In relation to doing a cultural studies analysis of the students at Regis University in class today, I decided I would do an analysis on the women's soccer team.

-Practices/rituals: Monday is our off day. Tuesday-Thursday we wake up every morning at 6am for practice. Tuesday is fitness day, so you can literally feel the anger and frustration in the air on those mornings. Wednesday afternoons are spent in the weight room trying to make our bodies more proportional considering we all have thunder thighs and toothpicks for arms. Game day is Friday and Sunday. We always do a walk-thru before games. In the locker room, we must listen and sing to certain songs. One of the girls is the official hair-braider and does everyone's hair. I am the official back cracker. Coaches come in and give the pre-game speech 5 minutes before we hit the field. If it is a home game, we have a warm-up CD prepared. We do the same warm-up before every game. Sunday night is "Soccer girl Sunday's." Everyone on campus knows about it. "It's a sprint, not a marathon" is our quote for the night meaning we start the festivities at 7 so we can have a successful night and still get our sore bodies into bed at a decent hour. Monday mornings are spent recovering and reminiscing about the night.  

-Language: You know, that soccer terminology. Gear it up. Squeeze the space. Take up residency. Get on the line. 120's. 300's. Beep test. 4-3-3. 3-4-3. Don't let balls squirt through seams. Crossing runs. In-swinger corner kick. Out-swinger corner kick. Direct free kick. Indirect free kick. Off-sides. Off-sides trap. Back line. Wingers. Yellow card. Red card. Stay on your mark. Zonal defense. Man-marking. Man on!

-Mentality: The women's team has quit the track record. We're always on top. We win the RMAC tournament. We make it to the NCAA tournament. Even though we are technically student-athletes, let's be real, we are athlete-students. Basically, when it comes down to it, soccer takes over our lives and we accept that so we learn to get shit done.

-Relations: We call our coaches by their first name or a nickname. Head coach: JB or Bizz. Assistant coaches: Kaleen or Kay. Megan or Mons. Behind JB's back, we call him J-Balls, but shhh don't tell him. We are in tight with the athletic administration. Most of us work for game crew so technically they are considered our "bosses," but that is never a used term.

-Institutions: We are a bunch of community service freaks. As a team, we do community service a lot throughout the year. We partner with Denver Scores, local food banks, local park clean-ups, Dare to Play Soccer, and Global Down syndrome Foundation to serve them in anyway possible. Through these outside institutions, Regis soccer has created a great name and reputation in the community.