Game Face

Today, January 7, 2006, was the first time I've ever played soccer. My information architecture class played a non-traditional game of soccer at Forsyth park located in the heart of Savannah, GA. This was a successful way for someone like me who knows nothing about soccer, to start getting familiar with the game and go out there and do it. At first I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but then I realized that this was a good thing, keeping in mind the user is not like me, I could understand and relate to someone at this point who truly knows nothing about a soccer game and how they would feel if they were just thrown into a soccer situation such as I had previously experienced. As the game further progressed I started to get the gist and allow my (clearing throat) true athleticism to take over and start playing without thinking about every move I was making on the field such as; wondering if I had been out of bounds, or off-sides, or using the wrong body parts. I was pretty surprised and pleased with myself at this point, after falling on my ass in the first few seconds of the game, I didn't quit and made a major come back by scoring two, count 'em, two goals! Snaps for me :) Not only must we learn how to play soccer, we must become experts on all related terms, and by defining every word I come across will allow me to do so. Instead, before doing that I chose to take on a "do" strategy and take action in this first phase of the process since my outlook about soccer is closely related to the user I felt I can learn more by submerging myself into a physical game and take away an experience of smelling the grass, feeling the sweat drip down my face, and breathing heavy during our half time pow-wow. From there I can then reflect on a past experience and use this new knowledge and relate it to new terminology I come across while defining, so I don't feel overwhelmed with all the gathered data.

Making soccer a family affair: