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WP3- Sports Aggression

Article Summary

For my WP3, I chose an article titled “Experiencing aggression in sport: Insights from a Lacrosse World Championship tournament” by John Kerr and Jonathan Males. The article focuses on four different types of aggression proposed by a colleague. The researchers then applied these four types (play, anger, power, and thrill) of aggression to sports by matching each type to a specific and outlined playstyle. After games took place at the World Lacrosse Championship, the researchers would conduct interviews with the participants to gather information on both (a)the player and team’s goals prior to and during the game, and (b)the player and team’s goals following the game. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and then the researchers would look through each interview for instances of the four different types of aggression.

Younger Audience Transformation

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Athlete Contract

I,______________, will strive to compete, try my best, and have fun while playing in the Writing 2 High School Lacrosse League. I will respect my teammates, opponents, coaches, and referees. Within those standards this contract is to be signed by all the High School Writing 2 lacrosse players.

As an athlete, I know it is my responsibility to:

1. Aim to be better at the end of each day.
2. Work collaboratively with my teammates.
3. Effectively communicate with my coaches.
4. Exhibit great sportsmanship and play fairly.
5. Maintain a high-level of safety awareness.
6. Win with honor.
7. Lose with dignity.

As a condition of membership to Writing 2 Athletics, each player must be familiar with the four types of sports aggression and which types are deemed legal or illegal by the rules of Writing 2.

Type of Aggression	Legal/Illegal	Description
Play	Legal	Acts of aggression within the specific rules of the sport. Ex: Hip checks or legal body contact.
Power	Illegal	Intimidating actions in attempt to dominate opponent. Ex: Late hits and unnecessary roughness
Anger	Illegal	Retaliation to an opponent's action.
Thrill	Illegal	Unnecessary acts to provoke an aggressive response from an opponent to find out what ensues. Ex: Trash talking

All athletes must also recognize that all fouls committed resulting from one of  the three illegal types of aggression will result in a penalty detrimental to their team and that aggression can be used positively to motivate your teammates and keep them accountable for each other.

________________________

Signature of Athlete

Older Audience Transformation

To: Parents of High School Writing 2 Lacrosse Players

From: admin@writing2.com

Subject: Pre-season Welcome

Hello parents and guardians of all Writing 2 athletes! We are as excited as you are for the start of the 2016 High School Summer Lacrosse League. This is our fifth annual summer league and we can not wait to get the boys back out on the field. We look forward to watching them battle it out on the weekends and most importantly have fun! Due to increased safety precautions this year, we would like to inform the parents about the four types of sports aggression which could cause your child to hurt himself and/or his opponent(s) while also earning a penalty for his team.

The four types of aggression include play, power, anger and thrill and all of them except play aggression are considered illegal under the rules of Writing 2. Examples of actions/penalties that may have been executed by your son while experiencing one of these types of aggression can include but is not limited to: cross-checking, slashing, illegal body-checks especially to the head and/or neck, spearing, and any type of unsportsmanlike conduct. If you notice your child consistently committing these types of fouls, please remind them and make sure they are aware of the three illegal types of aggression. If the problem continues, please talk with your child and advise your coach to monitor your child. Safety is our main concern at Writing 2 and while we know lacrosse is a dangerous sport, keeping your children safe is our top priority. By holding the parents as well as the athletes accountable for their actions we can strive for a safe and fun summer season. We can not wait to see all of you back out on the field!

Go Team!

-Administration of Writing 2 Athletics

Self-Analysis

I remember a thread of back and forth emails between my girlfriend and Zack regarding the third writing project and how her genre transformation ideas were not fulfilling the criteria for the assignment. She was clearly annoyed and aggravated due to the fact that almost all of her ideas were being rejected by the big cheese. Already enrolled for the same class in the Spring Quarter, I was not looking forward to this genre transformation and could already see the coming frustration soon to loom over my own head as it did with my significant other. Thankfully, this was not the case as I took the advice of my teacher; “When given the opportunity to choose a topic for schoolwork, pick something of interest to you”. Throughout both transformations, I included specific lacrosse terms to engage the younger audience, and inform the older audience while including information about the four types of sports aggression seen in the research article.

Creating a new piece catered to a younger audience out of the scholarly research article would be a challenge, so I decided to produce a required contract written by a sport league’s administrators. Each athlete is required to sign it before playing; something I had seen and had to sign many times before. Just like Losh and Alexander state that, “adopting an identity can be about doing real research – not just putting on a costume” (Losh and Alexander 125), I modeled the contract off of one I had to sign each of my four years of high school in order to participate in varsity athletics. This specific contract was written by CIF, the governing body for high school sports in California. The governing body I created was named “Writing 2 Athletics” which would be hosting a high school lacrosse league. The conventions of this contract which included a list of sportsmanlike actions, an introduction to the league itself, and a place to sign one’s name, assisted me in creating my transformation.

