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Zachary Wilson
ENC 1101H
Quarterbacks thrive in close-knit community

Discourse communities are all around us. We are all members of a

variety of these communities, some knowingly, and some not. A discourse
community is a group of people who share a set of discourses. I have been a
high school quarterback for the past four years and through playing the
quarterback position I have learned many things and have met many people.
I am a part of the quarterback community which is an elite community that is
a part of a bigger community. The quarterback community is a part of the
football community which also has a variety of other groups within it as you
can see below.

Quarterbacks
Football Players

Offense

Skill

As you can see, In order to be a quarterback you have to be a member

of other groups as well. The first group consists of football players, there are
many football players which is why the circle is the largest. The second group
is offensive players; this group has a smaller circle because not everyone

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plays offense. Then you have the skill players which are the offensive players
who do not play lineman. And finally there are the quarterbacks, the players
who touch the ball every play and basically run the offense. In order to be a
quarterback, you have to not only be one of the most athletic players on the
field but also the most intelligent. When you are playing you need the
support from the skill players, and the offense in order for you to be able to
do your job. The position also requires the most work because you have to
know everything that is happening on the field as well as make sure you are
able to perform physically on the field. The quarterback community as a
whole is an example of a discourse community within a larger discourse
community. In order to prove this I will use case studies and also personal
experiences to back up my assumptions.

Methodology:
The discourse community of quarterbacks function and communicate
in unique ways and in order to demonstrate this I have selected two
quarterbacks of different ages and playing experiences to show the
similarities between them and the traits of belonging to the quarterback
discourse community. This is based off the studies that Marissa Penzato did
in order to analyze the connection between Extracurricular and Academic
Writings. Penzato used case studies in order to analyze the similarities and
differences between the writers. The case studies will help me analyze some

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of the similarities such as how the quarterbacks talk and differences such as
the type of program that the quarterbacks are playing in.
Results:
The first quarterback that I will talk about is Daniel Parr. He is currently
a quarterback at Florida Atlantic University in South Florida. He is in his
sophomore year of college and is on full scholarship. I played high school
football with Daniel and I consider him to be my quarterback mentor. He
taught me much of the lexis I know today and this way he helped me learn
the jargon of the quarterback group. I understand everything that Daniel
says to me about football because I am able to understand the lexis that he
uses. He taught me many of the phrases that quarterbacks use which
allowed me to fit in better with the community. Daniel is an example of the
different levels of membership within the quarterback community because
he is much more mature and experience than I am. I will always look up to
him which shows that he will always have a higher level of membership than
me. He also shares a common goal with me and that is to always perfect his
crad3ft. You can always find him staying late after the required practices to
put in extra work. When me and Daniel played on the same team we would
always try to throw together at least once on the weekend. This constant
effort to practice more shows that Daniel is always trying to perfect his craft.
Daniel Parr, a member of the quarterback community, demonstrates the
qualities that make quarterbacks into a discourse community.

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The second quarterback that we will analyze is Eli Mathews. Eli is

currently a senior at Palm Beach Gardens High school located in the South
Florida area. Eli is a year younger than myself and is currently going through
many of the same things that I went through when I played such as
recruiting. Eli and I are able to understand anything that the other says when
it comes to football. This is due to the fact that we have nearly identical lexis
when it comes to the position. This is due to me teaching and mentoring him
throughout his growth into the player that he is today. Our lexis is similar
because they are basically the same thing. The language he uses varies from
mine in some ways because he has picked up things from other quarterbacks
along the way, but I am always able to understand him. Eli demonstrates the
different levels of membership within the discourse community because I
was his mentor. He still looks up to me regarding the position and we still
speak daily. Eli is also always working to perfect his craft. I know that he sees
third party quarterback coaches at least once a week and that that he tries
to stay after practice with his receivers in order to get extra work with them.
The goals that he possesses are similar throughout all quarterbacks which is
the reason that they are considered a discourse community.
The elite group of players that are called quarterbacks have a very
specific lexis that is understood between them. For example, if I were to tell
quarterbacks take a quick five with a hitch and hit the seam in the cover
two window they would know exactly what I am talking about. However, you
reading that most likely have no idea what I said. To break it down, I told

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fellow quarterbacks to take five steps away from the center and then one
step up, then to throw the ball directly into the middle of the field. This
phrase is only understood by quarterbacks because other positions do not
know what drop backs and step ups are relating to quarterbacks. Other
positions have different lexis, and granted they can be deciphered after
enough time, but generally the lexis between positions are not understood
by opposing positions. One phrase alone demonstrates the specific lexis that
is used among the quarterback discourse community.
There is structure among the quarterback community; however, it is
different than your normal community. You have a coach that is in charge of
you but for the overall community there is not one leader. Every quarterback
has a role model or mentor who helps them perform better. This mentor is
someone that a quarterback looks up too and goes to for advice. The mentor
acts as a leader which creates a hierarchical system which allows people who
play quarterback to operate as a discourse community. Once you become a
mentor, you move higher up within the quarterback community and so on.
This is what keeps the hierarchical system of the community in operation.
Every quarterback is working to perfect his craft no matter what level
of competition he is playing against, they can always get better.
Quarterbacks have to always be working so they stay fresh. If you take time
off, when you finally come back you will not be as good. Because of this,
quarterbacks are always practicing and when you practice you are trying to

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get better and perfect your craft. This is the common goal which takes
football players and turns them into a discourse community. Every
quarterback shares this goal because when they get better the team gets
better.

Discussion:
There are certain characteristics that a group must possess in order to
be a discourse community. These characteristics offer structure among the
community and in a way hold the community together. The Quarterback
community is a discourse community because of the lexis that all
quarterbacks understand, the different levels of membership within the
community, and the common goal that every quarterback has. As a member
of the quarterback discourse community, I feel that the community is a
strong example of what a discourse community is.
The two quarterbacks that I have discussed and I, all share very similar
characteristics. This makes sense because we are all part of the elite football
discourse community known as quarterbacks. I feel that the quarterback
community is different than any other discourse community because there
are various barriers of entry such as having to be an offensive football player
in order to be a quarterback, and because the quarterback community has to
govern themselves individually when they are not with a coach or someone
with more experience. From the outside, quarterbacks may not seem like an

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advanced discourse community but I feel that when people look deeper into
the way they handle themselves and how they act, people realize that they
are.