Kyle Gellatly Rebecca Agosta English 1102 November 13, 2013 A Part of the Team:

Gellatly 1

Dorothy Holland once hypothesized that all groups can be arranged into figured worlds where all different people within a group play certain roles (Holland). I took this concept and decided to delve into the structure behind the figured world of the UNC Charlotte Club Hockey team. Examining the players, coaches, fans, and parents as well as gathered secondary research in order to conduct this inquiry. While I conducted all primary research without any bias it is also important to note that I was in fact a part of the group observed while this research was gathered in the months of September and October of 2013. In essence, I attempted to find out what it means to associate ones self with the club hockey team and how different people go about their ways of actually identifying with the team. Methods Used for Research To conduct this research I performed various first and second hand methods of research to gather information and form several hypotheses as well as come to various conclusions. One first hand method I used was the interview technique, as throughout my research I would go on to interview a player, coach, parent, and fan. The primary research method I used the most by far was simply taking notes from my own experience and observations within the team and at events. Being a member of the figured world I was attempting to examine became extremely useful in this particular case. Gathering this primary research became extremely important for

Gellatly 2 my research as I relied heavily upon it to draw conclusions as the field of club sports has not exactly been an area of extreme interest for very many scholarly intrigues. While there was not too much pre-existing scholarly research, or any research for that matter, on the figured worlds surrounding club sports I did manage to find several quality scholarly source. While no research directly spoke about club sports many I found were able to address sports as a whole, therefore I was able to effectively compile this research with my primary research. I utilized Dorothy Hollands Alcoholics Anonymous as my main secondary source, utilizing her theory on the idea of figured worlds. Other secondary sources I found were much less prevalent yet still had smaller roles within the research. All other sources were found through the Atkins Library online website run by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Fans One of the first parts of my research into this figured world was into the specifics of what it meant to be a fan of the team and how these fans affiliated themselves with the team. Typically when a fan shows up to multiple sporting events to support a team they are cultivating a connection with this team whether they are aware of it or not. Over time the individual will slowly begin to identify themselves with the team more and more, until eventually they fully identify with the team and may even begin using collective nouns, including themselves, when referring to the team (Sports Teams and their Communities). Through my primary research I was able to conclude that fans may often have a strengthened connection with the team when they know multiple people on it personally. A vast majority of fans to these games attend because they are familiar with a person/ people on the team ad wish to support them. When having a

Gellatly 3 personal connection to a team member the bond with the team is only strengthened every time the fan attends a game. The team also plays a tremendous role in drawing the fan back to events time after time and fostering the fans relationship with the team. The hockey team deploys several different marketing techniques similar to smaller professional sports leagues to engage with fans and get them to come out to events. One such example is a jersey raffle in which upon entry into the game you are given a raffle ticket and if your ticket is the winning number you are rewarded by being given a team jersey. While 99.9% of the people who showed up to the game did not receive a jersey they were still drawn in to attending the event and experienced a bond with the team as they stayed throughout the game. Coaches The 49ers club hockey team has always had a tradition of being led by experienced upperclassmen and not having a coach with too much power over the team. For the 2013 season though the team decided to place a great deal more emphasis on the head coaching position by releasing their coach of the past 6 years and taking on Jimmy Hartwell to assume the position. The seniority of the team quickly felt as if Coach Hartwell was not the leader they wanted for the team and quickly released him from the position 3 weeks into the season. The team instead turned to long time defensive coach Paul Lappin to fill the void for the rest of the season. These quick changes the past season show how varying the identity of the 49ers coach truly has been over the past few months, as the team has been headed by 3 different coaches within the past 6 months. All of this adding an air of instability to who truly is the leader of the team, whether it is

Gellatly 4 still in the hands of the older players or truly the coaches. To truly examine the coaching position of the team I gathered perspective from both the players and the current coaching staff. First I talked to the players themselves to examine their true feelings about the coaching position within the team and its current state within the 2013 season. Within the group of players on the team there is a general sense of respect for Coach Lappin on and off the ice. Father of 7 kids he is no stranger when it comes to interacting with kids and teaching them how to perform better in sports as well as in life. While this may be how the general consensus when asked about the coaching situation when conducting my primary research I found there to be a different atmosphere in actuality. While the team listens to what is said they seem to not have a tremendous amount of respect for the coaching staff in general as they commonly revert to prior habits when the team begins to struggle, generally disregarding what they are told by the coaches. This is where it becomes extremely relevant that the team is accustomed to just having to rely on individual play as they did in the past rather than listen to and apply the tactics and plays that the coaches have tried to implement over the 2013 season. When the team gets into tough games they tend to revert back to these old habits even more so, this was especially evident in the 49ers two losses to Georgia Tech this season as they fell hard in their 2nd and 3rd games of the season. Second I talked to the coaching staff about what they saw their role as being for this season while also taking my own notes on the coaches role. The coaching staff as a whole agreed that they felt their main role on the team was to guide the players not corral them or their abilities. They say that they have seen a great deal of individual talent on the team and feel that

