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Jonathan Souers
Laura Martinez
ENC 1101
4/3/2013
Swim Club or a Family?
Background
My roommate is always energetic when he is having a conversation with me about
swimming. He makes it seem like it plays a big role in his life. After swimming competitively in
high school on the varsity swim team, he brought his talents to college. His inspirations led him
to join the UCF swim club. The University of Central Florida does not have an actual swim team
that he could try out for, so he found the closest thing to that, the swim club. These many
conversations I have had with him got me interested in the swim club. I decided to go observe
the group to see how they function and interview some members. The swim club stays very
active. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday they have practice in the pool. Then Tuesdays
and Thursdays they have “dry land” practice which is just cardio outside of the pool. As I walked
to the swimming pool, I saw the club members just sitting by the pool talking with each other. I
was surprised how laid back everyone was. I felt a little out of place because I was there holding
a notebook and fully clothed while the swimmers were in all of their swimming gear. My
roommate took me around to where everyone was sitting and introduced me to them, this made
me feel a little more welcomed. As I stayed to observe, I noted down the things I saw. One thing
that stood out to me was how everyone had their own little subgroup. The more I observed the
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team, it was clear that the team had levels of hierarchy. At the start of practice, the president got
the members in a group and talked to them and discussed general issues regarding the team.
After she stepped down, the coach came in front of the 40+ active members. All the coach
discussed was what was going to happen at practice that particular day. The members seemed to
show the president and coach respect as they talked. They seemed to have settled down and paid
closer attention from the time before practice started. After the coach finished his speech, the
team went their separate ways into whatever style of swimming they do. It was fun observing the
swim club because they all seemed to get along with each other and had a connection which
allowed them to communicate clearly with one another. After I observed the team for a while, it
was clear that the swim club could be considered a discourse community. According to author
John Swales, a discourse community has six characteristics. The first characteristic is that a
discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common goals. Next, a discourse community
has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. Third, they give information and
feedback to each other. A discourse community utilizes and possesses one or more genres in the
furtherance of its aims. In addition to genres, a discourse community has acquired some form of
lexis. And finally, a discourse has community has a threshold level of members with a suitable
degree of relevant content and expertise. From gathering all of the information about the swim
club, it is clear that they are considered to be a discourse community. According to James Paul
Gee, “a discourse is a sort of identity kit, which comes complete with the appropriate costume
and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others
will recognize.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement. To be a part of a discourse
community, you have to fit in. Gee describes what it takes to fit in a group. When I observed the
swim club, this identity kit was very clear. The identity kit goes for not only the swim club but
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also any discourse community. Every group will have little things that help them stand out from
other groups and that also help them stay up to date with their own group. A discourse
community can also have multi-literacies. Tony Mirabelli states “literate acts are embedded in
specific situations and that they also extend beyond the printed text involving other modes of
communication including both verbal and nonverbal.” Swimmers have multi-literacies that they
have to keep up with to perform at their peak. Not only do swimmers have to know the strokes
and how to do them, they have to be ready to improvise and be ready on the spot before the race
to know what race they were going to compete in.
Methods
In order to learn more about the discourse community, I interviewed both my roommate,
who is an active swimmer on the club, and the president of the club to get two people’s opinion.
I headed down to the University of Central Florida’s Rec and Wellness where they attend
practice. On the walk down to the pool, I started feeling a little nervous because I knew I was
going to stand out. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. The whole swim team
was very welcoming and joked around how much they didn’t like school. During my
observations, I went to the practice looking for a few specific things. Some of those things are:
how the team acted around each other, what did they dress like, How did they talk to each other,
and did any of the swimmers look up to someone as a leader. (I made a bulleted list of my
observations that is shown in the Appendix). Before the practice actually started, my roommate
Marc Medina introduced me to the swim club president, Erin Cummings. I asked her if I could
record her while giving an interview and she gladly accepted. (Interview questions are attached
as Appendix A). During the interviews I asked questions about the swim club in general and why
it is so important to both Cummings and Medina. I used these methods because they allowed me
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to take a direct look at what the swim club was and then got to receive some insight behind it.
