I have been playing soccer for nearly 18 years and my first performance in a play was 11 years ago. I've been playing soccer and acting ever since. The amount of times I have heard from a soccer teammate that theater people are "annoying" and the amount of times I've heard theater kids say people who play sports are mostly "douchey" is staggering. Anytime sports are mentioned around a theater club, people would always joke about how they are "so good at sportball" and the only thing many of my teammates knew about acting was the line, "To be or not to be." There seems to be a very large disconnect between athletes and thespians.
As an athlete who is also a theater major, I'm here to say that both activities are made up of the same types of people, and it's time to break down the idea that they are so different. What may seem to be two completely separate sets of people and two different worlds, are really full of similarities. Here are four ways the groups are more similar than different.
1. The Head Coach And The Director
Both athletics and theater have someone overseeing the group and making a bulk of the decisions. Sports teams have a head coach and theater productions have a director. Both of these people have a vision of how they want their group to perform.
With soccer, the head coach is responsible for everything including, but not limited to, planning practice, who plays in games, formations/plays (simply put, how people move on the field), helping players develop their game, having an overall vision for where they want the team to be at certain points of the season and how to perform come game time.
With theater, the director is responsible for everything including, but not limited to, planning rehearsals, casting the show, blocking (simply put, how people move on the stage), helping actors develop their characters, having an overall vision of where they want the cast to be at certain points of the rehearsal process, and how to perform come showtime.
Sound similar? It's because they are. They both figure out the best people to get the jobs done that they need done, and coach/direct them to fit their visions.
2. Assistant Coaches And Production/Tech Crew
Both sides also have a support team that helps with a specific aspect of training and learning. In soccer there are goalie trainers, assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers and a whole support system to help the team in different ways. In theater you have costumers, choreographers, assistant directors, lighting designers and a tech crew supporting from behind the scenes (stage managers could also fit here, but I'll get to them in a minute). Coaches and directors have a vision of what they want accomplished, and the assistant coaches and production/tech crews are a driving force in helping make those things happen. It's a community of people working toward the same goals.
3. Referees And Stage Managers
Every activity has a group of people who don't quite get the recognition they deserve. Referees and stage managers are these people in athletics and theater respectively. They are the people who make the game or show run smoothly. They must be aware of everything that is happening and know the ins and outs of everything going on. They have an important role to play, but also seem to be the ones who take the most heat. You lost a game? Must be the refs' fault. What? An actor moved somebody else's prop and broke it? It must be the stage managers fault. They are the ones who know what is going more than anybody and they are always the first to receive the blame when things go wrong. At the end of the day, they are one of the main reasons that games and shows run (mostly) smoothly, so always shake the refs hand and thank your stage manager.
4. The Team And The Cast
Finally, there's the people that make up the team and the cast. There really isn't a way that a sports team and the cast of a show are different. At the end of the day they are both incredibly committed groups of people who are working together towards a common goal. They are passionate, hard working, and self-sacrificing people who give up so much of their time and energy to throw themselves into what makes them happy. Neither is easy, but both are rewarding.
In addition to all of the similarities of the people, there is a lot learned through both. Leadership, community and teamwork are just a few. No matter how different people may seem from the outside, changing your perspective ever so slightly can open up a whole new way of thinking and even change how you view others for the better.
