Ice Hockey... More than just a Game

“HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!” The words that any Canadian would love to hear, especially over the next two days.

As you all would know, the 2010 Winter Olympics are happening on the scenic mountains of Vancouver, Canada, my city of residence for the last eleven years before moving to Singapore. Obviously I’m feeling annoyed about the fact that the Olympics are taking place in my city and I am sitting on the other side of the world where sadly the Olympic fever seems to be at the lower end.

There are many events in the winter Olympics; many dangerous sports and exhilarating proceedings. But there is one sport above the rest that brings unanimously brings all of Canada together in one shot, ice hockey. The love for this sport is felt by everyone in Canada, especially people in Vancouver as they are home to the Vancouver Canucks, a hockey team that plays in the NHL.

Hockey fever is out of control in Vancouver right now with our home teams most loved player, Roberto Luongo (goal keeper), playing the lead goal keeper for Team Canada.

Through all the emotions and fans, the players always need to have the proper mindset when they get on the ice. This is where communication becomes crucial to the sport.

Contrary to many may believe, hockey is more than doing just what the coach says, it is about you’re your own instinct and feelings as well as taking into consideration your teammates. Hockey players must share a bond on and off the ice for their team to be able to work in harmony.

“When we personal contacts, build a connection with, and establish a relationship with another individual to satisfy our social needs and realize our personal goals” (Gamble and Gamble, 2005)All players needs to have interpersonal communication with each other and with their coaches for the team to work in unison. The quantitative approach to interpersonal communication is key in team sports. Everyone needs to communicate with each other to work up strategies and come up with effective plays.

Team Canada is more than just a bunch of individuals from different cities playing together. It is “a collection of individuals who, as a result of interacting with one another over time, become interdependent, developing shared patterns of behavior and a collective identity”. They must all work together in synergy to win games and make their fans, supports, and nation proud.

This is not an easy task, there must be constant chatter between players so they all know what’s happening around them. Hockey is a fast paced and intense game where teamwork is crucial. Formatting which players are on the ice at the same time, picking plays, taking opportunities, and knowing what needs to be done is very important. When members of the group think only about themselves, then it causes problems for everybody so they all must work in harmony, in other words not everyone should be looking to score goals, they should also be looking at passing and taking control of the game.

Once there is true synergy and effective group communication amongst the team members then everything will flow smoothly.

Team Canada has now reached the semi finals where they will face Slovakia. If they win they will be matched up against the US or Finland in a battle for the gold medal.

GO CANADA GO!!

2012: A Man-Made Pandemic?

In this modern day and age, media plays a big role in our lives. We are greatly influenced by what we see on tv and in movies as well as what we hear in songs and what we read in books and newspapers. One of the most hard hitting movies I saw recently was “2012”. It sent a strong message to its viewers suggesting that we have abused the planet without giving enough back to it and now it’s going to claim everything back from us.

The movie “2012” is based on the Mayan prediction that the world will end on December 21, 2012. After watching the movie I felt that it was a very powerful stimulus in telling people to respect what we have now and especially to respect the Earth and all that it has given us.

“The Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago”, a line said by Professor West in the movie indicating that this was indeed a Mayan prediction. However the Mayans may not have been able to pinpoint the exact cause for the end of the world.

“Perception is the process selecting, organizing, and interpreting information in order to give personal meaning to eh communication we receive” , stated Seller & Beall. Throughout the movie these processes took place in my mind. I was consciously selecting the bits of information that were said through dialogues or depicted through the visual effects of the movie. This was then organized into sub-categories. I was then able to interpret it in my own way. The thing that I realized as to what hit me most was a question, why is this happening? Why was the world coming to an end?

It may just be my own mindset, my cognitive schemata so to say, but the point was that in less than 2 years time this might be our reality so why will it happen? Can we prevent it?

As the movie continued more cities were laid to waste, more chaos was caused, and more lives were lost. In the movie, the man playing the president stated clearly “The world, as we know it, will soon come to an end.” Then my question soon came to form. This can all be attributed to the way we treat our planet. We take too much without giving enough back to the world

The second message that this movie delivered to me was that “is not all human life equal?” The movie shows that in an effort to save the human race only the most influential, beneficial, and wealthiest members of society should be given a chance to survive. Is this true?

These were just some thoughts that I interpreted while watching the movie. It was a movie that struck me as significant, and one that we should all learn something from. Many others have also been greatly affected by this movie, some even broke out into tears after watching it and have made a sincere effort to change. But this is not something that may be curtailed by only effort from a small group of people, everyone has to make an effort. Treat he planet the way you want to be treated and we could avoid “doomsday”!

Volkswagon Teddy Bear!!!

I came across this interesting Volkswagen advertisement. It was a very funny add because of its novelty and because it used a little boy with a teddy bear to advertise a car. This add used the 3 methods of persuasion quiet effectively, thus making it a convincing ad.

The advertisement uses pathos because it portrays a little child and a teddy bear. Both are particularly appealing to most individuals . both relate to children , something that attracts attention, it also appeals to most peoples emotional side. Most people would look at the add and go ‘aww how cute’.

There is a distinct novelty in viewing a teddy bear bigger as big as a house. This further attracts attention.

The add also uses a certain amount of logos. By portraying the traditional house in the background, with the mail box and manicured front lawn, along with the little boy, the add indicates that the car is appropriate for families. It immediately attracts the attention of anyone wishing to purchase a family car.

However one of its drawbacks is that the add does not give any real information about the car. It does not even portray an image of the whole car, thus failing to give viewers a definite idea of what the car looks like.

Ethos is used simply by portraying the brand name; Volkswagen is a well known and popular brand, something which automatically lends the ad credibility. Furthermore Volkswagens are often associated with being a ‘family car’.

All is all, this was a very interesting add.

What do you think?