During the interviews I asked them both the same questions; however I did the interviews
separately. The questions that I asked were open-ended questions that helped bring out how both
swimmers felt towards the group. I analyzed the data that was learned by applying John Swales’s
six characteristics of a discourse community. The characteristics I chose to focus on were the
broadly agreed set of common goals, the mechanisms of intercommunication among its
members, and the threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and
expertise.
Evidence
The characteristics of the UCF swim club were easy to recognize and stood out to me,
that is why I believe they are a perfect example of a discourse community. The clearest
characteristics that I picked up on were the levels of hierarchy, the common goals shared, and the
intercommunication throughout the team.
During the interview, Erin Cummings helped me realize that the swim club has different
levels of hierarchy. The question that helped we decipher this was not open-ended, but instead
straight to the point. When asked how many admins were on the board of the swim club, the
president responded with “six: the president, vice president, treasurer, risk management/
secretary, recruitment, and meet coordinator”. When I realized the executive board was this
large, it sparked an interest and I kept up with the questions. I learned that each officer holds
their position for a whole swim season, which are summer, fall and spring. One important subject
relating to the executive board is how a member obtains authority. Within all discourse
communities, it is important that there is a set of authority levels that take time to achieve the
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positions. Without these high levels of hierarchy, the swim club would probably get out of hand
and never have any structure during their practices and meetings. Discussing levels positions in
discourse communities, Swales states “survival of the community depends on a reasonable ratio
between novices and experts.” When asked how a swimmer obtains authority on the swim club,
Medina explained, “If you want to be an officer of the swimming club, at the end of the year they
hold a banquet and when the officers are leaving a position they nominate people that they think
should hold the position. And then you can either accept or decline the nomination and then you
run for election and usually you get picked like that”. Throughout my observations at the swim
practice, it was clear that all of the active members somewhat looked up to the president and
coach. In my opinion this is an important characteristic for all discourse communities. If nobody
looks up to you and wants to strive to become better to possibly move up and obtain authority,
than what is the point of having levels of importance. When speaking with the president, she had
a sense of gratitude that people look up to her.
One of the most important characteristics of a discourse community is that all of the
members share common goals. If the members of a discourse don’t share a common goal then
the whole group will fall apart. When observing the swim club, some of the goals were clear but
more were brought to my attention through the interviews. One of the most common goals of the
members is that they love swimming and want to stay good at it. Marc Medina explained to me
that he thinks he was a better swimmer in high school but only because it was more competitive
and pushed himself more. He went on to tell me that the swim club has what you need to
improve your swimming skills but it takes effort. This same idea was expressed in the interview
with Cummings. She stated, “I’m keeping up the swimming skills and it’s kind of like anything.
For example, if you stop running, you become a slower runner.” I thought this was an excellent
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way of putting it. If you stop practicing something, then you aren’t going to get better at it
overnight. You have to stick with it to gain the skills.
Another common goal I learned was that everyone likes being involved. When asked
what they enjoy about being on the swim club, both Medina and Cummings said they love being
involved in something. The main reason people join clubs at UCF is to become involved. One
thing I thought was cool about becoming involved is what it leads to in the long run. It was
apparent that the swim club was very welcoming and a tight knit group. As I interviewed the
president, she expressed, “I would recommend it (talking about the swim club) to everybody
because we are such a great family, and you meet everyone around UCF…” She went on to say
that they are a large group that loves expending the “family”. Having these tight knit discourse
communities not only is apparent at their meeting times but also outside of them. Marc Medina
stated “I mean like a lot of people join and then they decide to leave, not because they don’t fit in
but because they aren’t really social and usually everyone on the swim club is social and they
like to hang out outside of swim.” This quote goes to show how the swim club effects all of its
members and how they all share common goals.
Swales explained that a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication
among its members. In order for members of a discourse community to stay up to date with
events regarding the group and also just staying in contact, they use different methods of
communication. Depending on the discourse community, the mechanisms will change. The swim
club uses many mechanisms to reach out to its members. The main way for the team to
communicate is through Facebook. Facebook is one of the most popular website for people to
stay in touch. The swim club’s Facebook is a closed group with over 400 people. The group
shows the six admins and coach. This page is the main way members communicate with each
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other. The communication can range from upcoming meet dates or just small talk and joking
around. After the president or coach posts on the Facebook page about upcoming meets, they
will also send an email reminding the team. Emails are very efficient for discourse communities
because to can send a specific message to many people at once. Emails are the more formal way
to communicate on the swim team. The president went one to tell me they also stay in touch
through text messages and phone calls. With all of these different mechanisms to
intercommunicate it goes to show how close the members are to each other. Theses mechanisms
of intercommunication are important to this discourse community because without them, the
members would not know what events are coming up and would be “out of the loop”.
