Sociogenesis of Water Polo

I've always been awed by the athleticism of different athletes in the field of sport that they play.  Although, water polo has grabbed my attention the most.  Its incredible to watch how this sport resembles a mixture of sports like soccer, football and rugby while treading water in a pool.  There is little information on the origin of this sport but it is known that the sport began playing in rivers and lakes sometime in the 19th century in England and Scotland.  The first set of rules was originally created in Great Britain by a swimming coach, William Wilson.  In 1890, the first international water polo game was played; Scotland defeated England, 4-0. Water polo developed in Europe, with teams competing in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Hungary and Italy, using British rules. The US played it differently from the other countries by adding diving under water, playing aggressively, and playing with a softer ball with better grip to be carried under the water. In result of the American style of play, European teams did not compete in the 1904 Olympic championships in St. Louis.  Around 1914 US teams began  agreeing to conform to international rules. The international water polo committee was formed in 1929, consisting of representatives from Great Britain and the International Amateur Swimming Federation. Rules were developed for international matches and put into effect in 1930. Today's rules differ from back then with less rules eliminating the violence within the sport. Only men began playing the sport, then women's water polo became an Olympic sport in 2000. Men still wear team speedoes or a form of it and women have to wear team bathing suites, but now it is required for both to wear colored bathing caps with individual numbers and ear protectors.

Sport, Society & Me

Sports crept its way into my life.  Growing up without a father in Watts California,  Sports wasn't on my mind at all.  I had to worry about surviving everyday and looking after my brother and sister because I was the man of the house for my family. I grew up fast and around age ten when my mom finally was able to get us out of that horrible neighborhood, I felt comfortable enough to decide to leave my mom and connect with my dad.  After learning more and more about my dad each day I started to get excited about playing a sport when I found out he played when he was my age.  I was a little hesitant at first because I didn't think I had any talents to play a sport.  The very first sport I played was track and field which I found out I had some decent speed to go to the Junior Olympics.  When I got to high school all my friends constantly talked about football and knowing that my dad played encourage me to try it out and I got lucky to play D1 college football.  Looking back at what playing a sport has done for me, has helped shape the person I am today by teaching me all kinds of life lessons and a lot of adversity that I would have to push through in life.

Sports in the US is extremely important.  According to the article The Duality of Sport, "... everyone pulls together to achieve a common goal ..." (8) People of different racial groups and social classes all come together as one and work hard to achieve whatever goal they've set.  It has help make an enormous amount of people dreams come true.   Most of the values that sports teach each individual, people can't get anywhere else.  Values that are essential at some point in life include: character, winning, losing, teamwork, adversity, excellence, building new relationships that could last eternity, and etc. Sports produce incredible athletes that society value and hold to high standards. Looking back at the article, "Sport is compelling because it transcends our everyday, routine experiences with excitement, heroics, and unpredictability' (6).  This confirms how much society values sports in the US and how its apart of our everyday life.

"Sport(s) in the USA"

Football, Baseball, and Basketball dominates American culture when people talk about sports in the US.  These three sports brings a lot of excitement, entertainment, clashes, and even bonding within people all over the country. Competing at a high level is demanded by the highly gifted athletes playing sports and these three are well over that expectation. Also, they share a huge amount of people watching them compete against each other.  However, if you were to turn on a television, you would think women didn't play these sports because you would see predominately men playing. Though, this isn't the case because women also play these sports but men are heavily favorites when viewing or even attending the games.    

People show their support to these sports by wearing different  accessories associated with their favorite team.  They take this to extreme levels on game day when their favorite team is playing. Some have specific routines on game day; like waking up early to go tailgate around the premises of the arena where their team will be playing, and maybe having an after party to celebrate if their team wins the game.  People value the competitiveness and entertainment that these sports provide which is why they show their support by attending and watching their games, wearing their accessories, and interacting with the athletes when given the opportunity.

Measuring success in US sports boils down to unusual performance.  All the sports played in the US are filled with unbelievable athletes, therefore, some athletes take their game to the next level to stand out from the others.  This unusual performance produces records being set and broken, leadership,  and winning championships.   Winning is important but going beyond that is how we measure success in US sports.

The Sport Ethic

Every athlete has its own story.  A lot of them experience the same situations with a little tweak here and there.  Majority of their backgrounds are not good which takes a major toll on defining what kind of athlete is bread.  Looking at Hughes and Coakley's definition of sport ethic,  " athletes use this as an exclusive guide for their behavior, sport, and sport participation" (307). Within this principle, athletes will make sacrifices for 'the game', hunt for distinction, embrace risks, and accept no limits.  This create a special kind of behavior that an individual athlete present for all the spectators and no one would know why he or she value these certain norms for sports unless it's shared.  However, we could  theorize from digging for information about their background or look at 'the world' of a coach's philosophy.  According to Hughes and Coakley's article, "Coaches have emphasized the need to "pay the price," to "play with pain," and to "shoot for the top" (308).  This shows that there could be any to numerous reasons on why athletes conform to this set of beliefs.

As an athlete myself, I've experienced all four dimensions of the 'sport ethic.'  I had to incorporate some kind of guidelines to make it out of where I grew up.  Sport ethic is still in affect with me; to an extent.