Contracts are inherently boring, and the people who sign them--especially high school athletes-- are known to glance through the contract and sign their name without fully reading the whole legal document. Almost always the contracts are not sport specific and tend to include generic information solely regarding the rules of the governing body. To make the piece less drab, I decided to include the league’s general rules with other useful information displayed in a table that the athlete may find interesting and perhaps assist them in becoming a more informed and knowledgeable lacrosse player. For example, to illustrate the different types of aggression which can hurt or harm players, I included specific examples of fouls that players are familiar with. Next to the type of aggression is an example of the type of foul that was caused by the aggression. Including them side by side solidifies that the players know exactly which type of aggression leads to which type of penalties that inevitably are detrimental to their team.

When I first thought of an older audience to transform my piece to, I thought of my constantly-worrying, scared mother whose son was about to begin his first season of lacrosse. After not allowing me to play other contact sports like football and hockey, she was skeptical about the dangers of this new sport. Losh and Alexander claim everything you write is “influenced by what you know about the audience’s expectations” (7) and while I created my new transformation I wrote to my own perception of a maternal audience who is worried about the safety of their child.

The welcome email written by the administrators of the league sent to the parents and guardians of all players’ main goal was to ensure that the players would be safe and that in this specific season, safety would be a top priority. To establish this point of emphasis I included the four types of aggression seen in the scholarly article written by Kerr and Males. To appeal to the audience of worried parents, I used pathos by including the second person point of view with phrases like, “your child” to “evoke an emotional response” (Carroll 53). The response would not encourage the parents to pull their children out of the sport, but it would encourage a heightened awareness about the safety of the players, which is also mentioned as “the league’s top priority.”

Another feeling that mothers or parents hate to experience is helplessness, especially when their child is the one in danger. By stepping on a lacrosse field, each player is inherently placing themselves in harm’s way, but by giving the parents addressed in the email a task of their own to do, this feeling of helplessness would be alleviated. For example, the parents were instructed to inform their children of the three illegal types of aggression which can lead to unsafe play. They were then directed to contact their coach if their child continued to display any signs of aggression.

While most parents do not know the game of lacrosse as well as their children, I included words like slashing, cross-checking, and spearing that referees announce when informing spectators of a penalty committed by a player. The parent will then be more knowledgeable about identifying the different types of aggression and determining whether their child is showing these harmful and dangerous signs of sports aggression.

Within both transformed pieces I included specific penalties to achieve different goals. In the piece for the younger audience, I used them to keep the audience of high school athletes interested and engaged in the contract that would normally include boring and general guidelines to good sportsmanship, but nothing on a specific sport. The specific penalties were included in the piece assembled for an older audience, to inform the audience of nuisances within lacrosse that the parents may have not known about which also indicate signs of aggression. The second piece also included the use of the second person point of view to evoke an emotional response by the parents and a plan of action to relieve the feeling of helplessness that parents experience while watching their children play a contact sport.

Works Cited

Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis. “Writing      indentplzSpaces: Reading on Writing. Print.

Losh, Elizabeth M., and Jonathan Alexander. "Spaces for Writing.”

Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing . N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
Kerr, John H., and Jonathan R. Males. "Experiencing Aggression in Sport: Insights from a Lacrosse World Championship Tournament." N.p., n.d. Web.

Thlog #8-Thinking Creatively

To start this thlog I would first like to thank Zack for allowing us to pick any scholarly article for the WP3. I was not looking forward to writing a paper based on writing but now that I could choose my own topic, I am more excited than I was.

A lot of class this weeks class was about thinking creatively. Whether that was a definition of a summary or finding other genres to transform a scholarly piece to, outside of the box thinking was required. As of now I started off with a brochure to change my scholarly article to, but I am starting to change my mind. I know that there are way more interesting and creative directions I could go when transforming the awesome article about aggression in sports. A warning label could work, but it may not fulfill the transformation completely. Another way I could go is transforming the article into a brochure for parents of players, but that method could also be very dry.

In class, when we were divided into groups and had to define and find examples of "moment" Chad inspired me in a new way to think about moment. At first, I thought it was obscure and abstract but I then realized that moment is basically like exigence. The reason the author or illustrator adds something to their work will always have a reason because if it didn't they would not have included it. I also found it interesting that moment related to each other device we studied. For example, when Sutherland was presenting her groups word, frame, I realized they were extremely similar. The way something is framed could also be defined by how much is included in the picture, or the moment.

With the quarter winding down, all of these writing tips and tricks we are learning seem to be flying by. I hope that the google docs will still be available in the future as I sure as hell will want to look back at them to check out all the great writing information we've been taught.

PB3A- Sports Aggression

For my WP3, I chose an article titled “Experiencing aggression in sport: Insights from a Lacrosse World Championship tournament” by John Kerr and Jonathan Males. The article focuses on four different types of aggression proposed by a colleague. The researchers then applied these four types (play, anger, power, and thrill) of aggression to sports by matching each type to a specific and outlined playstyle. After games took place at the World Lacrosse Championship, the researchers would conduct interviews with the participants to gather information on both (a)the player and team’s goals prior to and during the game, and (b)the player and team’s goals following the game. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and then the researchers would look through each interview for instances of the four different types of aggression.

