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Madison Eisner

Professor C. Pearce

RHET 1311

12 September, 2022

Sports Literacy: An Athlete’s Narrative

Lost; the condition of not knowing one's way. A typical reaction towards this state of

being involves the longing of direction. Generally, as a person falls astray, they follow a

step-by-step guide on a map. The map tells them where, when, and how to proceed on their

route. This allows a person to follow a set path from point A to point B. When it comes to

conventional literature, I have always felt lost. I struggled to understand proper punctuation,

conventions, and basic reading and writing. While other kids excelled, and were able to advance

from point A to B, I was stuck at a roadblock. As a result, I never exhibited a spark for traditional

literature. However, I have always been passionate about sports. By being placed in a variety of

sports from a young age, I have emerged in social settings that provide me with crucial life skills,

and lessons. Additionally, I have used sports as an outlet to improve my reading and writing

skills. The sports literacy that I have acquired provides me with essential competency in physical

environments, as well as in the classroom.

My family is very sports oriented. As a child, I was placed in sports from the time I could

walk. I have practically played every sport you can imagine. All of which have shaped me into

the person I am today by building my character, and teaching me transferable concepts.

However, gymnastics and soccer have impacted me the most. I instantly felt at home from the

moment I stepped foot into these activities. Gymnastics was my first love. I competed

provincially from the ages of two to twelve, training twenty-six hours a week. It was not

uncommon for me to spend more time at the gym than at school or with my family. This strained
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my physical, and mental well-being, causing my love for gymnastics to burn out. I dreaded

practice, and yearned for more time to participate in social events. As a result, my performance

decreased. I practiced timidly, and ended up injuring my knee. This influenced my decision to

quit gymnastics. At first, I remember feeling at ease, and excited to have some free time.

Although, I soon realized that omitting a huge portion of my life would be much more difficult

than expected. In the weeks that followed, I struggled to find my place. I was incapable of

competing athletically due to my knee, had never fully engaged in class activities, nor allocated

considerable amounts of time to my friends and family before. I was overwhelmed, and in

despair. However, I found solace in watching soccer trickshots on Youtube. I began recreating,

and inventing my own versions of them. From that point on, my love for the sport increased

tenfold, and it became a massive component of my life. I was able to dedicate considerable

hours to soccer without sacrificing my academics, and social life. I found substantial

achievement within soccer both on and off the field. For instance, this year, I was able to move

to a new country, and experience a Division I lifestyle because of soccer. By utilizing sports

literacy, the capacity to adapt sports knowledge into functional use, I was able to grow

considerably in multiple aspects of my life.

In the process of becoming literate in sports, I have obtained many life skills. Team

sports teach athletes crucial societal fundamentals as they are composed of practiced and

situated requirements. By playing soccer at a young age, I learned early on how to follow

directions, read non-verbal cues, build relationships and communicate with diverse ranges of

people, became immersed in different cultures, and recognized social practices. I use this skill

set on a daily basis. For instance, I demonstrated these traits when I first moved to Little Rock.

Being from a small town in Ontario, Canada, I found Arkansas to be a culture shock. I relied on

these basic skills in order to meet new people, communicate with teammates/coaches, and

become accustomed to Little Rock’s conventions. Furthermore, sports allow an athlete to

convey information through various forms. We are encouraged to play smart, and to be creative
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in our movements. This inspires critical thinking. Critical thinking can be used to make

connections between various contexts through content knowledge and comprehension. By

completing drills, plays, watching film, and honoring new rules, an athlete is engaged and

demonstrates critical abilities. I often resort to sports literacy when problem solving. I tend to

compare my current situation with sports related terms and outcomes as it provides me with a

composed state of mind. Being able to compare concepts allocates an individual the

perspectives associated with critical thinking. This provides athletes with necessary tools to

excel educationally.

My commitment to sports ultimately improved my performance in the classroom through

sports literacy. Specifically, in reading and writing. As mentioned, my family is a big fan of

sports. Therefore, our family television consists of games, highlights, drafts, or anything sports

related. Every weekend, I would watch ESPN’s top 100 highlights of the week with my dad. We

would discuss our favorite plays, and try to predict which highlights would make the cut from our

casual weekly viewing. I made a habit of reading subtitles. In doing so, I picked up on efficient

reading as I would attempt to read the text before it disappeared. I also learnt a plethora of

descriptive vocabulary through my attentiveness towards the reporters. Additionally, I grasped

conventional literacy skills in my obligations to sports outside of the gym/field. I have been in a

leadership role on my soccer team since the seventh grade. As a captain, I answered

messages, took phone calls, and communicated with people on a regular basis. Sports literacy

has directly translated into my ability to communicate in a literate fashion with people of varying

backgrounds, and age ranges. Subsequently, I developed acceptable communication skills. By

reflecting on my ability to communicate virtually and face-to-face, I gained the competence of

conveying my thoughts on paper. In the process, I significantly improved my writing skills. A

requirement for my soccer team involved the analysis of game footage, both our own and

professional teams, through the composition of game reports. I demonstrated significant

improvement in my ability to interpret, and research subjects, as well as my ability to produce a

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successful paper. This translated into my capacity to do so in the classroom. My marks clearly

exhibited this progression. I had transformed my English mark from a 75% to a 90% over the

course of my soccer season. I went from comments such as “please see me after class”, or

“needs improvement” to “excellent!”, and “would you mind if I shared this with the class?”.

Although these comments may seem superficial, they affected my confidence level significantly.

I flipped my mindset regarding school, and pursued courses to my full capability. I began to feel

more powerful, and self-assured educationally. I saw this improvement as an opportunity to

challenge my potential in the classroom, and never turned back.

Being immersed in sports from a young age, sports literacy becomes second nature.

Sports literacy provides a person with many essential life skills. Additionally, sports serve as an

outlet to develop skills in other fields. A skillset derived from sports literacy leads to competency

in physical environments, as well as in the classroom. When a person feels lost "The problem is

that [they] always look for the missing piece of the puzzle instead of finding a place for the one

in [their] hand." (Alina Radoi).