Discourse community analysis
Cougar Madness “Palms sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.” Eminem’s 8 Mile pumped through my headphone like a syringe into my veins. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my muscles ached with fatigue as the 2012 Clark Cougar Basketball tryouts were coming to a close. The coach began to take his place in the front of the group, so I removed my headphones in preparation for his speech. He began to speak about how great this year’s turnout was. The suspense was brutal and time crawled as he went on. His speech was about to end as he started announcing the tryout results. Three long days of crucial drills and performance debuts by the players were about to pay off. With each passing name my heart sunk a little deeper into my stomach. “Shane Deselles.” Finally! My name had been called! I was now a member of the Cougar basketball team. But to successfully contribute to the team I had to draw on and expand my knowledge of the game, display to my teammates I could be counted on, and prove that I was able to influence and lead my team to do the tasks required to win a championship. Being a member of the Mighty Cougar basketball team, there were a couple of basic skills I needed to know, such as passing, dribbling and shooting the ball. I wanted to show my teammates and coaches that I could bring the ball down the court and successfully execute a play. As a Point guard, it was my job to take the ball down the court, and if I couldn’t do that then I had no place on the team. During game situations where the score is close, the other team may try and pressure the ball handler up the court to attempt and force a turnover. So with the help of the coach I learned to keep my head up, make short crisp passes and to keep the ball close to my side when dribbling. During our game against Brandies I was able to do just that. We were up by 2 with 30 seconds left and Brandies had their full court press in full swing. It was my duty to handle the ball down the court and using the