Vernica Vargas-Guadalupe Rebecca Agosta ENG 1101-68 November 18, 2013 An extensive look into the world of Beach

Volleyball I moved to 901 Place Student Apartments located in Charlotte, North Carolina in August 2013. I am living with my brother Francisco, my friend Eric and one of my high school friends, Karen. When I first moved in, I noticed there was a beach volleyball court in front of my apartment. I motivated my friend Karen to play a match with me. We continued to play numerous games and our skills began to improve. 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 different people playing with us. One day Karen and I were playing an intense game and this couple took notice. That is how we met Carl and his girlfriend Krystal. They asked if they could join us and we said yes. After that day, we met a couple different times more to play and hang out and all of a sudden we had the idea of forming a beach volleyball club. At first, we thought it was a long shot, but after a while we realized that we should at least try to get some opinions about it. We started asking around and recruiting people to see if anyone would be interested in becoming a part of a beach volleyball club. We also created some flyers and placed them all over 901 Place informing the residents that there was going to be a meeting regarding the

possibility of creating a beach volleyball club. The meeting was a success, about 15 people showed up and that was more than enough to create two teams, so we decided to go ahead and officially create the club. We do not really have an official creative name so we just call it BVC which is the abbreviation or acronym of beach volleyball club. 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. 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. We are also planning on making the sport more noticeable because a lot of people do not want to play beach volleyball because they are intimidated by some stereotypes, like the one I found in Crowne Blog, as in Crowne Sporting Goods. The blog was titled, Sex appeal, stereotypes and beach volleyball and the first paragraph stated the following: 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. This paragraph summarizes some of the most common stereotypes said about beach volleyball. That is not true at all. Not all of the beach volleyball players are women, in fact most of the members of the BVC are male. We play volleyball not only in the summer, but throughout the whole year so there is no requirement of wearing a bikini. When I play volleyball I am focusing on the plays I am about to do and where the ball is at all times. I do not think that any of us have the time to try to impress anyone, so I doubt that volleyball is all

about sex appeal. Besides, when we play we are dirty, sweaty and wearing comfortable clothes, and we sure do not look attractive. I watched the members of the BVC while they hung out, ate and had fun. Then I watched them while they were in the court playing volleyball and I noticed how different they interacted with each other in each scenario. While they were hanging out and eating they were very friendly to each other. They asked each other how their day was, how school was going and what they had done since the last time they saw each other. They would even make plans to hang out other than in a meeting for the BVC. They were very nice to each other and I could see how not only teammates relationships were forming but also friendships. When they stepped into the beach volleyball it was like they had forgotten all of that. Their faces and attitudes changed completely. They went from smiling and laughing, nice and relaxed to very serious and competitive. It looked as if they were angry, even though they were not. They were yelling at each other and were being very loud. If someone makes a mistake, they better know how to not take things personal, like Karen said. I say this because this club is just starting to form and the people in it want to prove themselves. They want to show the other members how good they can play, but this is a team sport so the members try to prove that they are in a good team. That is why they may be harsh sometimes to someone who is not doing things right. Basically, you can only show your skills with the help of your team members. For example if I want to show off that I know how to spike, which is when an offensive player attacks the ball with a one-arm motion done over the head, attempting to get a kill, I need the help of two of my other team members. In each play, the ball can only be touched or hit three

times. The first player receives the ball, the second player sets the ball high in the front so that the third player can come and spike the ball. Without that process is almost impossible to spike because it is against the rules to spike a ball when you first receive it and if you do it in the second strike instead of the third one it makes it harder because the ball is not as prepared and usually not in the right position to spike, which would be the outer right or left front. 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 because of the constant running and sudden movements and the getting dirty part. Also, I do not think it would be too comfortable playing beach volleyball with a dress, sandals and your long hair all in your face preventing you from seeing what is going on or where is the ball. They were scared of the ball, and would even 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, not the other way around. After the game ended I asked them if they had ever played before and they said never in their lives. And that is when everything made sense. Carl and Karen were the opposite of those girls. They were wearing t-shirts and shorts and they were barefoot. Karen even had her hair in a ponytail to keep it from her face. They were very aggressive and would go towards the ball, instead of running away from it like those three girls I mentioned before. They would tell everyone else what to do, 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, she said that you do not need to be an expert in order to become a part of the club. She said, Some of our members are not experienced in the sport but they are very active and good 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 good idea if someone trying to get into the club would at least have some kind of knowledge/ experience on the sport. That would definitely make it 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 agree with her one hundred percent. Having some kind of experience on the sport is not a requirement but it is a suggestion. And if anyone who does not know wants to join we will be more than happy to teach them and help them improve their skills. Most of the lexis, or terminology used within the BVC is basically slang volleyball terms. When we start a beach volleyball game the first thing we do is volley for serve, or a small match that decides who will get the ball and serve first in the real game. After that we start playing. Karen and I use ma which means mine in English as or most common way of communicating in the beach volleyball court. We use it whenever the ball is close to both of us at the same time so that only one of us hit it instead of running into each other attempting to hit the ball. Other words we use during the game are fuera or out, which tells the player attempting to hit the ball that the ball is outside of the court so he or she should just let it go because it is already our point. Some of the words we use often describe an action. For example: when we say that a player was fishing, it means that he or she touched the net, which is illegal in this sport and if someone gets hit in the head by the ball, we say that he got a facial. Also, if we say that

the hitter got roofed by the blockers it means that when the hitter was about to spike, one or two players from the opposing team blocked the ball and scored a point. The most important word that we use is a kill, which simply means that we scored. I based my ethnography in John Swales concept of a discourse community. Swales says, A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims (Swales page 572). In other words he says that one of the characteristics of a discourse community is that it has genres and uses them as part of communication within the group. The BVCs Constitution is the most important genre that is used within our club because it explains the goals, rules, structure, and functions of the BVC. This constitution is the basis of the club. We use it as reference every time we need to make a decision and since it was created, the club seems to be more organized and more in control because it states the causes that could get someone kicked off the club. It also explains the roles of the President, the Vice president and the Treasurer. This constitution gives a sense of equality in the group because not only it was created by all of our current members together, but it also states that anyone can run for any of the previously mentioned positions and that we do not discriminate for any reason whatsoever. According to Swales six characteristics of a discourse community, the BVC is considered one because it illustrates all the characteristics. The BVC includes shared goals, uses genres and communication, has a hierarchy and its own lexis, and it shows novices and experts apart. This is an exact representation of Swales concept of a discourse community.

Works Cited
http://blog.crownesportinggoods.com/2013/06/14/sex-appeal-stereotypes-and-beachvolleyball/

Guzman, Karen. Personal Interview. 7 Nov. 2013.

Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. Chapter 4-The Concept of Discourse Communities by John Swales. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 471-473. Print.