Mary Lewis

Sally Griffin
UWRT 1102
Discourse community
03/11/15
Discourse communities are defined as a select group of people working towards
the same goals and who share similar values; giving them a purpose. The discourse
community I was associated with for five years was sports, more specifically field
hockey. Field hockey is the second largest team sports in the world, known to be active in
over 100 countries. Field hockey can be dated back all the way to the earliest civilizations
of the world, but the game we see today was created in the British Isles. Field hockey has
been a mens Olympic sport since the 1908 Olympic games in London. The womens
game is a recent addition first recognized at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Men and
women participate in this sport and is now common at many schools. It is set up like
soccer: three forwards, three mid fielders, and three defensive players. Field hockey is an
elven aside game played on a field that is about 100 yards by 60 yards with a ball that is
about the size of a lacrosse ball. Each player holds a stick that they use to play the ball;
hitting it all the way down the field to shoot it in the opposing teams goal. Players also
wear protective gear that is in the form of full body armor with pads, gloves, and kickers.
Players on the field where shin guards, mouth guards, and a eye guard. The goalie also
wears a protective helmet to keep their heads protected from any flying balls.

As we all know, competitiveness is found in almost any sport and can sometimes
make or break your performance on the field. My decision to make how external stress
factors affect a players performance on the field was a very monumental one. I find this
topic to be very interesting and believe that it can speak to many parents, peers, and
coaches who surround players in a sport. Seeing as field hockey is already a very
competitive sport, adding outside pressures on the sidelines such as peers, parents, and
coaches can become even more stressful.
In my research I want to focus on what different stress sources factor in and the
negative long-lasting outcome that they have on athletes. While conducting research, I
came across two very interesting articles: one about the different types of external factors
that add pressure and one about the long-lasting consequences that come from too much
pressure. The first article focused mainly on the stress and pressure that comes from
parents and peers. Dave blank stated in his article, As kids get older and the level of
competition increases in youth sports, some players might realize that their teammates
can run a little faster, throw a little farther, or hit a little harder. The differences in skill
level might not actually be that great, and something that perhaps a little extra practice
time could make up for, but if a player is nervous about looking good in front of their
teammates they might decide it's better to quit and "save face" rather than be thought of
as the weakest player on the team. After I read this I began to think about how the
pressure from peers to succeed can really turn into an internal battle within kids;
wondering if kids are starting to create their own pressure for themselves. Blank also
stated, Is this pressure to perform something that kids are putting on themselves?

Possibly. After all, most Junior High aged kids want nothing more than to fit in with their
friends and classmates.
Being part of sports team is a great way to make friends and fit in with a larger
group, but if a player feels like they aren't good enough to be a part of the team maybe
they would rather do something else rather than look uncool. No one likes to embarrass
themselves and once kids hit a certain age they become much more aware of how they
are different from their friends and teammates, especially on teams where competition is
high. When kids are learning the fundamentals everyone is basically on the same page,
but as players grow and develop athletically little differences in skill levels start to
emerge. And who wants to be known as the worst player on the team? This is very true
for most all kids whether theyre in middle school, high school, or even college. Pressure
to fit in is an inevitable factor of life that can increase when playing sports because of the
expectation to succeed and do well. Its interesting to see how this factor affects the
performance of the athlete either increasing the rate of arousal or decreases ones
confidence.
Besides adapting stress from peers, parents can also add an enormous amount of
stress to someone playing a sport. Parents are the people who have raised, nurtured, and
taught you right from wrong; of course children want to make them proud. Parents
sometimes dont realize that they might be the ones pushing their kids to join teams that a
little too competitive and too high-powered for their son or daughter, and the players
never really feel comfortable being part of that team. Maybe their son or daughter doesn't
really want to play soccer year round, or doesn't like being a part of XYZ team (because

of the coach or their teammates or the time commitment), or would rather be playing
another sport but they don't want to let their parents down. Most kids just want mom and
dad to be proud of them, and if playing on a high-powered team is the way to make that
happen then they'll do it (blank 3). We all have been to at least one of those sports
matches where you can hear that worked up father in the stands yelling at the referee to
Do his job right or yelling at their child to Grab the ball! Hurry! but what people
dont realize is how embarrassing this can be for the child, causing their performance
level to go down. The more embarrassed the kid is, the less likely they are to feel
confident about their ability to play.
The second article focuses on the affects that pressures have on young athletes
such as stress and anxiety and how those stressors can leave long-lasting scars. Bruce
McEwen, a psychoanalyst, stated, Sports performance is not simply a product of
physiological (for example stress and fitness) and biomechanical (for example technique
factors) but psychological factors also play a crucial role in determining performance.
However, every athlete has a certain stress level that is needed to optimize his or her
game. That bar depends on factors such as past experiences, coping responses and
genetic. Although psychological preparation is a component that has been often
neglected by athletes and coaches alike, studies have shown that mental readiness was
felt to be the most significant statistical link with Olympic ranking. McEwen is talking
about while playing sports, a lot of it is.
For the most part in sports, it is episodic, whether during a competitive match
between friends, or a championship game. While acute stress may actually act as a

challenge, if not harnessed, it can evolve to not only an episodic stressor that can affect
one in the long term, but can also hamper one's play. An example of acute stress being,
competitive stress, which the athlete is usually feeling before the game starts. This acute
stress highly affects their self-esteem and leads to a negative emotional response and
tension. Episodic stressors are often measured by the event that they are experiencing,
perception and psychological state they are in over the course of playing the game
throughout the season, or over the years. Episodic stressors causing more of a health
threat then acute.

Citations
Sports Psychology: Motivation, Anxiety, and Focus. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group,
2012. Internet resource. http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=51970