“Its a marathon, not a sprint”; “The ball is in their court”; “that was a real curveball” - we use sports jargon as a way to talk about and clarify all aspects of our lives. Athletics are both a means to find individual expression and create social bonds. Sports are also a method of establishing and/or fighting against socio-cultural or political boundaries. Athletes and major sporting events have often taken center stage on issues of social justice, racism, sexism, and political push back against totalitarian regimes. Tommy Smith, Colin Kaepernick, and Megan Rapinoe come to mind as influential figures championing justice. Beyond individual athletes, teams and sports often inform and shape not only the athletes’, but also the fans’ identities (think: NFL and racism, European football “hooligans,” gymnastics and sexual abuse, SA rugby and apartheid). 

In this Writing Seminar, we first read, watch, and analyze stories by and about athletes and the athletic industry. We will ask what sports have to do with social boundaries, economics, international policy, and much more. We will evaluate the role of the individual and the community; inequality and empowerment; argument and sentiment. Using narratives such as Among the Thugs, Once a Runner, or the recent Olympics, we will imagine social identity through other (racial, economic, or gendered) categories. How have sports offered narratives or tools to think through or about the Covid crisis? Why have sports become platforms to support, protest, or even reimagine our communities and identities during quarantine? Each of you will assign a sport or narrative for the class to consider, thus compiling a diverse repertoire of positions. For the final research project, students investigate an athletic or sport phenomenon within a community of their choice or relate athletics to outside issues.
 
This writing course focuses on the creation of complex, analytical, well-supported arguments while honing students’ critical thinking and reading skills. Our rhetorical analyses will directly inform the main focus of this course: your own writing. Not only will we focus on the mechanics of argumentation— developing a strong thesis, supporting your claims with evidence, evaluating and incorporating outside sources, identifying your audience (all with an eye toward issues of style, voice, clarity, and concision)—but we will also consider the writing process itself, from the initial organization of thoughts and ideas, to drafting and revising, to responding to and offering critiques. As we move between reading and writing, class discussion and peer workshops, the real engine of the course will be your collective participation: responding to each other’s ways of thinking and writing will provide an occasion to reflect on your own critical engagement with ideas and arguments.