James McNulty
EDU-209
January 1, 1999
Mrs Crabtree
Students of the 21st Century For this assignment I observed an “age group swim meet” in Springfield. I volunteered as a timer, which allowed me an up close and personal view of the kids I was observing. There were three separate swim teams participating in the meet, which totaled around 60-80 swimmers. There was 4 distinct age groups that competed: 8 years old and under, 9 & 10 year olds, 11 & 12 year olds, and 13 & 14 year olds. My nephew competed in the 9 & 10 group, and my niece swam in the 11 & 12 group, so naturally I focused more on those swimmers. This observation allowed me a great insight into many of the social customs and practices of a 21st Century student-athlete. At the beginning of the meet, I observed many swimmers exhibiting a great deal of anxiety. They frequently complained about the events they were signed up to swim, and felt unsure about how they would do in the events. Their postures were often hunched over or bunched up, and their tone was often muted. As the meet progressed and they realized that their reservations were unwarranted they became more boisterous, and confident about their next events. Their posture improved, and they began to exhibit more energetic postures and motions when lining up for their events. The swimmers were always very positive and encouraging when interacting with each other, weather they were on the same team or not. The would stand behind the starting block and cheer on their team mates, and congratulate them on a good swim when they had finished. Many swimmers would reach across the lane line and high five their opponents when their event had concluded. There were a few occasions where a swimmer had not swam as well as they had wanted to, and seemed rather down on themselves. Soon after, team mates and coaches would swoop in and offer up words of encouragement, and suggestions on how to do better next time. Most of the topics of conversation revolved around the sport at hand. Which events were the toughest, which events were the most preferred, who was great at swimming butterfly, or who really sucked at breaststroke. (Most negative comments were always in the form of self-deprecation, rather than bringing a fellow swimmer down.) There was discussions and compliments on equipment. “Those are really cool goggles”, or “that’s a cute swim cap”. There was the occasional gossip about teammates and other teams. “Lukas is a beast at back stroke”, “Look at her, she’s gotta be like 18 years old”. Very few conversations ventured beyond swimming related topics. Some kids talked about going skiing on Sunday. A couple others discussed the need to study for exams next week, but the pace of the meet didn’t allow the swimmers focus to drift too much. The verbiage that I observed was a rather specific vernacular related to the sport being played, with little extra descriptive words to add a more generational flair. Students/Swimmers discussed at great length different ways they could be “DQed” (disqualified) attributing the officials to the likes of Nazi’s. This would typically be followed up with the disclaimer “The struggle is real”. Swimmers would describe their or other’s performances as “boss” or “beast” or “beast mode”. If they didn’t do very well they commonly said that “It sucked” or “I died” some swimmers referenced it as “running out of gas” a coach I observed, spoke about their own child as really “dogging” that race. The interpersonal conversations did not really venture outside of normal vocabulary that I could observe. As I mentioned earlier, there was a more anxious tone early on in the meet. Students/swimmers were quieter and reserved during the first few events, sticking to themselves, or their closest peer groups. As the meet progressed, the students attitudes became more pro-social, they would joke around with team mates, and other swimmers from opposing teams, dance common dances (whip & nae nae) and sing along to songs being played over the PA system. By the end of the meet it was difficult to distinguish between the teams, because they had all massed into one large social group. Being an athletic event, and more particular a swim meet, clothing was a hard thing to observe at first. There were 3 teams, and for the most part each team had their own standard uniform swimsuit. Some swimmers did not wear the team suit, but a racing suit that closely resembled their team suit. Many girls wore a swim cap that was provided with their swimsuit, but a good number of them wore a different color or design cap, to add more individual flair. Some swimmers wore sweatshirts, robes or pajamas to stay warm between races. The sweatshirts typically had their team logo on them with their last name on the back. The robes and jammies were often cartoon characters, or animal prints. Even the oldest swimmers would be wearing rather juvenile cloths. Many swimmers sported temporary tattoos, often with their team logo, but some times skull and cross bones and other novelty designs. Most swimmers had their event numbers written on their hand with permanent marker. A number of swimmers took further liberties with the marker, and began to draw designs on each other or write little messages. “eat my bubbles” as a common message emblazoned on swimmers back. I was pleasantly surprised by the sportsmanship exhibited by these young student athletes of the 21st century. I had gone into this assignment expecting to see more negative behaviors between the students, bullying, or teasing, jocular bravado and intimidation. To my surprise they were all extremely positive, and supportive regardless of the swimmers ability, or team affiliation. Often times the youngest slowest simmers in the pool received the loudest applause from swimmers and spectators alike. It is my hope that this small segment of the 21st century student population is the norm for the rest of the students of the world.