Case analysis paper

exemplar20new20231.docx

Home >Literature homework help >Case analysis paper

Case Analysis Paper #1

“Pay attention to the ball” is a phase that one of my friends would often say to others when he plays table tennis. It is a simple piece of advice but it is important to do this when playing table tennis at any level. I have been playing table tennis for about 5 years now and I always keep this piece of advice in mind when playing. Take your eyes off the ball for even a second can cost you a point. You might left wondering, “Where did the ball go?” It does not matter if you are only standing there playing at a slow pace or moving around playing at a fast pace, always pay attention to the ball. The ball can communicate to players what type of spin is on it and where it will land on the table. It is up to the players to get a close watch on the ball. In this case study, I will be talking about how the concepts of mindfulness, kinesics and deception show up in the picture of members of the DePaul Table Tennis Club playing against each other. Then I will make recommendations of how to use these concepts for better communication.

Mindfulness is a good way to describe the phase “pay attention to the ball”.

Mindfulness is a remedy for mindlessness and involves paying attention to your schemas, being aware of yourself and tuning out distractions to focus (O’Hair et al., 2015, p.38). Both the players in the game show mindfulness. The server, person tossing the ball into the air, has to be aware of where the ball is and how he wants to serve the ball. He has to think about the placement of the ball and what spin he wants to put on the ball. If he absent-mindedly hit the ball, it could go into the net, off the table or he misses the ball as it is coming down. All this can result in him losing a point. At the same time, the person on the left receiving the serve has to pay close attention to where the ball will go and what type of spin is on it in order to return the ball. The receiver can determine the spin on the ball and placement of the ball by watching how the serve hits the ball as it is coming down. The receiver can use schemas to determine how the server is serving. For example, if the server hits the side of the ball then the receiver can tell that it is a sidespin and can return the ball accordingly. But to notice the schemas, the player has to be in a state of mindfulness. Mindfulness is important because being mindlessness, opposite of mindfulness, can cause problems such as reduced cognitive activity, inaccurate recall, and uncritical evaluation (O’Hair et al., 2015, p. 38). Mindfulness can help an athlete perform better by increasing their focus on the task and reducing distractions.

While the receiver can use schemas to deduce how the server serves the ball, they have to be aware not to completely rely on those schemas. When it comes down to it, they must always “pay attention to the ball”. A server might be using deception when serving the ball. They might think the server will use a certain spin base on how they position their paddle but beware that the server might be using deception and actually is intending to do a spin different from what you are thinking. Deception is the attempt to convince others of something that is false (O’Hair et al., 2015, p.99). An example of deception in the picture is the way the server holds his paddle. The receiver sees the server holds the paddle a certain way and may use schemas to deduce the spin the server will use. However, the server could be angling the paddle a certain way to deceive the receiver and switch up the angle as he is about to hit the ball. If the receiver cannot read the change in spin on the ball fast enough he will not return the ball well. Deception is important because it is an effective way to hide information from another person. Deception is a good way to help set the pace of a table tennis game. Once you set the pace of the match, your opponent will be on the back foot trying to react to what you do. If you are too predictable in your actions then the opponent will be ready for anything you throw their way. You will get nowhere in the game if you cannot keep your opponent guessing your next move.

Paying attention to kinesics is one way to determine if someone is using deception. Kinesics is gestures and body movements that send nonverbal messages (O’Hair et al., 2015, p.101). Both the server and receiver show kinesics. When the receiver tosses the ball into the air it signals that he is serving the ball. The receiver shows the server that he is ready for the server by bending and standing in a certain position with his paddle to the side. Usually in official table tennis games, it is inappropriate for opponents to talk with each other during a match so there are gestures and body movements to progress the game. The spectator at the right of the table exhibits kinesics as well. He resting his chin on his hand could indicate that he is thinking about something and not paying attention to the game. Maybe he thinks the game is boring. Many meanings could be associated with the way he is sitting. Kinesics is important because they can reveal more about person then words can. Kinesics can be conscious and unconscious. As mentioned earlier, kinesics can be used to determine when someone is lying to you. For example, when someone is lying to you, they might look away from you.

Now that I have talked about the concepts of mindfulness, deception, and kinesics, I am going to give recommendations on how to use them. Beside the players being mindful of their actions and those of his opponent, the spectator should use mindfulness as well. He should be carefully observing and looking at what each player do to try to score a point. He is going to play the winner of the current match and paying close attention to the actions of the players on the table will give him an advantage when he gets on to play the winner. He would have seen the habits of the winner already but the winner would not know what his next challenger would do right away. The winner would have to use mindfulness again on the new challenger to be able to learn his or her habits quickly. Mindfulness does not only apply to playing table tennis. You should apply it to every aspect of life to be more aware of the self. For example, you had a terrible experience with something, instead of reflecting on the negatives think about the positives. Thinking about the positives instead of the negatives can help reduce stress, depression, and anxiety while increasing well-being and happiness.

Deception is not recommended to be used with malicious intent such as scamming people for their information. Examples of putting it to good use would be in research or a sport. Deception can be used in any sports, not only in table tennis. At the center of athletic competition, lies practiced strategy of deception. Athletics are required to anticipate and act in all sports, instead of only reacting. Many athletic competitive successes require mastery of deception. Disguising an action in sports is a good way to bait an opponent into anticipating your action incorrectly. They will be out of position from your bait and will not be prepared for the action you actually take. To effectively use it in sports a person must be mindful of their habits when they are trying to deceive someone. If other people are able to pick on your behaviors then you will not be able to deceive them. Being mindful of your habits can increase the chance of your deception to work on others. In addition, deception can be applied to personally aspects of life outside of sports and games such as when you are talking to someone. You could be lying to a person because you are trying to hide something and not want others knowing about it. If someone notices that you shake a lot when lying and you notice it too then you can control yourself to stop shaking. If the person does not see you shaking, they will not be able to tell if you are deceiving them or not.

In the case of playing table tennis, kinesics could be used to get in the mind of the opposing player. After scoring a point, some players would pump their fist in the air and let out a scream. This could potentially cause the other player to lose focus if they believe that you are doing really well against them. Kinesics is good to use in environments where it might be hard for people to hear one another. Such situation to use kinesics is when a person wants to cross a road near a stop sign and a car stops at the stop sign. Usually the driver would let the person cross before continuing to drive or the person crossing lets the driver drive by first. Most of the time they would use hand gestures to signal to the other to go first because. They do this because there is lots of noise around them that makes it hard to use vocal language to tell the others to go first.

All three of these concepts intertwine in some way that would allow a person in this case to win a game of table tennis. They can create deception by using kinesics and they have to be in a state of mindfulness to be aware of how they are going to pull off a point. At the same time, they have to be paying attention to any deception and kinesics that their opponent might be employing. All these concepts are used to manipulate the ball so that is why it is always important to remember to “pay attention to the ball”.

Picture

$C:\Users\davidzhen\Downloads\20160929_191823_001.jpg$

Reference

1. O'Hair, Dan, Mary O. Wiemann, Dorothy Imrich Mullin, and Jason Teven. Real Communication: An Introduction. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2015. Print.