Furguson 1

Haley Furguson
Professor Olivia Rines
UWRT 1101-02
20 March 2015
Football Players of UNC Charlotte
The world is filled with many different communities; it is what people associate
themselves with today. For instance, football; some people may play it and some people may
watch it. One of the most common American pastimes is watching football. Whether it is high
school, college or professional; football has become a very popular sport to both watch and play.
Since football has become such an entertainment to viewers, the standard of teams across

Comment [DM1]: I think that this is great that

you set up what you are writing about. This only
helps the introduction.

America has been raised. College football players are a discourse community that many people
who watch football for entertainment would not understand fully. Football players at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte are a community that has recently been formed. With a

Comment [DM2]: Are all college football players

apart of the same discourse community? Or is it
specific to just the school? Just a thought.

new football program being formed in the past three years, there are many things that have
changed quickly and are still changing. After much observation and a closer look into the
football players at UNC Charlotte, it is clear that the community is a hard working intelligent
community.
Football may seem like an easy way to get school paid for or even just an easy way to get
an education; for example, easier classes, early class registration and the list goes on. This is far
from true; from my observations everything about football seems hard. As a student undergoing
16 credit hours, my schedule is busy enough as is, but with a football schedule on top of 15
credit hours, players schedule is more than three times as time consuming. Players only have

Comment [DM3]: This first paragraph is very

well written. I think that it is a good set up for the
rest of the paper.

Furguson 2

one day off, as I was told in one of my interviews. And even on that day off, some players have
to go to treatment, study hall or even work if they are not on scholarship with football.

Comment [DM4]: What is treatment? Maybe

give an example of that or note an example of that.

Having a busy schedule with plenty of hard work means that the community of football
players has a very strong common goal. Football players at UNC Charlotte have quickly made
their way up college football divisions. With higher divisions there are harder and harder teams
and the goal to win becomes even stronger. The goal of most athletic teams anywhere is to win,
which is UNC Charlotte football teams main goal. Another goal of the football team is to
become the strongest they can individually and as a whole. The team is constantly competing to
obtain the maximum weight they can for squats, benching and be the best at every exercise they
can. Competition is one of the biggest parts of football both on and off the field, it is what
motivates and keeps players interests. Having players motivated is very important when it comes
to obtaining the standard of the team. With the team being newly started, the standard that is set

Comment [DM5]: What is that standard? Why

is it important to the team?

of the team becomes very important. One player had told me, it takes years to build a program
and it will always grow but we were the first ones here to begin it. When looking back when we
are older it would be nice to see that we fit in with the other successful programs in the nation
(Fleming). This goal is something that is passionate to all players individually and as a whole.
One goal that is not very recognizable is the goal of earning an education. For some players, they
are in the program mainly to play football but all of them are here to earn a degree. Many players
are on full scholarship or even partial scholarship, so much of football is to help pay for school.
Many of players confess to not trying hard in school because football is so time committing, but
they are very thankful for football in the fact that it offers a lowered cost of education to many or
most players in the program.

Comment [DM6]: I like how you take the

comments from interviews and put them in a place
in which it helps support the point that you are
making.

Furguson 3

As the football schedule is so time consuming, having a beneficial communication

system within each other is very important. When observing the communication between
coaches and teammates, it was apparent to me that the contact is nonstop; whether it is between
the coaches and players or the teammates themselves. Teammates seemed to be very close to
each other when observing during practice and off the field. In my interviews, players had
explained how close they are to their fellow teammates and even living with them created a
stronger bond, almost like a brotherhood in a sense. The players are constantly texting in group
texts and individually between each other. Coaches are also involved in group texting and

Comment [DM7]: Maybe you could explain why

it is so important to be a brotherhood. This could
help make the sense of communication more
powerful?

sometimes check in to see if the players are asleep before a game or even checking in on what
they are doing in their free time. One of the biggest forms of communication throughout the team
is an app on cellphones called Teamworks. This application has the entire schedule of each
player laid out for them to help plan out their week. With such an intensive schedule, this
application is very helpful to the entire team.
Within communication is the lexis that the team themselves know very well. Many
football terms are known to outsiders through entertainment, like touchdown, halftime, quarters
and the list goes on. But past the basic terms of football is the teams own language of plays,
stances, nicknames, etc. Each team has different names of plays calls, for example, bingo
exchange ton two backer is a play call that is called out during the game to inform players what
play they will be using. There are also different formations for different lines of players. For the
defensive line there can be over ten different formations. For example, a 4-3 defensive line
formation consists of four defensive linemen, three linebackers, and four defensive backs. This
formation is only one of many, not including the different formations of offense line. There are
also different positions; for example, tight end, defensive end or nose guard. There are hundreds

Comment [DM8]: Maybe you could add why this

tactic is important? It is important for the players to
know this and so the other team doesnt know the
play, correct?
Comment [DM9]: Great job taking this example
and breaking it down for someone that could be
considered an outsider.