Conclusion
Studying this discourse community opened my eyes to swimmers. Many people overlook
swimming and think all they do is swim. After studying this swim club, they are more than just
swimmers, they are like family. This club has all of the same characteristics as a regular
discourse community. The club has its own lexis, it has its own genre, and it deals with conflict.
Most importantly however, the swim club has a broadly agreed set of common goals, it also has
mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, and finally it has a threshold level of
members with a suitable degree of relevant content and expertise. These are only the
characteristics that I focused on, however, there are plenty more that are unexposed that will
show how they operate as a discourse community even more. Studying this swim club has
opened my eyes to a lot of things and I feel it very important that people look into discourse
communities. If people actually studied discourse communities before they tried to join them, it
will get you prepared on what you’ll find and help you join them. However, the most important
thing I think about studying these communities is how they have helped me look at language
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different. Language is one of the most important characteristic that helps groups function.
Without effective language and communication, this group would simply fall apart. I would not
have realized this idea if I had not studied the swim club. The swim club at UCF is made up of
some pretty solid people in my opinion and they keep growing!
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Work Cited
Cummings, Erin. Personal Interview. 25 March. 2013.
Gee, James P. “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction.” Journal of Education 171.1
(1989): 5-17. Print.
Medina, Marc. Personal Interview. 25 March. 2013.
Mirabelli, Tony. “Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers.”
What They Don’t Learn in School. Ed. Jabari Mahiri. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. 143-
62. Print.
Swales, John. “The Concepts of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
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Appendix:
Interview Questions: President of the Swim Club Erin Cummings
Why did you join?
- “I joined to be involved and meet people my freshman year at UCF”
How does someone join the club?
- “You contact us and then you show up to practice. And then at practice you just jump in and swim with us, fill out paper work, and if you like it you pay our dues and then you are a part of our club.”
How many admins are in the club?
- “6: the president, vice president, treasurer, risk management/ secretary, recruitment, and meet coordinator”
How do you obtain authority in the club?
- “You are elected by the active members. So we have a banquet once a year and at the banquet then officers are up for election.”
How long do you hold the position for?
- “One year”
What position do you hold?
- “I am the president of the swim club”
Is there ever any conflict within the swim team? If so, how do you deal with it?
- “Um there is, and it’s by being fair to everybody. So the more equal and fair you are to one person by handle the same rules across the club then everyone respects them and will listen and understand why they got in trouble”
How many times do you compete?
- “um fall semester we had four swim meets and this semester we have three”
Do you feel comfortable around everyone on the team?
- “ Absolutely”
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Tell me about a time you screwed up and what you did to fix it.
- “I was in a contract with a company and then the contract ended up falling through and then I ended up going to legal services and handling it through legal services”
Has the club helped you to become a better swimmer?
- “I believe so, I’m keeping up the swimming skills and it’s kind of like anything. For example if you stop running, you become a slower runner”
Who would you recommend this UCF club to and why?
- “I would recommend everybody because we are such a great family, you meet everyone around UCF, we are a large group, there’s leadership involvement opportunities, and everything.”
How does the team communicate outside of practice?
- “email, Facebook, text message, phone calls”
Do swimmers use any nonverbal communications when swimming?
- “Um we use verbal communication a lot. And then not only that, well swimming is mostly and individual sport, so I’ll probably yell out the workouts but whenever you are showing somebody a stroke better, you show them outside of the water or they watch you as swim. During meets, we have nonverbal communication whenever someone is swimming the 500m, which is 20 laps, and we put counters in the water to help them count laps. And then if they are going the correct speed, you hold it steady but if they need to go faster we will move it up and down”
What is one thing you enjoy about being a part of this club?
- “Um the leadership opportunities that it has given me and having all the friends that I’ve met. My roommates are all from swim club, my boyfriend is from swim club, and everyone is from swim club.”
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Interview Questions: Swimmer: Marc Medina
Why did you join?
