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Max Pendery Professor Vetter 15 March, 2013 Project 2

Connecting the Genre Dots in Basketball Coaching As many genre theorists have deduced, genre is a product of the social constructs of a community. Like many authors suggest in every genre, basketball coaches alike, discourse community and the way they perceive writing is almost its own language made up of localized vocabulary. After review of five genre theory articles and journal entries, we learn about the genre of genre analysis. From these theorists we learn the difficult and accessible parts of learning a new genre along with the social consequences of past and future texts. These social influences contribute to the idea from Berkenkotter and Huckins article Rethinking Genre from a Sociocognitive Perspective that genre is a dynamic entity that follows the flow of social norms. Therefore, within basketball coaching genres, it is established that the purpose and goals of certain texts are to provide the clearest methodology of the sport useful to the extent of improving your team and preparing them for challenges that lie ahead. In this essay, I will outline several genres within this discourse community and analyze their context and meaning, and hopefully their transitional influence into the physical play of the game. I will then compare and underline patterns between genres as to add to the perspective of the genres themselves. The goal of this essay is to detail these genres as to better define and characterize this community as well as provide this field as an example for other localities. In achieving this goal

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looking through a lens of genre theory, we will have a better understanding of the methods of success of this community and of common communities. First, I will outline the ever-growing genre of player and team scouting reports. This genre appears in the realm of basketball coaching. Usually, an assistant coach or sometimes even a head coach will scout another team by going to one of their games and filling out an extensive scouting report. This report consists of many yes or no and open-ended questions like did they press? or comments: (Appendix A and B). This genre contributes to other genres in the discourse community by giving coaches the info needed to determine what needs to be practiced and coached upon. It provides skills, knowledge, and abilities information on a future opposing team and more specifically, their players strengths weaknesses and tendencies. When this genre is used, it interacts with the strategy of basketball and how to plan, organize, and execute goals and principles in a fashion that will counter the opposing team and players. This is done through quantifiable statistics and interpreted basketball strategies the same way a student studies for a test or an employee researches for a report. Basketball coaches and basketball players use this genre for strategy and to achieve success. Each professional team has a scouting department that uses scouting reports on specific college and eligible players to understand their talent and potential for playing at a higher level. There are often separate writers for team scouting and individual player scouting of a certain team, but the simpler scouting reports can easily be done alone. The writers of this genre must have an extreme knowledge of the game, player stereotypes, and be hyperobservant to properly complete a scouting report. Additionally, the more experienced the writer, the better, because basketball is a comparative game where you need to relate players

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to individuals observed in the past in order to compare transitional ability onto the professional level. These coaches will attempt to write the genre usually in a binder or on a clipboard at a game or in front of a film screen. In this situation, a coach writes the scouting report and then it is read and analyzed by other coaches and the players. Because the audience is usually at the same, or close to the same, localized knowledge level as the writer there is no specialist vs nonspecialist dynamic. Therefore, the sports jargon and basketball lingo used in scouting reports is almost its own language in itself and the knowledge needed to understand and apply this way of thinking is found in general basketball comprehension. The readers of this genre usually analyze this in a conference or meeting room among other specialists to brainstorm ideas for strategy and planning. Like many of the authors in genre theory state, genre is built by revised versions of ideas and documents in the past which also draw from several other related genres (Miller). Basketball scouting reports are no different. Over time, it has been shown that preparation for opponents through scouting and adjusting strategy based on weaknesses and strengths of the other team is what the definition of coaching has become. Coaching is represented by a manager who sets their team up for the utmost success through growth of skill, use of that skill, and collective effort or teamwork. Scouting reports contribute to the basis of knowing your opponent and not simply relying on your own style of play to outplay another team. This is a significant part to a teams success or failure and is vital to a teams victory. Another, possibly more vital, genre a basketball coach would be concerned with is a practice outline. These outlines are to aid in organizing a practice and can be analyzed through viewing Appendix C and D. The effort exerted behind the scenes and in the offseason when no one is watching is what makes a successful sports player or team. So, arguably the most crucial

