Grammar & Basketball

I am opening this blog with the disclaimer that I am a biased athlete because my favorite sport is basketball.  This is not to say that grammar cannot be related to any other sport, but my basketball expertise exceeds that of any other competitive sport.  For those of you who enjoy/ know the game of basketball, then you will quickly understand how grammar and basketball can be related.  For others who may not understand, bear with me. 

When discussing the key components of writing, many would agree that basic sentence structure and grammar are the most important, fundamental skills that any writer should understand.  I would argue that with time, these skills become second-nature.  When writing becomes an ordinary task, however, I believe that knowledge about fundamental writing skills decrease.  To me, this diminution of fundamental knowledge can be compared to basketball.  As a basketball player from elementary school through high school, I learned that practice means everything.  You would probably think I was crazy if I told you that the summer following my sophomore year of high school, I shot 25,000 shots.  Yes, that’s the right number of digits.  The summer before my senior year, I shot until I made 5,000 three-pointers.  Both were tedious tasks, but the immense practice made my shooting more consistent.  As I analyzed every shot, I thought about the position of my elbow, decided if I had the right amount of leg support, and considered if I held my follow-through sufficiently.  The point I am trying to make is that sometimes you learn to make decisions based on feeling.  I think this applies to all sports and in the Writing Center as well.  If I were to try and explain how to shoot a basketball to another individual, I would struggle.  I know what is effective for me, but many times, I made in-game adjustments that I didn’t even know about.  My brain and body were able to adapt based on the success/failure of my last shot attempt.  With regard to grammar and working in the Writing Center, it’s easy to lose sight of fundamental writing skills.  I think we can all agree that we’ve written what seems like a ton of papers, summaries, and essays throughout our educational career that sometimes explaining the basics is the hardest aspect of working with writers.  We may be qualified based on our abilities to write, but I think our ability to explain why certain writing conventions exist is the most difficult task.  If you’re like me, you decide if a sentence is grammatically correct based on the way a sentence sounds or “feels,” not by grammatical limitations and rules.  So what’s the solution?  I think a little Schoolhouse Rock and practice working with others in the Writing Center will help.  Oh yeah, the book we’re going to read over break should help too!! Enjoy your breaks!