- “I joined because when I was a senior in high school I got involve with the varsity swim club and when I came over here I found out that there was a swim club for UCF and I decided to join just because and to get involved.”
How does someone join the club?
- “Usually there is recruitment at the beginning of the year and they have it advertised at all of the club meetings and basically you join and pay your $80 dues and then you are basically official.”
How do you obtain authority in the club?
- “If you want to be an officer of the swimming club, at the end of the year they hold a banquet and when the officers are leaving a position they nominate people that they think should hold the position. And then you can either accept or decline the nomination and then you run for election and usually you get picked like that”
How long do you hold the position for?
- “You hold it for a whole swim season. Which includes summer, fall, and spring”
What position do you hold?
- “I am just an active member, right now people want to nominate me for an officer position for next year but I’m still not sure.”
Is there ever any conflict within the swim team? If so, how do you deal with it?
- “Sometimes. Since I’m in my first year here, I don’t really know all of the conflicts but I did hear recently that some officers have some conflicts at the beginning of the year when they were trying to figure something’s out but sometimes members get in arguments and there is tension between them but that happens all the time. You just have to learn to get over it.”
How many times do you compete?
- “Last semester we had about 4 meets and this semester we had 3 and each time we held a meet in Orlando.
Why do you like the swim club?
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- “I like the swim club because the people. Usually most of the time you spend with them is outside of swim so you get connected with the people and then you decide to hang out on the weekends and do other stuff”
Do you feel comfortable around everyone on the team?
- “Yeah I feel pretty comfortable. Everyone at the end of the season is like family.”
Tell me about a time you screwed up and what you did to fix it.
- “I screwed up as a member because I had conflict with other teammates. We went to Appalachian State which was like a 12 hour drive and there was 4 different vans, but my van in particular was just trying to have a good time and laughing but we weren’t meaning to hurt other people’s feelings but we made a lot of jokes and people heard about what happened and obviously they got angry. And I didn’t really fix any of that conflict.”
Has the club helped you to become a better swimmer?
- “I felt like I was a better swimmer before. So when I was a varsity swimmer I feel like it was more competitive. There’s still stuff that can make you get better, however I personally feel like I have stayed average.”
Who would you recommend this UCF club to and why?
- “anyone that wants to get fit and anyone that wants to hang out with us, I mean like a lot of people join and then they decide to leave, not because they don’t fit in but because they aren’t really social and usually everyone on the swim club is social and they like to hang out outside of swim. And I would recommend it to anyone that wants to get fit”
How does the team communicate outside of practice?
- “Usually through Facebook. And then people will just text message each other. So if we wanted to know which meets are coming up we usually hear about it through Facebook messages first and then we get an email about it later.”
Do swimmers use any nonverbal communications when swimming?
- “If someone is swimming a long distance race usually you have a counter counting how many laps you have done. We aren’t allowed to get in the water when we aren’t racing because that is considered interference.”
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What is one thing you enjoy about being a part of this club?
- “I enjoy being a club where you can come and go whenever you want and having to pay to dues so when we go to meets all we have to pay for is food and everything else is paid for and I think that is nice. Also, I just like staying in the swim club because the people. Everyone is social and I like being around them.”
Observation List
People sitting around before practice Talking in small groups Some looked bored Joking around with each other Looks like they were just chilling In their swim gear and a jacket Normal sounding lexis Swimmers listen to the president talk After the president talked, the coach talked about practice Swimmers listened quietly The start of practice, swimmers gained a serious attitude Swimmers go to their own section of the pool depend on style of swimming Coach seemed to have a calm attitude Swimmers did what they were told I could feel the sense of leadership Everyone seemed to have positive attitudes Lexis they were using was describing how long the race was (ex “500m”) Swimmers changed in the locker rooms At the end of practice, swimmers continue to talk while others leave
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Email #1
From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of [email protected] [[email protected]]Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 10:39 PMTo: [email protected]: Volunteer YMCA
OrgSync message from Daniel Franco
Hey guys! As you already know, in order to be able to use the YMCA pool free of charge to hold our meet, we have to volunteer at one of their events. This semester we signed up for a swim meet that will happen on February 21st (Thursday) from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m and February 22nd (Friday) from 8:30 a.m to 12 pm. We still need more people for both days, in order for this deal to work out we need at least 17 people going each day!!! Here is the list of the people that have already signed up:
ThursdayChris KronkBradley HeltonSarah SmyderForest WilliamsAtha RantDaniel FrancoVictoria PinoLynee OrloffEric Grube
FridayAbby McCarthyHaley TherouxCourtney DowlingErin CummingsHaley HernandezTaelor CuppetRaegan SauerLynee Orloff
If you have not signed up please do so by sending me a message/txt/email/whatever you want, but please do it, it's important. We will meet at tivoli at 3:45 on thursday and 8:00 am on friday, so be there if you're looking to carpool.
