player knows their own duties and knows how to perform to their best. When stepping onto that field you have one goal in mind, to win and succeed with your team and be the best you can be.

Making mistakes in football is something that is inevitable and perfection is a fantasy. Perfect is what we all want to be in a team, especially in football because even missing the ball by an inch can mean that the opposing team can catch if you don’t. A mistake like that can be the difference for your team still having the ball and the opposing have the ball in their possession or even worse, being a touchdown down. Stopping mistakes as I said are inevitable and are bound to happen.

To conclude my essay, discourse community means a lot to me because it describes the person that I am today. Football is a sport to some, but a brotherhood to others as I met some of the greatest people till this day.