Browse Exhibits (1 total)

Sport is always played out on the field. The field is where everyone focuses, but much of sports happens off the field and through writing. Writing in sports can help us to think through situations. As Heidi Estrem writes, "We don’t simply think first and then write. We write to think" (Estrem p.19).

If you miss a game, you go to the internet or to a newspaper to get a recap of a game. I'm a sports writer and much of my time is taken up by watching games and writing stories on them. People read stories about sports to learn about certain teams in players. I feel that many of these writings through sports are good examples of using things to solve real Issues. "Instead, teachers should be encouraging students to learn ways to use existing information to solve real, concrete issues' (Johnson-Eilola). 

Another way writing is important in sports is through lineups. Everyday a manager or head coach puts together a lineup on paper and throughout games, that lineup is changed to dictate how that game will go. It's also important for other teams to set their matchups and know how they want to play the game out. 

Writing in sports also has to do with stats and setting the narative of the game. Many times this comes through game notes and where players or teams stand in the nation or their conference by statistics. You're able to read a matchup and preview a matchup through these statistics. Writing lets us explore different ways of doing things. "Literacy is never one thing, with one pre-identifiable set of consequences for individuals or groups. We cannot taking 'writing' - what it is and what it means to do writing - as a given" (Lillis P. 79).

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, scouting is often done through notes. Scouts sit and take their notes down and teams make decisions off those notes. Notes during a game or a practice are highly important to remember what you saw, especially if video isn't available. The legibility of the notes is important and the most thorough notes are usually the ones that lead to the best moves. Through these scouting notes, we are able to go back and make educated decisions through reformed arguments. "The experienced writers describe their primary objective when revising as finding the form or shape of their argument" (384, Sommers).