Three out of four of the types of aggression mention in the article are also stated as an illegal act within the rules of lacrosse. To transform the original article into a piece digestible for a younger audience, I decided to create a hypothetical “contract” between a recreational youth lacrosse league and their players. A fair amount of organized sports require the participants to sign contracts about drug use, sportsmanship, and keeping the game fair, so I figured another contract that relates to aggression and how each type can lead to different fouls within the game of lacrosse, would be a great way to focus the content to a younger audience. The participant would then have to sign the contract to acknowledge that they are aware of these different types of aggressions and how they will be penalized if they show effects of these types of aggression on the field.

To transform the article into a piece for an older audience, I decided to create a brochure aimed towards parents of lacrosse players. This brochure will include the information regarding each of the four types of aggression, how to identify them in their son and whether the type of aggression is positive or negative. Aggression found in players is often motivated by them through coaches, and I will also include a piece on how a parent can identify that to know that it is just not their child. Recently in contact sports, an emphasis on concussions has taken place so to stay with the times, I will also include a piece within the brochure on how each type of aggression could possibly lead to a head injury or concussion for the player themselves or an opponent. The focus of the brochure will be about overall safety in the game of lacrosse, with sections on the proper equipment players need to use along with a rule guide to inform the readers on how the game is played properly and safely.

Questions:

Are the new genre transformations straying on the side of summarization instead of transformation?

If so, is there a way to refocus the content in each genre to make it more of a transformation or shall I choose another genre?

Thlog #7- The Future

Wow! What an experience my first online class was. Obviously, google wasn't as prepared as we were and couldn't handle all of us editing one google doc and chatting live together. Inevitably, people were confused(as was I) and technology did not function perfectly and as wanted. Despite that, I learned a lot laying in my bed on Wednesday, and was quite content with not having to bike to class.

I found the Disney video featuring the different artists painting the same tree extremely interesting. It showed a lot about how you can take one thing and make your own individual and specific moves to create your own argument or in this case painting. I like how Chad, in his response to the same video, commented almost exclusively on lines and how each artist described what types of lines he was making. This could be compared to moves as each artist uses different lines to paint their picture of the tree. For example, the architectural painting used very straight and simple lines while the painter who used charcoal focused on making the tree three-dimensional which included curvaceous and dynamic lines.

Looking back to the How to Read like a Writer reading after completing my WP2, I think the reading helped my writing process immensely. While constructing my thesis and topic sentences, I tried to use moves such as parallelism to spell out the main ideas to my reader. I also think that re-reading my own paper as a writer made it easier to re-organize the structure. In one of my preliminary drafts the paragraphs didn't flow together correctly and by taking whole paragraphs out and playing around with the order, I finally came across an order that worked. I also tried to make specific points that would stand out to the reader just like the reading stated writers do, I'm not sure if it worked but I sure did try.

My one problem with WP2 was that the assignment description almost gave me too many ideas to write about. I did have trouble finding one central argument that would be the silver lining to all my evidence and analysis but in the end I had trouble trying to include as much information as I could while "keeping it under the same roof" or stringing one main argument that makes the work cohesive. For my final draft I will definitely be looking into making my argument more cohesive and will take Zack's excellent and thought-provoking comments to heart to truly step the work up at least one more notch.

Response to painting videos

Moves from the videos:

• the way the painter held his brush
• how hard the painter pushed on the brush
• what type of paintbrush/instrument used to paint with
• creating a reflection
• creating depth within a painting

The artists describe what they're doing by showing how they paint, and exactly why they paint that. For example, Bob Ross says, "here I pull the brush down to create a reflection effect. The bigger the tree, the harder I pull down on the brush." While they describe their moves, they always refer to what they're painting. For example, the charcoal painter constantly refers to specific branches that stand out to him while he is painting the tree. He then describes how he uses the color white to accentuate those branches that he feels are of extreme importance to the whole painting of the tree itself. 

At least from my perspective in the disney video, the painters direct their viewers' attention to the motion of the painting, and then, the thing that they are painting itself. For example, the architect painter focuses on the structure of the painting while creating simple and smooth lines to keep his painting looking very modern and structural. While he is talking/painting, they show mostly stills of the tree, while when they are featuring other painters, the camera moves around or pans in and out to show a different aspect of the tree whether it is the background or the branches themselves.

Online class journal

My WP2 gave me some troubles but in the end I think it is alright. I am somewhat happy with it despite not finishing it yet. I know I have some work to do to make it a true representation of my best work. I was happy with my analysis and ability to find different moves. I also think I did a good job picking three sources(this did take a while) which were easy to write about. They all had similarities and differences and it was easy to make an argument. I wasn’t happy with my ability to cite the outside readings and include them into my writing because I began to write the paper without any idea of what to include from the readings and when I trapped myself in the library to write the WP, I forgot my course reader. :(

Being absent on Monday, I didn’t receive any feedback on my WP, but I will elaborate on my own questions that I had.

Am I on the right track? Just to make sure I’m not totally going the wrong way. Should I include more outside information or citations? Is my thesis strong and elaborate? Is everything on the same topic and does everything realae back to the main argument?