1. Graduation Project Script
Me: Hello my name is Emmanuel Castaño. I have been an ISB student since 2007, when I started 8th
grade. In my five years in Thailand, I have participated in many soccer tournaments and been in many
teams since it is my favorite sport. Today I will be talking about how different ways of knowing and
theories we’ve learned in class have influenced me, and my team’s performance during a particular
tournament.
Interviewer: How has playing soccer played a role in helping you learn? What did you learn?
Me: Playing a team sport such as soccer requires a lot of practice, not only on individual skills, but on
playing as a team, and getting along with others. Being on a team also teaches commitment, which, not
only implies that we must go to every practice, but we should also be on time since being late could lead
us to skipping very important parts of the practice, such as stretching. Not stretching could lead to injuries
that affect the team as a whole. Playing soccer has also led me to learning many things from my coaches,
such as, the importance of a good diet, and the importance of staying in shape throughout the year, not
only soccer season. These are life lessons that can apply to much more than just soccer.
Interviewer: How have different ways of knowing affected your learning as a soccer player?
Me: To learn from my coaches and teammates, as a soccer player, requires a lot of listening and learning
through the use of spoken language and body language. I must listen to my coaches for tips on how to
play my position, or how to more effectively do something, and I must learn from my teammates’ body
language to predict their plays and position myself in an ideal place to help them have options when they
have the ball.
Interviewer: Is using language as a way of knowing problematic for soccer?
Me: The problem about using spoken language as a way of knowing during soccer games is that there is
often vagueness in the language used to communicate on the field. The goalkeeper might shout, “Get
back,” during a counterattack by the other team, but he will usually only be speaking to the midfielders.
This may cause strikers to be uncertain since coaches usually tell players to listen to what the goalkeeper
needs. In these situations, the best way to deal with the vague language used by other teammates is to
know what the roles of the position you are playing in are, this way we can try to understand the meaning
behind the language used.
Another way of knowing that I use in soccer is perception. The coach for varsity soccer this year, coach
Wah, always told us that a very important part of playing well is visualizing scenarios and knowing what
to do in different situations. By learning from our mistakes, we can visualize how we could treat different
situations differently in the future and further improve our skills. Listening to the coach’s point of view on
different plays throughout the game also help us learn from the mistakes of other members of our team.
Interviewer: Is using perception as a way of knowing problematic for soccer?
In some cases, we cannot stick to an instruction from a coach. In some situations, being spontaneous is
what catches the other team off guard and puts a team in the lead.

2. Interviewer: What is an example of how one of the concepts you have learned in class played a role in
one of your soccer games or training sessions?
Me: The Yerkes-Dodson law. This is a law that states that the relationship between arousal and
performance are that of a negative quadratic function. Therefore, as levels of arousal or excitement
increase in a situation such as a sports game, the person’s performance increases until a certain point,
then, when levels get too high, the performance decreases. This is actually something that I have seen in
action many times. This year, my NBSL (North Bangkok Soccer League) team was doing well all season
and won first place in the league for the season. When the day of the tournament came, our team was
confident, and we easily made it to the final. However, the other team that had made it to the final had
also won all their games during the beginning stages of the tournament earlier that day, except their game
against us, so they were ready to play us, but were not too nervous since they had played well all day. Our
team on the other hand was taking the game for granted and was too relaxed. Not surprisingly, as the first
half of the game ended, the other team, that was playing some very good soccer, scored a goal against us.
This shows how their optimum level of arousal led to great performance and how our low levels of
arousal led us to falling behind. At half time, our team began to wake up and decided that we needed to
put more effort and concentration into the game. I was playing striker, but I decided that I needed to help
more at the back since I had not used up much energy during the first half. Although it was very difficult
since the other team was at the top of their game, our team managed to get one goal in during the second
half. This led us to going into extra time. Since neither team wanted to leave it up to a penalty shoot out
since they are very unpredictable, all the players were playing to the best of their ability but trying to not
let their concentration lead to frustration or anger.
In the end, I managed to score my second goal of the game by catching a defender off his guard as
I got past him and made good use of my one on one with the goal keeper.