Gellatly 5 their goal is not to change these players but rather channel their individual talents to meld in with other talents within the team. Coach Lappin acknowledged that the coach has not been a particularly important position on the team within past years and does not attempt to add any glory to the position. He simply says that he wants to convert the coaching position into a more helpful role for the sake of the entire team. Through my own observations I have noticed him sticking to this theory for the most part, speaking when he has something important to contribute to the team and remaining silent when he feels as if the team is doing well and does not require his direct intervention. Parents Being a parent of a child that plays hockey is completely different than any sport in the United States today. It entails a certain amount of dedication and commitment on several different levels to successfully pull off being a good hockey parent. This commitment involves more travel than any other mainstream sport, a much larger financial commitment, and a certain level of restraint to watch your child get hit by other kids multiple times a game as part of a youth sport in which hitting becomes legal at the age of 9. All these factors culminating result in the parents of a hockey player having a great deal of attachment to their sons or daughters playing the sport that is seldom found in other sports to the same extreme. When a child leaves for college often this bond is stretched as the child can move many miles away and the parent may be lucky to attend 10 games in a season when they are accustomed to attending every single one for easily 12 or more years straight.

Gellatly 6 This stage of college is where I began to study the parents of current Charlotte Club Hockey team players and their personal affiliation with the team. Kids on the team call places from Newfoundland to New York to Miami their homes and where their parents currently live, putting a great distance between them and their families. Typically the only chance that these parents have to identify with the team is through seeing their sons pictures of him playing hockey. Though on occasion they will be fortunate enough to see their child play when the team travels close to their home for road games in which they get to hear their sons heckled by the opposing teams fans. Ultimately, I was unable to find a conclusive answer for the question of identity when referring to the parents mainly because there were so many different answers that it was impossible to cluster them all into one conclusion. That being said the parents all do share the same fondness of watching their son play as a child and it is all too clear how long they have been waiting to see their son play another game when they are actually finally able to. Players Within the 2013 Charlotte Club Hockey team there are 6 Seniors, 7 Juniors, 4 Sophomores, and 6 Freshmen. There are players from New York, New Jersey, Ontario, Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, Utah, and North Carolina. The youngest player on the team is currently 18 while the oldest just witnessed his 25th birthday. These factors add up to create an extremely diverse teams where there are several different themes evident when it comes to identifying with the team and also identity within the team. There is no structure to recruiting players into the team either, so it is important to note that all of the players are there of their own accord and are paying club fees to be on the roster, practice, and play games. The 49ers play

almost 41 games this season, playing as far north as Philadelphia and Cincinnati and as far south as Orlando. This being said Gellatly 7 only 21 of the 25 players on the roster are taken on these road trips as there are ACHA (American College Hockey Association) regulations about this. A preexisting identity within the team when I arrived this season was that of the veteran versus the rookie. While I all of the veterans may have been years apart it was apparent that they were the ones in charge of the locker room, and the team in general. While their age, skill level, and interests may have been fairly diverse they all had one thing in common from the first practice of the 2013 season; not being a rookie. While on the ice during games there is no prejudice as 4 of the 6 freshmen are on the top two lines there is a clear line when it comes to off the ice. One particular example would be for bus trips all rookies must sit in the first 3 rows of the bus, and if there arent enough seats the rookies must double up so each veteran gets their couplet of seats. While there are no huge dividers there are numerous small things that happen off the ice just to remind rookies that they still need to earn their spot on the roster. The general consensus amongst the team is that the rookie season is a rite of passage in which you prove your dedication and your commitment to the team. Another identity within the team is the of the ex-junior hockey player. While many players on the team have come straight from high school to UNC Charlotte there are a select few that chose to play junior hockey after high school, taking a year or two off in pursuit of playing hockey at a higher level. Currently 6 of the 49ers can attest to having played at one of these higher levels, all currently juniors or seniors. While this is as not as evident as the veteran versus

rookie comparison it is still clear that these players have a unique identity within the team. This identity can best be seen on the ice during games and practice as they have a certain aura of dependability Gellatly 8 surrounding them as they are constantly called upon in tense moments and moments in which cooler heads need to prevail. These players also tend to identify with the team less strongly than the average other player, mostly due to a step down in the competition that they face no as opposed to when they played junior hockey. Final Conclusions Throughout the two months that I studied the UNCC Club Hockey team I learned many things about team structure as well as structure of the organization as a whole. As a whole there are many different ways that people identify with the team from basic fandom to a strong commitment over the years. Most importantly I discovered that all of these levels of identity can be achieved whether referring to a player, coach, fan, or even a parent. The role of a person within the organization may be different, yet how they identify with the team can be all over the map and is completely based on their own perception of UNCC Club Hockey within their overall identity.

Gellatly 9 Works Cited Grove, Robert, David Lavallee, and Sandy Gordon. "Coping with Retirement from Sport: The Influence of Athletic Identity." Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 9.2 (1997): 191-203. Print.

Heere, B., and J.D. James. "Sports Teams and Their Communities." Journal of Sports Management 21.3 (2007): 319-37. Print.

Holland, Dorothy. "Personal Stories in Alcoholics Anonymous." N.d. Digital file.

Morgan, Alan. "49ers Stomp Heels in Opener." Charlotte 49ers Ice Hockey. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://ninericehockey.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/49ers-stomp-heels-inopener/>.