Many people are involved in various Discourse Communities (Swales) even if they do not recognize it. A discourse community is made up of individuals who share common goals agreed upon by most members, has a system of intercommunication between its members, uses its participatory mechanisms to provide information, and a reasonable ratio of novices to experts. The Men’s Lacrosse team at the Virginia Military Institute is one of my discourse communities and is a group of individuals that all have common goals, uses its resources to develop a system of intercommunication and lexis, and is “shaped in part by what their members know without having to tell each other and by shared rhythms of activity” (Swales & WAW).
When walking into the locker room, you quickly realize the 4 core values of the lacrosse team. Attitude is the first term and value of the lacrosse program, this represents the way you present yourself and handle tough situations, whether that is on the field or outside the athletic world. The importance of your attitude and how the outlook an individual has on you can be impacted by a bad attitude is the reason that the lacrosse team and its members are held to such a high standard. The second term is Compete, standing for the competition that the players should have on the field, in the classroom, and in everyday life. Coach Purpura is quick to recognize the competition in the classroom, how everyone should try their hardest to beat the class by getting the highest grade on the test or essay. This does not only apply to the classroom, but also translates to the lacrosse field and the level of competition we should be playing with whenever we are on the field. Effort is possibly the most important term out of the four, representing the work and intensity we should be applying to everything we do. This does not come without a measure of discipline to maintain a constant level of effort. Because to perform at the highest possible level, you need to have discipline in keeping your body healthy and prepare correctly and accordingly for the task at hand. This can apply to a game, early morning lift, or test. You need to work your hardest at everything you do, and that is the overarching meaning of effort. Finally, Sacrifice is the final key value of the lacrosse team. Sacrifice represents the amount of time, energy, and work you will end up putting into the process of completing the team’s common goals. Of course, sacrifice comes with its up and downs, but if you maintain a strong mental heading and understand what you are sacrificing for, you will be accepting of the outcome. All these values come together to form the acronym ACES, the most important term and overarching idea of the lacrosse team.
The men’s lacrosse team is very connected by the common goals that all the members of the community believe in and stand by, but another important part of the team is the system of intercommunication that has been developed. The team has made use of its external resources to include the GroupMe app and interpersonal conversations between each other. The GroupMe app has helped send more complex and team related messages regarding practice and team meetings. It has helped some of the younger players ask important questions to help them adjust to the culture and structure of VMI. The class structure of the school has added to the relationships and how close players in their own class are to each other. Other teams may not room with each other, but most of the lacrosse team are roommates, building on their already strong relationships. The large roster only helps to add more outlets for players that may be struggling. Mental Health has been an issue of increasing regularity in the past years, and with the time strains of the rat line and athletic schedules, on top of schoolwork, it is easy to get down and have little senses of depression. The first classmen on the team helps to maintain a strong leadership structure that adds to the relationship and communication within the team. Some rats have needed to talk with the first classmen to help grab a sense of the whole workload that is division 1 lacrosse and have been very thankful for the opportunity to express themselves to someone who can easily relate and advise them. The leadership on the team is very important to the community and how it is run, because when someone misses a practice or lift, you do not only get in trouble with the coaches, but with the captains as well. This makes a strong sense of leaders and followers within the team, helping develop the relationships and system of intercommunication within the team.
Lacrosse is a game that requires an immense amount of preparation and what some refer to as a “high lacrosse IQ”. This develops a shared rhythm in the activity that guides how a player fits into the scene on the lacrosse field. Defense in lacrosse is highly dependent on how much a player knows about the function and slide package on the field. This innate sense of when to cover your man and when to play a zone, when to split two, and when to help your teammates and how much. With this high lacrosse IQ, the player can be guided on the field and through the systems the coach has implemented by themselves. On the offensive side, this refers to the overall setup and execution of a set play and when to identify if they are open to receive a pass or not. Having a high IQ helps a player immensely in the transition game, one of the most vital parts of a team’s efficiency and how many opportunities they must score. Within the game of lacrosse, there are many decisions that are made based on your instinct and are different depending on the team. During practices, the most vital form of preparation, the coach has a specific plan for the hours of the day where the entire team is together. It is important for the practices to be constant and intense to help physical fitness and to get each player more repetitions. To prepare the entire team for the games and spring season, each player on the team needs to be on the same level mentally to make each practice better. The idea of the team being as good as its weakest player, it is important for everyone to try their best and play their best to make the team much better. To help with all the upside of having a younger team is the ability of the upperclassmen to have a chance to lead and develop the skills necessary to lead a team and for the players to respect you. The coach can implement different plays and sets for each side of the ball, offensive and defensive, but at the end of the day, the only thing that you need is a strong sense of your surroundings.
The terms learned and used on the lacrosse field are particular to lacrosse, if someone was to try to jump into a game at the college level, the calls and lexis used would leave the person frantic and confused. Terms that are different and adapted from the different schools and teams can differ completely, but all have the same base idea. One of the most popular terms is “slide”, meaning the physical movement from your offensive man to cover or guard the offensive player that one of your teammates needs help guarding. The term “I’m hot” can be more commonly referred to as “I’m on” or “I’m sliding”. This term is used on every team in a certain capacity and is used by the VMI defense. Another term can be “coma”, this is one of the main defensive sets for the VMI team but can be used to refer to a certain slide package. It receives the term “coma” because it comes from physically putting the player in a coma, making it a term that the offensive players hate to hear. In a sport where your IQ is required to be high and you cannot fix all your focus to the physical actions, this lexis can be the most impactful and helpful terms you can hear.
In the men’s lacrosse discourse community at the Virginia Military Institute, the common goals of the team, system of intercommunication, and a system of innate behaviors and shared rhythm within the team. Paired with the lexis in the lacrosse community and within the team along with practices and dedication of the lacrosse team and its individual parts. The importance and everyday value of the term ACES should and can be applied to your life every day.
Works Cited
Swales, John M. “The Concept of Discourse Community: Some Recent Personal History.” Composition Forum, vol. 37, Fall 2017. http://compositionforum.com/issue/37/swales-retrospective.php
Wardle, Elizabeth. Writing about Writing. Bedford/St. Martin’s, Macmillan Learning, 2020.
Help Received: Cadets who peer reviewed my paper, Engaged reading sheets, WAW book, Handbook