Volleyball – An Ethnographic Drama

Adrian Blackledge, Angela Creese, Dr. Adrian Blackledge, Dr. Angela Creese

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781800413696
• eBook ISBN:
  9781800413726
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Sprachwissenschaft

This book is both research report and performance piece. Here is a team of researchers as they study communication on the volleyball court. And here are the voices and actions of the volleyball coach and his players as they practise and play. Research in process and research findings are represented in a play script which brings vividly to life both ethnographic research methods and communication in the world of sport. This highly original book adds innovation and imagination to the representation of language in social life.

Act II

Scene 1

Six months earlier. A placard is presented, with the words ‘Six months earlier’ (if preferred, a projection of the same may be presented).

A sports hall. Players arrive one by one. They are dressed for sport, in different- coloured shirts, shorts, shoes, hats, knee bandages and elbow pads. Ryan marches around the hall, switching on lights, moving gymnastics equipment, closing doors. Toby runs around the perimeter of the hall. He wears heavy spectacles. His gait is determined and thoughtful. Lukas makes repeated attempts to touch his toes, but hardly reaches his knees. Nat smashes volleyballs into the floor and wall. He is lithe and energetic. Dan practises serving balls over the net. He ac- companies each serve with an enthusiastic roar. Finn takes shots at the basketball hoop. Hubert sits on the floor fixing tape to each finger of each hand. Justin practises diving. Runi practises spiking. Ryan and Toby set up a volleyball net.

Wendy, Ben and Amy sit on a balance bench beside the volleyball court.

The coach, Al, arrives via the door of the sports hall. He is dressed in a black tracksuit and wears a whistle on a yellow lanyard round his neck. As he makes his way into the hall, he is studying his mobile phone. Ryan gives a raucous, ironic cheer.

RyanYEAAAA!! What time do you call this? You decided to join us?

DanAAAAAY!!!

AlI have to work, you know, it’s not easy.

RyanAAAAAAY!!!

The players continue their warm-up activity. Al watches, then blows his whistle and gestures to the players to come towards him. Finn takes an extra shot at the basketball hoop. When they are around him, Al addresses the players.

AlAll right, can you come in closer, can you come in, please? Come on. All right, you can see that we have visitors this week. They are from the university. They are going to be doing research, watching our Friday and Sunday sessions for the next three or four months. They are going to be doing research on, well, I should let them tell you exactly what they … [To Amy] Would you like to?

AmyYes, thanks Al. Hello, my name is Amy. Before we start, would you mind just telling us your name, and where you come from?

AlShall we start with Lukas, and go round?

LukasI am Lukas, from Germany.

TobyToby, also German.

FinnFinn, and believe it or not I am also German.

HubertHello, I am Hubert. I am not German, hmm hmm. I’m a student from Taiwan.

JustinJustin, from the Philippines.

RuniRuni, from Kigali, in Rwanda.

RyanRyan. From the wilds of north Lancashire.

NatNat, from Manila, in the Philippines.

DanDan. I am from Spain.

TobyWhat are you looking for, exactly?

BenWe are interested in how people get on with each other, or I suppose sometimes don’t get on with.

RuniWhy did you choose us?

AmyYour team is quite diverse in terms of the backgrounds of the players, so …

BenAlso, we already know one of the coaches, so …

FinnWhy volleyball?

AmyWe think volleyball will be interesting because the game relies on movement, and the body, so one thing we will look at is how com- munication with and through the body integrates with speech and language.

DanThe body?

FinnWhat will you do? Is it interviews?

WendyHi, hi, my name is Wendy. I am the research assistant on the project. We would love to interview each of you, if that’...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Characters
• Settings
• Text Conventions
• Act I
• Act II
• Act III
• Act IV