Literature review:
I will be reviewing three articles, one for each of the three sports that I mentioned for my research. An article by Larry Stone from Baseball Digest, the August 2003 edition came to my attention. “Sign language: the art of baseball communication: the secrecy of relaying messages among players, coaches and managers is vital to the game's lifeblood.” This article discusses the importance of the hand signals that go on in between every pitch. During this gap, many signals are being made through the coaches to the players. The pitching team’s manager relays nonverbal signals to his catcher and shortstop, who in turn, relay the same message, but with different coding, to the pitcher and other fielders. From the opposing team, the manager whose team is batting sends a message through nonverbal behaviour, to the third base coach, who consequently relays that message to the batter and runners on base, with of course a different coding. These complicated signals are sent from person to person during the twenty seconds in between every pitch and according to this article and their research, are the most important part of the game. “I don't think you could play without signs,” said baseball historian Paul Dickson, author of the forthcoming book on signs, “The Hidden Language of Baseball.” “It would be chaotic. The manager would have no way to communicate. The pitcher would be doing anything he wanted. There would be no coordination, no battery as we know it” (Stone, August 2003). This book would be another source for me to look upon when doing my research. Most individuals might not see the importance of signs in baseball, but those who have played it for a long time, like myself, understand its use and complication. Although it prolongs the longitude of the game, the game would not be the same without it.
For basketball, I went to a website where people can ask an expert basketball coach questions about the game. In “Talking X’s and O’s-Ask the Coach,” the following question was asked:
Question 363- I am interested in exploring the different uses and types of non-verbal "play calling" such as hand and arm signals. Are there some basic concepts (like in baseball/softball)? Are the types of signals as varied as the coaches? Let me know if there is a resource showing some examples of non-verbal communications. Asked by Dale Cameron.
To this question the coach answered that for basketball, nonverbal cues can be split up into three separate categories: “post cards or physical signs from the bench, nonverbal hand signals, and silent cues determined by the location of an entry pass or dribble” (Ask the Coach). He then goes on to describe each of these in detail, to which the understanding of them will be an important factor for the success of my research. I will explore these three methods of nonverbal communication in basketball and will give an in depth analysis after my research is complete. There are many other books for me to look upon while accomplishing my study, but it seems a good beginning point would be “Coaching Basketball Successfully 2nd Edition,” by Morgan Wooten. By reading this book I should gain the fundamentals to understand how different coaching strategies are applied.
When it came to football, I came across an interesting article that changed my view on nonverbal communication in this sport. From ESPN’s website, “Coaching Elements,” was an article that became an important factor in my research. This article discusses the changes in communication technology, which have led to changes in communication among coaches and players. Nonverbal communication may still be used on the lower levels of football, where money is not available to use these new technologies. However, in professional football, the NFL, the coach has a headset microphone in order to communicate with his quarterback. The coach can simply call the play, which is relayed through his microphone to a speaker in the quarterback’s helmet. The quarterback can then tell the other players, what play is called, during the huddle. The defensive squad of the team is also communicated with the use of this technology. This was to my surprise because I did not know that coaches used this new technology to communicate with players. This allows players and coaches not to have to memorize the signals that would be needed otherwise (ESPN the magazine). In professional football, my research shows that nonverbal behaviour is not as important as one would have thought.
Method:
I will begin with reviewing the rules and regulations of these sports in order to have a complete understanding of each sport. This will allow me to proceed with my research with the knowledge necessary to carefully depict the use of nonverbal communication. Also, by reading those books mentioned above along with others, I could gain a greater comprehension of coaching tendencies. These books will also give me the expertise for when I watch the games live in person. While watching many games of baseball, basketball and football, I will take notes on the many different coaches from different teams. By watching these sports in person I can focus in on the head coach and view the various ways they relay signals to the players on their team.
For baseball, the most complex of the three in accordance with nonverbal communication, I will have to watch many games. This will permit me to watch every coach and every player very carefully in order to see how they use nonverbal to communicate with each other. Every player on the field needs to know what strategy their coach is implementing so they can position themselves accordingly for every pitch. To view this will seem difficult since the entire process happens over a twenty second time span. Therefore, by watching many games, the process will become clear to me. Most of my time will be spent on baseball, because of its complexity, along with its important dependence on nonverbal behaviour.
In basketball, the process seems to be much easier to view. I will only have to view the head coach and the point guard, since the designated signals are relayed from coach to guard. Because of the simpler use of nonverbal communication in basketball, I should be able to understand the process much quicker. Therefore, I will not have to view many games as such with baseball. Although, basketball has a unique use of nonverbal behaviour, the understanding of it will be simpler than that of baseball.
