A community I have been with for a long time is the soccer community, which is a community I

have been part of for almost 8+ years. Although, only recently stopped playing myself, I still watch

teammates who pursue it. I remember joining this community when I was around 7ish years old.

Ironically, the moment I heard my sister had signed me up for our town little soccer league, I cried. I was

very much into softball this part of my life as T-ball was the first sport I played at the age of 4. I was not

interested in soccer at all, at the time of my first sign-up I was playing both soccer and softball but would

miss any soccer games/practices if it overlapped with softball practices/games. There was no reason for

me to hate this sport as our family is very much a soccer sport family, presumingly I believe I liked

softball more at this time because softball was already a sport I got used to and playing soccer was

something out of my comfort zone. “I already have friends in one sport, why do I need to try to make

some in soccer” was the mindset I thought I had, genuinely not sure why I did not like this sport. Safe to

say the first year my sister signed me up for soccer, I showed up to a total of 4-5 ish practices and 0

games, thinking that would be the end of it. Until my softball coach retired when I was 9, leaving me with

a gap year of no sport, until my sister decided to sign me up for soccer again since my cousins were doing

it. I don’t remember much but the first game I played, I did not know how to play the game at all. My

brother-in-law at the time was refereeing my first game and till this day I am constantly reminded about it.

The first game I did not know what way to kick the ball, having to ask my brother–in-law what way I

kicked throughout the whole game, did not know the rules of throwing in the ball, overall a mess. Though

because I typically do well in the sport, I then was determined to get better and throughout the season I

trained more, practiced on my own with my now brother-in-law, and began watching more soccer games.

In a glimpse of an eye, soccer is an aspect of my life that would teach me so much.

*In this community, just like the article we read about football, we have our terminology. We

have our way of communication, having names for certain things like plays, positions, etc that no one

would understand unless you are in the soccer community. We also have tones to others who look like we

are arguing but to us, we know not to take them seriously. Although I have learned communication and
literacy in this community and how I can use it in life. The literacy and communication we have aren't just

words or phrases being used but also how we communicate and improve. For example as a player, not

everyone can improve in one way, everyone has their ways of improving. The coaches and we teammates

need to understand each other to best improve the other player since it's much more than just yelling

words and phrases on what to do. We improve through motivational speeches given to us by the coaches

or speeches we give each other before the game. There are also other ways we use literacy and

communication.

Another example is not just “during” an important game or “at practice” it is more like the

process that it takes for an important game. If playoffs were months away, we work on communication the

first moment the team is made in highschool. From then on we learn the basic communication with each

other and our coaches. No one improves in the same tempo and the same way. Each player improves

individually so players and coaches not only have to adjust to one but the whole team which takes a lot of

communication. Communication doesn’t necessarily have to be a form of words, I like to say it’s ways to

communicate with another, in any team to build connection it takes communication. During practices is

when we know each player's style along with their strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to a certain

*situation or play, if we know a player in the game is better suited for a specific play, without telling the

team we know to give them the ball since we have trust and communication to understand their strength.

We try to improve our weaknesses during practices so in games we show our strengths. Though when it

comes to the playoffs itself we have to fully understand everyone's emotions and their tones, occasionally

during these games and it's not looking well for us we do tend to yell orders and things out of frustration

but as a team we all have to understand they don’t mean it to hurt us.

During playoffs, games get really intense which is important for us as a team and coaches to provide

emotional and motivational support. This is where literacy comes as important, without a coach speech or

last minute advice, self-confidence isn’t enough in a team sport. It takes all the girls on the fields and
bench to have the confidence and motivation to win against the opposing team. For example, at my first

playoff game in highschool we were down by 3, it was against our rival school as well. During the first

half after they scored their second goal and we had yet to score, the team and coach sensed us giving up.

Even though we tried to fight the negativity, you can’t help but lose hope when you're down 2 to nothing,

right before they called half-time they had scored their third goal. During half-time none of us said

anything besides the girls on the bench telling us the occasional “good try” or “good job”. After we drank

water, our coach was silent until he told us to follow him. He took us behind the bleachers where our side

was at. It was a softball field behind the soccer field's bleachers so it was pretty far from our field. I

remember knowing that he was going to yell at us and thinking about the punishments we would take

during practices, which involved a lot of conditioning. Although he did yell at us, he made sure as he was

yelling that we understood that we know how to play, how to win, and how to catch up. It is true, a

coach's speech is important to the team when there is respect. We understood that even though he was

yelling at us, he respected us as players and for that we respected him. So then during the second half, we

*weren’t extinguished, in fact that speech made us gain our fire/momentum. So then during the second

half when we scored, though we were still down 2, we had a phrase we say which was “0-0” meaning that

although we scored and are down still, act like the score isn’t there so it wouldn’t bother us. Even in times

when we are winning we would still say that phrase since to us it meant the score during the game doesn’t

matter if we play like we haven’t scored, and not get in our head that we’re winning then we would keep

the same momentum. So then, after the game we managed to win 5-3, always saying “0-0” after each

goal, it wouldn’t have happened without our coach's speech and how we perceived it. Even to this day I

remember that game, since I found it unbelievable how we caught up and everyone on the bleachers and

told us they heard our coaches yelling at us.

Now here I am, having been part of travel/ all-stars/ club teams, playing in state, winning valley

championships, getting to be part of varsity all 4 years, and individually making it to the CIF 2nd all star

team which hardly any underclassman can be part of. Since the CIF 1st and 2nd all-stars team are voted
by each coach in the central valley to grant players in the CIF North Sequoia league to vote the best of the

season, having 100 of girls compete with one another. Personally, reminiscing and looking back on how I

ended up in this community, I couldn’t be more grateful. Learning the game greatly improved me as a

player and a person as it touched me to get out of my shell, express myself, challenge myself, and made

me work harder to achieve my goals since no one can do it for me but myself. Life isn’t easy just like

playing this sport, there will always be people knowing you, people who allow you to lose yourself but

pushing through is what this sport has taught me. Always having the mindset of “Prove them wrong,

Prove them you belong here.” Looking back at how involved and how united the community truly is, all

having passion for a ball on the field, is reminding me of all the good times. Being in this community also

allowed me to be okay with vulnerability, pushing yourself can be hard, but is all about pulling through.

Simple words mean a lot, it is another thing I took from this community and will bringing with me

through life.
 Citations

Branick, Sean . Coaches Can Read Too: An Ethnographic Study Of A Football Coaching
Discourse Community.