Makoto Abe discusses how the four ways of knowing affected his experience as a volleyball player in high school. He found that [1] reason was important for strategic planning and making inferences about opponents' movements, [2] emotion deeply impacted his and his teammates' performances based on their successes and failures, and [3] language, both verbal and nonverbal, was key to communicating with coaches and teammates during matches to strategize and provide encouragement. Makoto believes understanding these factors made him a stronger player and he can apply what he learned, especially about language and emotion, to motivate and support others in the future.

1. Makoto Abe
Hello my name is Makoto Abe. I am from Japan. I have lived in Thailand for 12 years. And
right now I will be talking about how the four ways of knowing affected my experience as a
volleyball player.
Q. What is your most memorable extracurricular activity you have done throughout your
high school career?
A. Volleyball has been my most memorable extracurricular activity I have done throughout
my high school career because volleyball is something I feel truly proud of since I have
worked hard for a goal. And my goal was to get into the varsity team and even though I was
not chosen until my senior year, I do not regret working hard for this goal.
Q. What ways of knowing relate to this?
Among the four ways of knowing I believe that my volleyball experience applies to reason,
emotion and language.
Q. How does reason relate to this experience?
1st slide: Reason is very important in volleyball because everyone has to be strategic
in order to win the game. There has to be numerous plays to trick the opponents to win
points and my coaches have to think strategically when to place which player at which
position. For example: when the setter sets then the spiker will hit it. However in the second
set, the spiker might instead tip the ball or give the ball to the opponent’s setter in order to
confuse the opponents.
Also volleyball may apply to inductive reasoning. When player X goes and
does a spike, the player Y who is behind player X must get ready to get any
balls that might get blocked by the opposing team. Therefore the
generalization that the ball would go to player Y is formed. Volleyball must
make these generalizations in order to predict the other player’s movements.
Q: How does emotion relate to this experience?
2rd slide: Emotion deeply affects my teammates’ condition in a game. Whenever
everyone feels sad because of a previous loss of a game, then everyone will perform badly.
However whenever the team succeeds then we do better together and are emotionally
stable. Also our successes and failures play a lot with our emotions. When we lose we feel
unhappy but whenever we win we feel happiness.
This idea connects to the James-Lange theory because all my team mates feel
a sense of heaviness in their bodies after a loss in a game. Also they would

2. not talk and would simply sleep or sit down quietly. Therefore these physical
symptoms further effected our emotions.
Q: How does language relate to this experience?
3nd slide: Language is the key to communicate with my coaches and teammates in
order to win the game. Therefore body language helped me communicate with my
teammates and my coaches. For examples, high fives, body touches, and hand motions
helped us communicate various things across the court. Also I have learned that language
also contributes to our emotions. Whenever I was in panic in a game, the coaches or my
teammates will use language to help me calm down whether it was in words or with body
language.
For example my coaches would always praise me when I do a good play such
as: “Good job Makoto.” “Nice spiking!” Or simply a thumbs up or a smile. And
the team captains would always tell me: “It’s alright Makoto” which makes
me relax during a game.
Q. How are these factors important for your experience?
A. I believe that these four ways of knowing had made me become a stronger player.
Q. How can you apply this knowledge in the future?
A. I can apply language and its effectiveness to calm and motivate others in the future. Also I
have learned that emotion has a large impact on our performances therefore I would always
want to think about my emotional conditions as well as my physical conditions in the future.