What can SPORTS teach us?

Before Reading Analysis of Baseball Poem by May Swenson Alone in the Nets Poem by Arnold Adoff Video link at thinkcentral.com RL 5 Analyze how a particular sentence or stanza fits into the structure of a text. RL 7 Compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem to listening to the text. What can SPORTS teach us? Many people consider sports an important part of their life, whether they play sports or just watch. Athletes enjoy being part of a team and competing with their peers. Fans enjoy watching games to see the skill and endurance of the athletes. The following poems present two views of sports. LIST IT Think about the sports that are part of your life. With a small group, pick one sport and come up with a list of what the sport teaches you about life. Compare your list with the lists of other groups in the class. 584

text analysis: the structure of a poem One of the first things you will notice about poems is that they are made up of lines. A line of poetry can be a complete sentence, part of a sentence, or even a single word. Short lines might give a poem a fast, choppy rhythm, or beat. Long lines might give it a smoother, slower rhythm. Poets use line breaks, or the places where lines of poetry end, to add emphasis to certain words or phrases. Some poets use other stylistic elements for effect unusual punctuation, unusual word breaks, and unusual spacing. reading strategy: reading poetry aloud Usually, poetry is meant to be heard as well as read. Many poems have rhyming words, or repeated sounds at the ends of words, that are easier to notice when the poem is read aloud. The emphasis on certain words or phrases is also easier to notice when you use the poet s punctuation and line breaks to pace your reading and choose your intonation, or pitch. Poets might also include onomatopoeia, words that sound like what they mean, such as bang or thump. In addition to helping you hear sounds, these elements can emphasize a poem s meaning. Read Analysis of Baseball and Alone in the Nets aloud. In a chart like the one shown, record places in the poems where you notice rhyming words or repeated words and phrases. Also record any onomatopoeia, or noise words, you find. Rhyming Words Repeated Sounds, Words, and Phrases Onomatopoeia Analysis of Baseball hits/it/mitt Alone in the Nets Meet the Authors May Swenson 1919 1989 Poet of Daily Life May Swenson has been praised for her ability to make readers see what they had only glanced at before. A native of Utah, Swenson moved to New York City after college. In New York, she worked as a secretary and an editor to make ends meet while writing poetry. She won many awards for her writing, including a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Most of Swenson s poems focus on everyday life. Arnold Adoff born 1935 Word Musician At the age of 16, Arnold Adoff took up two new hobbies: writing poetry and listening to jazz. The free forms of jazz influence much of his poetry. Writing a poem, he says, is making music with words and space. Adoff is known for writing in unusual forms, arranging his words in unique ways on the page, and using punctuation creatively. He was married to writer Virginia Hamilton before her death in 2002. Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. Authors Online Go to thinkcentral.com. KEYWORD: HML6-585 585

ANALYSIS OF May Swenson 5 10 15 20 25 30 It s about the ball, the bat, and the mitt. Ball hits bat, or it hits mitt. Bat doesn t hit ball, bat meets it. Ball bounces off bat, f lies air, or thuds ground (dud) or it fits mitt. Bat waits for ball to mate. Ball hates to take bat s bait. Ball flirts, bat s late, don t keep the date. Ball goes in (thwack) to mitt, and goes out (thwack) back to mitt. a 35 40 45 50 55 60 Ball fits mitt, but not all the time. Sometimes ball gets hit (pow) when bat meets it, and sails to a place where mitt has to quit in disgrace. That s about the bases loaded, about 40,000 fans exploded. It s about the ball, the bat, the mitt, the bases and the fans. b It s done on a diamond, and for fun. It s about home, and it s about run. a b READING POETRY ALOUD What noise words, or onomatopoeia, are used in the poem so far? Find at least five rhymes. Find at least five lines in the poem that use alliteration. STRUCTURE What is the effect of all these short lines? 586 unit 5: the language of poetry

5 10 15 20 25 I am alone of course, in the nets, on this cold and raining afternoon, c and our best defending fullback 1 is lying on the wet ground out of position. Half the opposition is pounding down the field, and their lead forward 2 is gliding so fast, she can just barely keep Her cleats 3 are expensive, and her hair b o u n c e s neatly like the Alone in the Nets Arnold Adoff after girls the ball in front of her in the shampoo commercials. There is a big grin on her face. sliding foot. d Now: In This Frozen Moment On This Moving World Through Space is the right time to ask why am I here just standing in my frozen place? Why did I get up on time this morning? Why did I get up at all? Why did I listen to the coach and agree to play this strange position in a r e a l game in a strange town on this wet and moving world? c d STRUCTURE Reread lines 1 4. Why do you think the poet chose to place the first two words of the poem on their own lines? READING POETRY ALOUD What words or phrases would you emphasize if you were to read lines 1 12 aloud? Explain. 1. defending fullback: In soccer, this refers to a player whose position is near the defensive goal or goal line. 2. lead forward: the primary, or main, player on the offensive line in the game of soccer. 3. cleats: shoes with pieces of metal or hard rubber sticking out from the soles. 588 unit 5: the language of poetry