Football games will be watched many times but on different levels. I will view it on the professional level, NFL, and also at a college level. This will allow me to see where nonverbal communication is used and where technology is used as stated above. This will be an important part of my research because it will show how technology could eliminate the use of nonverbal communication in all sports such as baseball and basketball. Microphones could be made where all coaches and players can talk to one another without the use of nonverbal behaviour, although they would have to be extremely small in order to not impede in the game play. By watching many games of these three sports I will be able to gain an understanding of nonverbal communication during the game play. However the importance of it will come directly from the players.
The importance of nonverbal in all these sports will be shown through interviewing many past and present coaches and players who have all used this form of communicating. By interviewing these people I hope to achieve the understanding of why nonverbal is so important in these games and the consequences of removing it from the game. I am assuming that all players will realize the importance of nonverbal in their respective sports, but I will focus on interviewing, along with coaches, certain players from each sport. From baseball I will interview pitchers, catchers and shortstops, because I understand that they are the most important part of the team and will receive the most calls from the coach. From basketball, my focus will lay on the point guards from the past and present. They are the so-called quarterbacks of the basketball team, so they will receive the most attention from coaches and the use of nonverbal. And of course from football I will focus on some of the most successful quarterbacks in the game and how they used nonverbal with their coaches. Along with quarterbacks, I will interview the captains of the defensive squad from the most successful defensive teams. In these sports, many times the players are given the freedom to adjust to what is necessary, and I hope to find out how much freedom is given to them and how much is dictated through the coach with the use of nonverbal.
Outcomes:
The outcomes that will transpire from my research should show the importance of nonverbal communication in baseball and basketball. For football, however, because of the article that I came across, I believe that on a professional level, nonverbal behaviour may not be as important as I had once thought. The exceedingly importance of nonverbal communication should be shown through my research from two of the three sports that I have viewed.
From baseball, I suspect that the players that I will interview will prove the importance of nonverbal and the game could not survive without its use. If nonverbal behaviour were taken out of the game, players would gain more control of the game play, but would loose the cohesiveness that has been seen in the most successful teams. Players would not know what their teammates are going to do in certain situations, because of the lack of communication that would go on in between every pitch. Players would have to discuss it verbally between innings, which would cause them to memorize what method of attack they will use for each batter. The fielders would not know how to adjust to unexpected situations unless they decided to meet before every batter, which would prolong the game to a greater extent from how it is now. This would be the only way to discuss strategy without the opposing team knowing what plan is being employed, therefore nonverbal will be seen as the most important part of the game.
I believe that in basketball, nonverbal will prove to be just as important as in baseball. The use of a chalkboard to write up plays and the use of nonverbal to call plays during the game are both parts the game cannot do without. By writing up plays on a chalkboard the players can visually see their position and the execution that is needed. All of this can be done within a timeout and with its use, the coach do not have to physically show them how the play is done. They can view where their teammates are going to be and how the play will come about. Plays that are taught to the players on a regular basis all have different names assigned to them, which are signalled to the point guard with hand gestures. The point guards that I will be interviewing should enhance my belief that nonverbal is very important to the game. Again without it there would have to be major adjustments in order to continue playing the game with all players on each team playing together. Coaches would have to show their players how exactly each play occurs on the court in order for them to get a full understanding of how the play should go about. Nonverbal behaviour is an essential part for both basketball and baseball, however football might prove otherwise.
The use of nonverbal communication in football will prove not to be as important on a professional level. In the National Football League (NFL), expensive technology is used to communicate with players. I believe that the quarterbacks that I interview will discuss the changes that these new technologies have brought to the game. I hope to gain proof that nonverbal was a very important part of the game. Some players should remember what it was like without this technology when they played for their college and high school teams. During those times, I’m sure they will be able to prove to me that nonverbal communication was imperative and used drastically. Although, on the professional level the use of nonverbal is rarely seen, if this new technology was not used, the use of it would become important once again.
Bibliography
Demetriou, Greg. “It’s fourth and inches! Handling goalline and short-yardage situations.” Referee. February 2003, pp. 70-71, 73.
Dickson, P. The hidden language of baseball: how signs and sign stealing have influenced the course of our national pastime. New York: Walker & Co., 2003.
McNamee, Michael. “Diamond Spies.” Business Week. August 2003, p 21.
Stone, Larry. “Sign language: the art of baseball communication: the secrecy of relaying messages among players, coaches and manager is vital to the game’s lifeblood.” Baseball Digest. August 2003. (March 20, 2004).
“Talking X’s and O’s – Ask the Coach.” The Basketball Highway. (March 18, 2004).
“Coaching Elements” ESPN the Magazine. (March 22, 2004)
