Competition Approaches

As the day of the competition approaches, I decide to observe people’s attitudes and personalities before the event. To begin, I observe athletes as they load the vans to travel to our place of completion. All of the athletes are dressed in a similar fashion because they are told dress “business casual” for travel. Amongst the athletics program, I am told that dressing nice for travel is important and the teams take pride in looking presentable. Everyone is carrying huge crimson shoulder bags and matching backpacks that seem to be overstuffed. They pile behind the vans and shove the bags into the trunks. The bags barely fit into the vans.

          The athletes appear to be have laid-back spirits, but all seem to be in a good mood out of excitement for the trip. The freshman girls on the team decide to take pictures, and immediately start to speak of Instagram filters. The freshman girls seem to be particularly excited to embark on their first trip with the team. 
After about twenty minutes of traveling people start to talk about school. "We have a chemistry test soon, and a long homework assignment. Do you want to work together?". Said one of the male athletes to a female athlete. "Sure. Let's get this chem homework done but the end of the trip". The ones that are doing homework are working hard, focusing despite all of  the distractions around them. Country music comes on the radio, and I notice most of the girls can sing along to the song-so that must mean that most of them like country music. In the passenger seat, the oldest girl on the team Dina is chatting with the head coach, and they know each other really well. They are discussing their sport, and other teams that the team will be competing against. Most of the conversation between Dina and the head coach seem to revolve around their sport, while the other girls in their van seem to talk about other subjects such as boy athletes. It is quite obvious to me that these girls are not only teammates, but they are also friends.

          I also have noticed that the girls talk about academics a repeatedly, and they mention doing their homework on the bus ride. However, none of them actually pull out any homework to do-there is a little procrastination going on.

As the van ride goes on, a few of the girls including Angela fall asleep, and conversation dwindles into a more relaxed environment.