Hunter Shirey

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1101
11/23/14
My first draft was very rushed. I had a lot of things going on at the time and I was struggling to
create a good paper. I was still missing two of the bigger elements to my paper that include lexis
and level of members. I knew I needed big changes for my final draft, and through the comments
made during the small group meeting, I feel like I have created a very nicely written paper.
Flag Football
In college it seems like everyone is looking for that one extracurricular activity to spark
their interest. Many do Greek life, clubs, or even recreational sports. What all these things have
in common are their ability to bring people together for the same cause. If you take a ride down
John Kirk Road at night you will see the bright lights to the east. These lights put a distinct glare
onto the fields of UNCCs recreational fields. The green fields have white lines that break the big
field into smaller fields. You will see people often throwing a ball or the frisbee, or maybe they
are playing soccer. The shouts of students playing games are heard through the night along with
the whistles of the referees. You will see one game that captures the excitement of everyone
involved, and that game is flag football. My league being the competitive male league, I will be
exploring this glorious sport as a discourse community and why it is so captivating.
Before I got my data I had to figure out what a discourse community is. In class we read
what John Swales, a professor at the University of Michigan, had to say about discourse
communities. We learned that there are six characteristics that define a discourse community:
common goals, intercommunication, participatory mechanism, different genres, lexis, and level

of members. Participatory mechanisms are how the people provide feedback to each other.
Genres include the types of communications such as verbal communication, text messages, email, etc. Lexis is the stock of language or code words that the people of the community must
know. There are levels of members in each community that shows who has been around the
longest and who is a rookie. All of these characteristics are put into the discourse community
found in flag football
To find the information I needed I observed other peoples games, and since I am in the
league I was able to get an inside view to what really goes on in between the lines. During my
research my team played one regular season game and two playoff games. It was great to see
both types of games, because playoffs bring a whole different type of atmosphere to the game. I
also interviewed one of my teammates named Cam Sweet to get a more justified view from
everyone out on the field. Since Cam was unable to take part in the playoff games due to illness,
he was able to give me a view of the game from the sideline as a coach. With the help of Cam,
my observations of other games and my observations of my own games, I was able to fill out the
six different types of characteristics found in flag football.
My first observation from when I walked out onto the turf field was the common goal. It
was clear. You must win. I could tell, because I saw that kids had bought cleats worth upwards
of $100. I saw kids wearing gloves that are wore by professional athletes. I saw teams showing
up an hour before their game to practice plays, which is not typically seen in the more for fun
backyard football. During the game is where you get to see more characteristics. I witnessed a lot
of intercommunications from other teams. One team had their receivers raise their hand at the
quarterback if they saw that they had a smaller guy, or a slower guy on them so that the
quarterback knew that they were going deep. Sometimes the receivers before the play would run

behind the quarterback to quietly tell him a weakness in the defense. The receivers werent the
only ones using intercommunication. The quarterback would point out to the lineman if he saw a
guy on the defense that was getting ready to blitz. Also, when the quarterback would scramble
you would see him point at the receiver to either block so that he could run, or to get open to be
thrown a pass. I also noticed after playing a team that used a lot of intercommunication that it
was a necessity to make yourself into the best team possible, because we got mercy ruled by that
team.
Participatory mechanism was used for teammates to get on the same page so that when
they were on the field nothing got messed up. Using face to face conversation, teams would
create gameplans on attacking a different team. In between quarters they would make
adjustments based on what is going on out on the field.
When it came to the genres on the flag football field there werent that many. However,
to play in the league at UNCC you must read up on the rules of the league then pass an online
test that consist of twenty questions. This test was not easy though. You are not allowed to miss a
question or you will have to restart, and it does not tell you how many questions you miss.
All the players out on the gridiron know the typical lingo when it comes to football.
Everyone out there knows go deep means run as far as you can and catch the ball. However,
every team has their own set words that can only relate to the players on their team. Whenever
our coach says man up, our team knows that our defenders will guard one person on the other
team and only that person, but sometimes coach will say zone. Zone means that we will have two
defenders that have any receiver going deep, we will have two defenders watching the sides of
the field, and we will have one person watching the middle of the field. Whenever someone
comes into your area it is your responsibility to guard them. Whenever we are in man coverage

and the receivers cross over one defender will yell switch. This tells the other defender to switch
and defend the receiver that has come into his lane. On offense the receivers will tell each other
cross before the play has started. This allows the other receiver to know that he is about to cut in
front of him and try to get open. Our quarterback uses the most obscure language to
communicate with his receivers. Before the play the quarterback can read the defense. If he sees
that the defense is rushing him he will shout Blitz! As a receiver, this tells me I must run a
short route, because the quarterback may not have that much time to deliver the ball. The
quarterback also has the ability to move players around. If he shouts Motion! the receiver will
run down the line of scrimmage to the other side of the field. Although the language our team
uses is obscure, it brings the team together to understand exactly what we are trying to do on
every single play.
When it comes to level of members it is pretty blatant when you are playing the game.
The new players are often seen making most of the mistakes. For instance, I am a newcomer and
I was unaware of the rule that you may not have your arms below your waist, this is called flag
guarding. So our first game I was called for flag guarding at least ten times. I was just so used to
giving a stiff arm to keep myself away from the defender. Newcomers also have trouble getting
the lexis. They are often seen saying, What does that mean? or How was I supposed to know
you were expecting me to do that? The older guys seem to be the most competitive, because
they dont have many years left of playing the game. They can be seen getting frustrated with the
newcomers or throwing their hands up in the air out of frustration. My head coach, who we
called Conde, would always be instructing the new players and correcting their mishaps. Also, it
was easy to tell if who we were playing were seniors, because they would be so in synch. They

would know exactly where each other would be on the field. Experience is most definitely a big
part of the game and a big part of achieving your goal of winning the championship.
The discourse community of competitive flag football is everything I could have asked
for and more. All the elements of the game are show in a distinct and proper matter and proves to
be a strong community. Through the intercommunications, participatory mechanisms, genres,
lexis, and the level of members, the common goal is tough to achieve. Only one team can reach
the goal. That is clear. Win the championship.

Works Cited
Cam Sweet. Interview.
Swales, John. The Concept of a Discourse Community.