Brandon Chepenik Mrs.

Davis English 1101 November 21, 2013 The Discourse Community of Disc Golf I observed the discourse community that is the UNC Charlotte Disc Golf Club Team. The team consists of twelve players but only five of the twelve were present at the time of my two observations. I studied the interactions, community specific terminology, patterns, and the demographics of the players in this community through two observations of two separate practices and an interview with one of the players. My two observations took place Saturday the 10th and 17th starting at around 11 in the morning. The players present at these practice were Nick, Zack, Tyler, Tom, and John. After my second observation I interviewed Tyler about his experience in the community and how he got into disc golfing. Disc golf is a sport that is gaining momentum across the world. It is very similar to regular golf, but instead of hitting a ball into a hole, you throw a rubber disc into a metal basket. The scoring is exactly the same as golf: hole one is an ace; one under par is a birdie which is; par is 0 points; a bogie is +1 point and so on. Throughout each round, friendly chatter and words of encouragement go a long ways to make this individual sport feel like a team sport with the constant support and advice from those playing with you. Each player showed up to the Reedy Creek Disc Golf Course with shorts, a sweatshirt, hiking shoes or just plain tennis shoes, and each player had a bag full of discs. Each had a bag either over their shoulder or carrying it like a backpack. The bags are specially designed to hold multiple disc golf discs. Each player carries 15-25 discs on them at all times. This allows them to bring a wide variety of discs for each round with different discs that have different feels and flight patterns. Some are lighter, some are heavier, some curve right, some curve left, some start to go right then curve back to left and vice versa, and they vary in materials and colors. Each player usually has 3-5 putters, mid-ranges, drivers, and usually a roller and a tomahawk-style disc. They also have a backup (sometimes two or three backups) for each disc in case it gets lost in tall grass, ponds, or in the woods, or damaged by hitting a tree or landing on pavement, or they are used to change up their disc lineups to play at different courses and in different types of weather. It is very common for a player to lose a disc while playing a course. Players write their name and phone number on the back of each disc. They do this because it is common courtesy in the disc golf community to call the original owner if you find a disc at a course and inform them that you found their disc. If they do not answer after a few attempts to make contact, or sometimes they will even just tell you to keep it, then you may keep the disc. It is common for people to go diving in lakes and ponds at disc golf courses to look for discs lost in the murky water. At my first observation, a man that appeared to be in his early 40s was standing at a bench by the warm up basket with a box of about 50 discs that he had found in the pond that morning. He was selling all of the discs for five to ten dollars each, and had already sold 20 in about an hour. The discs are typically made out of rubber or plastic and are a flatter version of a frisbee. They have the company logo and the disc name on the front and the back is plain. The discs have a slight variation in the diameter, and they vary in weight to give

them different flight patterns. The baskets are made specifically to catch discs. They consist of a metal pole sticking straight up out of the ground with a metal basket about half way up the pole. There are two sets of ichains (one in front and one behind) that hang from the top of the pole into the basket to the cushion the impact of the discs so that it does not hit the metal pole and bounce off. It is also used to give a wider radius of where you can hit for the disc to fall into the basket, otherwise it would just fly straight over the basket most of the time. There is also a yellow band at the very top of the pole that it is about 4 inches in height that makes the basket easier to see from a distance and through the trees that typically surround the baskets. In an interview with one of the players, Tyler Cerrito, I asked a series of questions pertaining to his experience in the disc golf community. I asked questions like how did you first get into disc golfing? How long have you been playing it? How long have been on the UNCC Disc Golf Club Team? How often do you play each month? What kind of texts are typically used in this discourse community? How many competitions have you participated in with the team? What kinds of terminology does someone have to learn to play disc golf? The first time Tyler played was with his father and uncle when he was six years old. His dad always played with his uncle, and they took Tyler along with them that time. I loved it and have been playing ever since said Tyler. He has been playing for about twelve years now and plays at least two if not three rounds on Saturdays and Sundays and usually plays on Tuesdays and Fridays when he can. He joined the UNCC club team in September and plays with his teammates almost every weekend. Theyve been to three tournaments and one of them was in Georgia a few weeks ago. Theres stuff like hyzer, anhyzer, turn over, ace, drive, lie, tee pad, and stability. He claims that are many more that the can not think of off the top of his head. Disc golf may not be a very popular or widely-played sport, but those who do play it are typically very passionate about it. Although it is an individual sport, the players play in groups and are very supportive of each other and provide advice, encouragement, and criticism throughout the entirety of a match. This gives the sport a feeling of being on a team and not just pure competition. The sport is expanding rapidly and will continue to gain more support in the near future. This team-like individual sport is extremely fun to play and very easy to learn and is a great pass time for individuals or groups.