Blog #8 Community

When I was a senior on my high school basketball team, our school motto was community. Every organization or group we had, people came together and formed this community with one another. During my senior year of basketball, my main goal was to beat our rival school since it was years since we did. 

Looking at the faces of the freshman girls trying out for the team was very interesting. Many different emotions were present like happiness and intimidation. This represents Pecks first stage of pseudocommunity. After a week of practice has gone by, players are starting to form relationships with one another on and off the court. The girls have gotten through the tough times of joining a team, making friends. This represents the theory of chaos. The girls are then letting down their barriers and going outside of their comfort zone. The players are letting out their failures and fears to one another while looking forward to the upcoming season. I saw all of this take place after two weeks of practice and can relate to it when I first joined the team. This represents the theory of emptiness. Lastly, the game against our rival team has finally approached. There are mixed feelings as to how everything is going to play out, but my team is ready for the challenge. As the game comes to an end and we finally win after four years, tears of happiness and shouts of joy occur. The team forms together as a community and feels as if they can overcome any challenge they encounter. This is the last stage in Pecks theory, true community.

Overall, Pecks theory is a good representation of my experience. It shows that a team can start from nothing to form a community and be one with each other. It is important to follow each stage in order to reach a particular goal.