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Ramel Carpenter
UWRT 1101-002
Mrs. Rines
23 March 2015
The Ultimate Frisbee Club
There are many different types of sports all around the world. From football to soccer to
basketball, sports have been entertaining people for centuries. In my opinion, the world revolves
around sports. Although there are many sports around the world, many people seem to not pay
much attention to ultimate frisbee. That is because this specific activity is looked at as an
alternative sport. Even though ultimate frisbee is not very popular, like any other sport it is
highly competitive and exhausting. The ultimate frisbee club is a quite small community but that
is just one reason why it unique. The players involved in this discourse community are all
motivated individuals and are apart of this club for two reason, to win and to have fun.
Ultimate frisbee is not the most popular sport, but like any other sport it can become very
intense and interesting. Ultimate frisbee has limited to no contact and does not involve a ball but
a frisbee. This is what makes the sport unique and different from many other sports. Points are
earned by throwing the frisbee to a teammate in the end zone. From the information I received
from the two players I interviewed, this sport requires high endurance. Ryan Upton, one of my
interviewees said in the interview, You are constantly running in ultimate frisbee so you need
high stamina but anyone is capable of playing on the team.
According to Swales, all discourse communities are defined by six characteristics. The
ultimate frisbee club fits the six characteristics of some of Swales criteria. In the following

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paragraphs, I will describe how the ultimate frisbee club fits and does not fit the six defining
characteristics of Swales criteria. The first characteristic is A discourse community has a
broadly agreed set of common public goals. Like any other sports team, the ultimate frisbee club
fits this criteria because they all share the goal to win and have fun. As I was observing this club,
I realized that each player out there has fun and enjoys winning. One of the players I interviewed
was extremely competitive, winning was in his DNA and he said Yeah we are out there to have
fun, but winning is most important to us.
The first characteristic is A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common
public goals. Like any other sports team, the ultimate frisbee club fits this criteria because they
all share the goal to win and have fun. As I was observing this club, I realized that each player
out there has fun and enjoys winning. One of the players I interviewed was extremely
competitive, winning was in his DNA and he said Yeah we are out there to have fun, but
winning is most important to us.
Swales second concept is A discourse community has mechanisms of
intercommunication among its members. The ultimate frisbee club fits this criteria because
communication must be strong on a team for it to be successful. Communication is also vital
because players become more aware of what occurs on and off the field. This particular
community communicates through mass text messages and emails to let them know about
upcoming events, fundraisers, cancellations, etc.
The ultimate frisbee team competes and plays to win. Players in this community strive to
become better. The third concept states A discourse community uses its participatory

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mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. To me this is the most important
concept in this particular community because to get better as a player, they will need to receive
feedback from the captains and leaders. In my each of my three observations, leaders and
captains on the team did their best to not only get better themselves but to also make the entire
team better by simply providing feedback to one another. As I made my observations, one thing I

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realized about this sport was that throwing accuracy is an essential aspect to have. This sport
basically revolves around running and throwing the frisbee as accurate as possible to a teammate.
A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the
communicative furtherance of its aims, is Swales fourth concept. Ultimate frisbee can be quite
difficult to understand at first but the more it is watched, it can be concluded that it has its own
flow like any other sport. For example, in football (a more common sport) the difference between
a touchdown and a field goal is pretty obvious. This is why this community fits this concept
because it possess a particular genre. Ultimate frisbee is unique because not only does it fall into
a genre of its own, but it also can be broken down into a numerous genres within it. For example
the athletic side of this sport is a genre of its own, and the comprehension and reflexes fall into
another genre. When I was observing the team, I began to notice they have particular moves,
such as the way they throw the frisbee, that are used throughout the entire community. There are
several ways of throwing the frisbee, some include underhand and overhand. The moves they
performed are what stood out as I observed the club.
The fifth characteristic is In addition to owning genres, LAsta discourse community has
acquired a specific lexis. Sports such as basketball or football use plays to help them succeed.
Each team may have similar plays but they are all called something different. The ultimate
frisbee club fits this criteria because this team has special plays and terms only they would be
familiar with. When I interviewed two players from the club, each one told me about a few of
their plays. In ultimate frisbee, they use terms such as vert stack which is a play that means
each player runs straight or in a vertical motion until one receives the frisbee. Similar to vert

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stack, the team also has a term called CHS, which means Charlotte horizontal stack where
each player runs in a horizontal motion until one received the frisbee.
Lastly, Swales sixth and final concept is A discourse community has a threshold level of
members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. The The ultimate

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frisbee club does not fit this particular concept because there is a threshold level of members but
not with a degree. In this community, there is a threshold level of members because some players
have many years of experience with the sport and some players are just beginning, which are the
leaders of the team. But the main reason the ultimate frisbee club does not fit is because there is
no suitable degree for this particular community.
I never knew that one community could be so close until I began observing the ultimate
frisbee club. Before I began making my observations and interviews, my perspective of ultimate
frisbee was not the greatest. I thought that the sport in general was not popular and was just
played for fun. I did not think that this sport could be taken seriously what so ever until I began
making my observations. My perspective of the entire sport changed after I made my
observations and interviews. I realized that eEach player in this club all share the same goals: to
get better, win, and have fun. The ultimate frisbee club is more than just a community, it is a
family. The chemistry of this team was amazing. But after making three observations and
conducting two interviews, I feel that I have learned a great deal about how unique this
community truly is.