Furguson 4

of terms that football players accumulate over the years, these examples are a very small amount
of what the lexis actually consists of. When observing different practices, I noticed many things
that I did not understand and were uniformly and quickly understood by all players and needed to
be explained to me later on. The amount of lexis that players are aware of proves that football is
something to learn, not necessarily something that comes naturally.

Comment [DM10]: This is also a very good

point, in the sense that you are an outsider, and
that the lexis is specific to this discourse community.

Because players are constantly being shared this information and playing many games
throughout the season, there are different mechanisms to inform and give feedback. To inform
players there of course is the application of Teamworks. There are also many meetings to inform

Comment [DM11]: What do typical meetings

look like? It could help here possibly.

players the different plays and formations they should be aware of when it comes down to game
time. During meetings there can also be film of previous games and is important to help coaches
give feedback to what happened during the game. Film and meetings are one of the main
mechanisms of feedback for football. This allows football players to grow and learn where they
had gone right and wrong.
Film is also considered one of the many genres that football utilizes. Football players are
constantly wearing team colors, attire and advertising their team. This form of genre is to attract
and show fans pride in the players team. These logos are also displayed throughout the field
house and meeting rooms. In meeting rooms there are boards to display different formations,
plays and positions. Within meetings players may receive binders to help them study the
different plays and stances. Players may also receive inspirational and motivational quotes that
help players get through games and practices.
For people just starting the program, there are older players to help younger players
understand how the program works. There are also captains of the team and people who fall
superior to others for different benefits. This seniority allows the standard to stay higher and is

Comment [DM12]: What is the overall affect of

these genres as they play out in the public?

Furguson 5

another learning service for newer players and the program itself. With the program being so
tough, having stronger players that lead is very important.
UNC Charlottes football program is effectively growing and many fans are impressed
and content with how the program has started. With that being said, is the goal of football
players to earn a degree being fulfilled? After much observation and interviews, I do believe that
the football program makes it hard for players to find time for school. The program seems to be

Comment [DM13]: This is a very interesting

question to keep in mind and to break down when
doing this paper. I like it!

aware of the time that it takes away from players from being students, hence why they are
offering mandatory study hall to students who do not make a high enough grade point average to
the standards that the team sets. This defies the stereotype that many people seem to think
football players as stupid or airheads and only focused on football. People also believe
that college football players want to earn a career in football and that is the only reason why they

Comment [DM14]: Just because it is a

mandatory thing does not make it true that these
people actually take the timeso does it really defy
the stereotype, or does it depend on the person?
(Just another thought here, haha)

are in college. All of these stereo types are not always or are barely true. Both football players I
had interviewed do not want to have a career in football and one player had told me try putting
a football schedule in with fifteen credit hours of a normal student and see how they do
(Fleming). This proves that players do not have it easy, but they do get by enough to earn their
degree and make their dream of a career come true.
UNC Charlotte football players are all strong men that have very strong goals to be
successful in every way. Being told that 98% of people do not have the opportunity to
collegiately play a sport (Muscarello) tells me that playing football is something that requires
lots of hard work and effort. Although there are many cons to playing football including the
exhaustion and time required to be involved, a player had told me the pros always outweigh the
cons. Football shapes players by teaching not only the sport of football, but discipline and

Comment [DM15]: What are some of the

pros??? I think you mentioned some of the cons,
but maybe if you talk about some of the pros it will
help.

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respect. Football players of UNC Charlotte have proved to raise a concrete program from the
start and are diligent workers both on the field and in the classroom.

End Note
Haley, overall I think that is a very well written paper. I think that you did a great job including
the observations and interviews into the places in which they help solidify to the paper. There
were other papers that I wrote that did not include these things very well. One thing that I think
you should include is mentioning Swales in some of this. I know that most of your breakdown
was from the Swales article, but I think that you should include some of his work into your
paper. Also, going back to some of the comments, I think that there are things that you could dig
deeper into, like the pros of playing football in college. I think that explaining some of these
things will help when you are breaking down this discourse community. Overall, I think that you
have a very well written paper. Digging deeper and mentioning Swales are two things that I
think you could include that will make this paper much better.

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Works Cited
Fleming, Tanner. Personal interview. 15 March 2015.
Muscarello, Stephen. Personal Interview. 15 March 2015.