Volleyball Observation

For my observation study I chose to go to a place that was familiar to me so that I could see it in a new light. I did not completely believe that I would be able to see things that I hadn't seen before, however, it turns out I was wrong. I went to the Sport Hall gym at McMaster and looked at the volleyball players. I myself am a volleyball player so I am there often playing. On the day I went to observe there were people playing pickup volleyball during the afternoon. This is when people of all skill levels are able to come and play. It is supposed to be just for fun, but more often than not, it turns very competitive. I also observed the Corec6s (Co-ed) PlayFun (the lowest skill level) and PlayCompetitive (the medium skill level) intramurals
This is because the intramurals was very structured. It had time limits, a structured points system, referees, etc. The pick up volleyball had none of this, it was just players who came together and played because they wanted to. You could also see this in the music being played. The music at intramurals was set to popular hip hop/pop music I assume from a radio station such as KISS 92.5. Whereas the people from pickup played their own music from a speaker, this music was more electronic, the feeling of a danceparty. You could also see this from the layout of the gym. The intramurals people had all there things in lockers, and even their water bottles were pushed up against the wall in an orderly way. The pickup people had coats, water bottles, food, clothes, laying about. It seemed to be a common understanding that people just put their stuff on floor of the gym, rather than keeping it in a locker. No one seemed worried about their things being stolen because they kept their phones on the floor not really paying attention to them. Showing again, the lack of structure. However, it also showed the that people felt as thought they could trust the people in that environment to not