30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Why is it raining? Why is it raining so h a r d? Where are all of our defenders? Why do all of our players do all of the falling down? But Frozen Moments Can Unfreeze and reach for the ball I can reach and jump and dive and the outside poles of the nets. Why am I here? e And I Can Stretch flying to the corner of into the s p a c e between my out stretched hands our goal. My fears evaporate like my sweat in this chilling breeze, and I can move with this moving world and pace my steps like that old movie high noon sheriff in his just right time. That grinning forward gets her shot away too soon, and I am there, on my own time, in the air, to meet the ball, and fall on it for the save. I wave my happy ending wave and get up. The game goes on. f e f STRUCTURE Reread lines 28 35. How does the arrangement of the words and letters help convey the meaning in these lines? READING POETRY ALOUD What words are repeated in this poem? Find at least three places in the poem where words or lines are spaced to enforce meaning. How would you read the poem aloud? alone in the nets 589

Reading for Information MAGAZINE ARTICLE The poems Analysis of Baseball and Alone in the Nets give you a sense of two different sports. In the following article, you will read about the challenges and benefits of becoming a professional athlete. TEEN ATHLETES: Many Kids Dream of Playing in the Big Leagues. But at What Cost? Victor Landauro Becoming a famous athlete may look easy, but it s not. Just ask an Olympic gold medalist or a pro soccer player. They will tell you that playing sports well means hard work and discipline. I ve made a lot of sacrifices, gymnast Carly Patterson told Junior Scholastic. The 16-year-old won Olympic gold in the all-around competition, her sport s premier event. Despite achieving Olympic glory, Carly is actually jealous of her 14-year-old sister s regular life. [Jordan] goes to public school, has sleepovers with friends, and eats junk food, says Carly. I can t do that because I need to rest and eat healthy. Freddy Adu, who plays forward for the D.C. United soccer team, knows firsthand what Carly is talking about. I love playing, but I work very hard at soccer, the 15-year-old told JS. I hear fans cheer for me, and it definitely makes me train harder.... Not Fun Anymore Almost everyone agrees that athletics are good for most kids. Several studies show that playing sports can lead to better physical and emotional health. Through athletics, children learn important lessons in sportsmanship, discipline, teamwork, and leadership. But critics worry that those benefits are getting lost in the chase to become the next star. Too many kids are either pushing or being pushed by coaches and parents to reach the top of their sport. Many kids who quit sports typically say, It s not fun anymore, says Avery Faigenbaum, a professor of exercise science and physical education at the College of New Jersey. They would rather play on a losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team.... Life Beyond Sports Upon retirement, many professional athletes seek new challenges. There is even a Baseball Hall of Famer on Capitol Hill: Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning. Other athletes have become judges, lawyers, business leaders, and teachers. It s important to have multiple dreams, says Jay Coakley, a sociologist who studies sports. Dream of a life that is outside of sports, too. That advice weighs heavily on Carly Patterson. I want to go to college, and maybe become a singer, she says. I m going to keep on working and see what happens. 590 unit #: 5: the unit language title of poetry

After Reading Comprehension 1. Clarify According to lines 49 60 of Analysis of Baseball, what is baseball about? 2. Clarify What happens to the forward s shot at the end of Alone in the Nets? RL 5 Analyze how a particular sentence or stanza fits into the structure of a text. RL 7 Compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem to listening to the text. Text Analysis 3. Make Inferences Could these poems be about more than baseball and soccer? Support your interpretations with evidence from the texts. 4. Evaluate Structure In a chart like the one shown, record places in Alone at the Nets where the poet arranges letters and words in unusual ways. How do these arrangements contribute to the meaning of the poem? Word, Phrase, or Line a r e a l game Shape stretched out, made to be long Effect of the Shape makes me read the line more slowly and put emphasis on real 5. Read Poetry Aloud Look at the chart you completed as you read aloud to find places where you noticed sound effects in these poems, including rhyming words, repeated words and phrases, and onomatopoeia. How do the sound effects connect with the action in the poems? Extension and Challenge 6. Creative Project: Writing Rewrite Alone at the Nets as an article for your school newspaper. You may want to review the magazine article on page 590 to see an example of sports writing. Be sure to include team names, player names, the date of the game, and the final score. What can SPORTS teach us? According to these poems, what can sports teach us about life? Do you share these feelings? analysis of baseball / alone in the nets 591