8422 international dr, Orlando, fl. <--- address if you can get there on your own.
Thank you!
Daniel Franco(305) 613-1319Swim Club at UCF Secretary/Risk Management
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Email #2
From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of [email protected] [[email protected]]Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 7:30 PMTo: [email protected]: Banquet/ Important Information
OrgSync message from Erin CummingsHey Everyone,
Please read all of the information below very carefully! It has important information about the banquet, practices being switched, elections, and the end of the year schedule.
Our banquet is on Monday April 8th from 8-10pm in the Student Union room 316 AB. In the past this has been a formal event, ladies long dresses (think prom) gentlemen nicer clothes. Everyone hopefully should be able to attend because this is during our practice time. With that being said we are going to be practicing on Tuesday April 9th from 7:30-9:30pm (we are switching with women’s water polo).
Dinner will be provided for you at the banquet. We then give out awards and finally hold elections for the 2013-2014 year. In our club there are six officer positions: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Risk Management/Secretary, Meet Coordinator, and Recruitment. At the banquet your peers nominate you for a position and you may either accept or deny the nomination. You will get up and speak about how you are an amazing candidate for the position. Then you will then step out of the room while the team votes on the candidates. Here is a general idea of what each position is about.
President: Oversees all positions, makes sure all paperwork is turned in on time, and makes sure the team is in good standing within the Sports Club Counsel and University.
VP: Helping the President with anything that needs to be done and ordering apparel
Treasurer: Making sure the team is on budget, submits paperwork for Sports Club Counsel, collect dues.
Risk Management/Secretary: Must be CPR and First Aid Certified (the club will pay for you to be recertified), special events, sets up fall informational meeting.
Meet Coordinator: Turns in all travel paperwork, sets up home meets, makes hotel and transportation reservations, contacts all other swim clubs
Recruitment: Attends all summer recruitment, makes reservations for Fall Expo, handles emailing all incoming swimmer, sets up fall informational meeting.
If you are interested in running for a position please send me an email!
ScheduleMarch 16th 9am Ropes CourseMarch 17th 11:59pm Entries due for Knightmare InvitationalMarch 23rd 9:30am Warm-up 10:30am Start for Knightmare InvitationalApril 6th 11:59pm Entries for ECC’s dueApril 8th 8-10pm Banquet (No Practice)April 9th 7:30-9:30pm PracticeApril 17th Last PracticeApril 19th 7am Leaving for ECC’sApril 21st 11pm Returning from ECC’s
Sincerely, Erin Cummings
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Email #3
From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of [email protected] [[email protected]]Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:24 PMTo: [email protected]: Sports Club Counsel Nominations
OrgSync message from Erin Cummings
Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the late notice but here are the Sports Club Counsel nominations. Last year the club won Sports Club of the Year. We now have an AWESOME glass trophy. Nominations are due TOMORROW (3/29/13) by 5pm. Please submit nominations if you feel that our club, our coach, or any of our officers did really well this year! The form is on KnightSync and the awards you can submit nominations for are:
· Sport Club of the Year
· Most Improved Sport Club of the Year
· Sport Club Coach of the Year
· Sport Club Officer of the Year
· Sport Club Supervisor of the Year
To nominate you need to log into Orgsync.com then under organizations (at the top) click Swim Club. On the left hand side of the page you will see a item called forms click on that then scroll down until you see nominations. You need to write a paragraph about why you are nominating so that all of the nominations can be voted on by other teams at our Sports Club Counsel Meeting on April 3rd. If you have any questions please ask!!!!
Thank you, Erin Cummings
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Picture of Swim Club Facebook
