The Intersection of Literacy, Sport, Culture, and Society 2014 NCTE ANNUAL CONFERENCE WASHINGTON, DC SPONSORED BY: THE NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT “Writing the Game: How Athletes and Coaches Use Writing” by Rich Kent University of Maine WritingAthletes.com
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The Intersection of Literacy, Sport, Culture, and … Intersection of Literacy, Sport, Culture, and Society 2014 NCTE ANNUAL CONFERENCE WASHINGTON, DC SPONSORED BY: THE NATIONAL WRITING
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The Intersection of Literacy, Sport, Culture, and Society
2014 NCTE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, DC
SPONSORED BY:
THE NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT
“Writing the Game: How Athletes and Coaches Use Writing”
My strengths last year as a player: Last year I felt confident in the air. I loved winning 50-50 balls. I’ve gained a lot of confidence on the pitch these past couple of years. I understand the game better—I can see how attacks are developing and I know what to say to my defenders. I bet if you asked the forwards from other teams they’d say I’m good at delaying. I love playing against great players (Remington from Telstar)—I used to get scared, now I get up for them. My weaknesses last year as a player: My communication wasn’t the best. Like you said, young players think about themselves & don’t talk much—experienced players speak up. Thanks to the summer matches I already have better talk. My left foot was squirrely… Not this year! My preparation for this season has been the following: Winter soccer, summer matches, and camp. I coached community center summer soccer. I did the deal! I’m prepared. Bring it on. My goals for this season include the following: Talk, composure, & leadership on and off the pitch. Last year our team strengths included: Moving to space. Staying composed during physical matches. We liked each other! Last year our team weaknesses included: What can I say, we were young. Not really a weakness but like you said our age defined our play. We didn’t have the strength to finish a lot of our attacks. Not this year! Light it up! I am taking the following classes this fall: Physics Pre-Calculus Writing Center English US History Psychology Other thoughts: I’m psyched we have friendlies against Class A teams like Lewiston—playing up will help us. I know it’s a pain BUT, everyone likes the spaghetti feeds at your house. The first 11 will help with clean up and everything. I guarantee we’ll make it through the second round of the play-offs this year. We’re ready.
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What coaches say about Team Notebooks "The notebooks really helped my coaching. The players were able to … objectively view what they did well and focus on what needed to be improved. The sheets did assist in open communication between coaching staff and players.”
–Matt Grawrock, Head Coach Southern Virginia University
"With the use of the Match Analysis I, we were able to address issues individually that we would not be aware of otherwise. It was also such a great learning tool for the players.”
–Amy Edwards, Head Coach Gonzaga University
"Team notebooks create a different way for players to learn.”
–Mike Keller, Head Coach University of Southern Maine
"Writing provides another avenue for strengthening the player/coach relationship.”
–Brian Bold, Head Coach Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake HS
"I like to have my student-‐athletes write about their experiences, be it about practice, a game, or even an injury. It helps them to analyze their play, thought processes, and feelings. It brings more meaning to what they are experiencing. Writing … is a reminder of what we all are playing for and working towards.”
–Nicole Moore, Assistant Coach Dartmouth University
Performance in Sports by Richard Kent (2011, Peter Lang/USA & the National Writing Project)
Richard Kent, University of Maine, WritingAthletes.com
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Athletes’ Journals
A journal provides an athlete with a place to set goals, reflect, grapple with issues, keep track of training ideas, and record results as well as plan, scheme, ponder, rant, question, draw, and rejoice. As with Team Notebooks, there is no one right way to utilize an athlete’s journal. Ultimately, an athlete’s journal is about an athlete’s learning. Journal Prompt: “Tell about your most humiliating day as an athlete.” A 17-year-old Swedish exchange student living in Michigan writes the following response:
I easily remember the most humiliating day as an athlete. It was about three years ago when my team had an away game in a suburb called Rinkeby. Rinkeby is one of the suburbs in Sweden with a lot of crimes and problems. It is also a suburb with a majority of immigrants. In my team, almost everybody has their roots in Sweden (I’m one of the few who doesn’t). Everybody on the team also comes from pretty wealthy families. A lot of my teammates has a lot of prejudice of Rinkeby. Before the game everybody was joking about how we would get robbed after the game after we easily had defeated the team. When we arrived to the field the win seemed even more obvious. The field was a joke. Not as big as it should have been in our age, not grass, no nets in the goal and the team we were playing didn’t even wear the same cloths. We expected an easy victory but we were SO WRONG! The team, called Benadir, gave us a lesson how to play soccer. On a shitty field in the middle of nowhere they played like the Brazilian national team. They played with us, making cool tricks and scoring beautiful goals. At the end of the first half the score was 10-0 and we couldn’t believe what we just had experienced. After some yelling from our coach we got back out for second half. We played a little bit better, scoring two goals (I scored one) but we still got beat by 16-2. After the game, instead of robbing us, the players were really nice to us and behaved like a winner should. We were so embarrassed and all of us didn’t say a word on way back home. This really proved us wrong about prejudices. I will never forget that loss.
What athletes say about writing in Journals and Team Notebooks.
“Journaling helped keep us accountable for what we wanted to achieve, and in a way helped us to reach our goals,” explained the Stanford University senior. “Putting it all in writing helped remind us what we were working toward every time we opened the journal to make a new entry.”
Meg Hostage, Stanford University NCAA All-American, PAC-10 Diving Champion
“I like free writing… it’s a meditation, trying to open up the mind and go for it.”
David Chamberlain Nor/Am SuperTour Ski Champion US Nordic World Championship Team
“No one likes skiing with a cluttered mind, so put it on paper and free some space.”
Carter Robertson Alpine Ski Racer
"Writing down your feelings in a notebook or journal can help clear out negative thoughts and emotions that keep you feeling stuck.”
Serena Williams Tennis Champion, 23 Grand Slam Titles
"I look back at [my notebook] to see what I was doing when I was hitting well — how far my feet were spread out, how much of my weight I kept back, how I positioned my hands.”
David Wright New York Mets
“Writing makes you learn about yourself. Knowing yourself physically and mentally as an athlete is very important. Writing made me think about what I was doing well and what I need to work on. This will make my training and motivation much better. Writing down what I need to work on after video was really helpful for me.”
Chris McKenna Alpine Ski Racer
“I kind of enjoy writing … so whenever I’m on the plane I’m sure I’ll go through a couple of pages and write down all the moments and experiences that I’ve had …” Michael Phelps, Olympic Swimmer “Ready to write his final journal entry”