Personal Narrative: High School Football As A Discourse Community

As a freshman in high school, I had nothing else to do with my life but study. My grades were extraordinary, I was awarded the principle honor roll every year and the National Honor Society was inviting ME to join THEIR club. School became so easy to me. There was a loop whole to passing every class, you just had to find and adhere to it. But at this point, I was craving something different, something that would test me mentally and physically. Because of that, I decided to take part in my high school’s football team. Ever since I made this decision, I believe it turned me into the man I am today. Football is a very passionate sport and you have to play with your heart on your sleeve which why I fell in love with it and became a part this community. It allowed me to voice myself and pushed me to achieve my goals. There is no embargo on how you can feel. Taking part in this discourse community not only develops a strong mental and physical will, but it also taught me life lessons like manners, how to be a leader, and how to be resilient when adversity hits at a young age.

Mental test? First thing that probably comes to your head is how to describe football as a discourse community. According to Swales “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals”(Swales, 471) and one of the main goals for high school football is success both in the classroom and on the field for players. Doing so will most likely lead to a scholarship, or an “Offer” as we like to call it. An offer is an official scholarship given by a university who finds interest in an athlete playing on their team, if they feel you fit their programs criteria. To achieve this goal, coaches and teachers work together to set up study hall time for players to get extra work done or to tutor kids who are having trouble in a particular