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part of sports is practice and its intricacies. Therefore, the importance of a well-structured basketball practice outline is essential to performance. The coaches of a basketball team meet and discuss practice schedules for hours before deciding on the correct outline. This genre addresses weaknesses in a teams abilities, cohesiveness, and strategies while adding to a teams strengths. As a coach, the two main goals your staff has are to 1) Get the best out of your players and help them reach their full potential, and 2) grow as a team throughout the year and into future seasons. In this genre only coaches use it to write, reflect, change and grow upon, however, the players also interact with the genre by executing the practice outline itself. The majority of the time, a head coach will lead their staff in a discussion of necessary drills and activities and have a brainstorm of what, why, and how they will be scheduled and accomplished throughout a practice. The writers of this genre need a high level of task identity and task significance. These qualities are essential for the productive nature of practices. The greater the ability of a coaching staff to recognize problems and areas for concern, the more the practice outline will reflect that, and the greater the transition into appropriate drills and time blocks. The readers of the practice outline texts are the coaches themselves; therefore, there is not much miscommunication with what is written. This genre is written during coaches meetings and takes much more time to develop than the time they will take to conduct the actual practice. It is written in an open forum style of brainstorming and collectively decided upon. Many of the world renowned coaches in history have declared that preparation is the key to success. Different coaching styles call for a different looking scouting report or practice outline. For example Syracuse, who is known for their 2-3 zone defense, would focus more on a teams

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zone offense or zone offense capacities. Also, the extent of ones knowledge could affect how scouting reports are constructed. If coach Bob Knight arguably basketballs most accomplished coach-- wrote up a scouting report, it could have extremely in-depth and observant categories that only a select few basketball minds could notice. An average basketball fan could easily only notice basic statistics like points and rebounds. Coaches, by their nature, are specialists in these genres and have already learned the language of basketball. However, there are thousands of ways of explaining occurrences in the game of basketball, so participants find the best way to produce their own point whether it is in practice, during a game or on a scouting report form. So in a way, every coaching staff has their own genre. This is illustrated by Anis Bawarshi in a genre theory article when she notes that, we compose our discourse communities as we write and speak within them (Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff 520). Like previously suggested, basketball has its own language. Therefore, there is an incredible amount of terminology an audience of a scouting report or practice outline needs to know. These terms associate with extremely specific plays, events, players, and strategies. Many coaches are known for these sayings, puns, and expressions. In their collective article Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff point out that genre analysis links patterns of language use to patterns of social behavior (Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff 512). With this thought, we can conclude that the basketball lingo used in day to day operations and through scouting reports and practice outlines shapes attitudes and alters the way we perceive things. A similar text reasons that,genre conventions signal a discourse communitys norms, epistemology, ideology, and social ontology (Berkenkotter, Huckin 497). Some coaches use scouting reports more or with different intent, just as some managers use different management styles. Therefore, studying the genre of a practice schedule or scouting

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report reflects immensely on how the author views the game through their expressions and thoughts put into words. Because of this priority of high-knowledge, this discourse community is clearly among specialists. Genres are the intellectual scaffolds on which community-based knowledge is constructed so therefore, practice outlines and scouting reports are a tool to build knowledge through observation and planning (Berkenkotter Huckin, 501). In a way, these specialists are using these genres to build their knowledge and become more successful in their field. So what can we learn from all of this? Carolyne Miller gracefully explains that, for the critic, genres can serve both as an index to cultural patterns and as tools for exploring the achievements of particular speakers and writers; for the student, genres serve as keys to understanding how to participate in the actions of a community (Miller, 165). In other words, these genres detail the community in which they are constructed and provide a window for ones attempting to learn or succeed in the genre. In conclusion, these genres are tools to effectively transfer knowledge into winning basketball games. There are steps to these two genres that are vital to the success of the genre itself. These steps for a scouting report include: 1) the team plays and the coach scouts, 2) the scouting report is shared with other coaches for review and debriefing, 3) the report is then conveyed to the players in practice and they are told how to use the report in the game 4) execution in a game. The effectiveness of the genre completely rides on these four steps. The better this chain is conveyed to the participants, the more effective it becomes. Similarly, practice outlines have an important step by step process as well. These steps include: 1) the Coach uses all info and knowledge to judge what is need in practice 2) the coach draws up plan for execution in practice (practice outline) 3) execution of plan. Once again, everything

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accomplished in these two genres is based on how effectively the communication between these steps turn out to be.

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Bibliography
Berkenkotter, Carol. Huckin, Thomas A. (1993). Rethinking Genre From a Sociocognitive Perspective. Written Communications, volume 10(4),p. 475-501. Devitt, Amy J., Bawarshi, Anis., Reiff, Mary Jo. (2003). Materiality and genre in the study of discourse communities. College English, volume 65. p.512-520. Miller, Carolyn R. (1984). Genre as Social Action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, volume 70. p. 151-167.

Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D