Watching players engage each other in a water polo creates a feeling of excitement and desire to know how to play the game. The team sport allows two teams to play against each other in a pool of water. There are four quarters, and each side tries to score, and the winning team is the one with the highest goals. There are seven players on each side, including a goalkeeper and the players actively attack their opponents or defend their team. The pool is all deep, and therefore players must swim to play the game since they cannot touch the bottom. A winning team must combine tactical thinking, teamwork and a keen awareness of the game. Water polo is a tough game to play since it’s physical and highly demanding. An understanding of water polo as a hobby can be done using activity theory triangle to get more insight into the sport and how it fits into a discourse community.
Literature Review
Activity theory triangle presents the connections between various elements that include tools, subjects, rules, community, division and motive. It tries to identify the person doing something, why and how. Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, first developed the theory that was later modified by other scholars to its current status. One of the significant contributors was Leontiev (1981). The model helps in the understanding of human activity and therefore, can be used to describe a discourse community (Hasan & Kazlauskas, 2014). An activity is formed through the interaction of the subject and object. The motive of the doer leads to actions that can either be intended or unintended.
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There can be differences between what an individual says they are doing, what they seem to be doing and the actual thing that they are doing. A physical object to one person can be meaningful to another. Activities are likely to have two agendas with the first being the obvious while the second is the subjective objective. According to Leontiev, an activity is a holistic, collaborative, high level construct like teaching, a work project or even pursuing a course. Activity, in this case, should not be confused with whatever someone does daily (Hasan & Kazlauskas, 2014). An activity, therefore, is placed higher than goal-oriented actions as well as operations. Similarly, it should be understood from a historical and cultural perspective.
Methods
Primary data was collected using observation and personal interviews. The process involved observing the players as they engaged each other in the game. The next step was to interview members of the team, including the coaches. An interview schedule was used, and the answers from the respondents recorded. Probing was done to collect additional information and to clarify some of the issues that arose throughout the process. Data collecting was halted once saturation was reached, and there was no new information. The interview schedule was prepared to capture all the data that is relevant to the activity theory triangle; thus, the analysis was easier. The data was later verified, and a comparison made between various respondents to eliminate discrepancies and inconsistencies. The data collected from observation and personal interview were then analysed and used to prepare the report.
Discussion
The tools used by the selected community include the pool full of water, ball, goal posts, verbal communication, sports gear and teamwork.
The subjects, in this case, were the players and the coaches.
The rules included keeping the sport fair, scoring, fun and respect
The community included the spectators and other players who were watching but not playing. Other members of the community included the players, their coaches and support staff.
Division of labour involved teamwork for the players and the goalkeeper, training by the coaches, planning by the organizers and referring by the referees.
The Motive includes the object which is to entertain, score and beat the opponents and perform as a team. The outcome involves the creation of a strong team, carer development, and to maintain physical fitness.
Conclusion
The community passed the theory test since they had all the attributed of a discourse community. According to the primary data collected, the community fulfilled the requirements of the activity theory triangle, as shown in the discussion. Even though the teams can be categorised as representing a small group of people, the exhibit the characteristics of a discourse community since their activities and not day to day but efforts aimed at completing a broader objective.
Reference
Hasan, H. & Kazlauskas, A. (2014). Being Practical with Theory: A Window into Business Research (pp. 9-14)
