7A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1) The Opportunity: There is a need for a Men's Soccer team at the University of Florida.
2) At the University of Florida, there are many collegiate sports that they compete in such as football, baseball, basketball, etc... One sport that seems to be missing is Men's soccer. There is women's soccer but the absence of a men's soccer team is felt by the community.

• Who? The student body of the University of Florida as well as Florida Gator fans
• What? They have the absence of a Men's Soccer team to play for, cheer for, and have a community for.
• Why? People have the need for community

3) Testing the Hypothesis

• Testing the Who?
• After looking at the who, I think we can expand this. It is not just limited to the student body and fans of the Gators, but it also extends to the future Gators that will attend. It also extends to soccer players that would like to play at University of Florida but must go elsewhere because they do not hold a Men's soccer program. It also can extend past Florida Gator fans because opposing fans needs will be met in games, experiences, rivalries, etc...
• Testing the What?
• I do believe there is a boundary for the what because obviously one particular sport program of the university will have its limits but it will provide a community that attends, cheers, rallies around a program like we see in football, basketball, softball, etc... Though this will not transcend the most popular sports on campus it will no doubt be able to satisfy the needs of many people.
• Testing the Why?
• Many people have this need because they long to join a community or group like we see with other organizations and sports around the country and world. Others have this need because soccer is their favorite sport and perhaps our women's program is not sufficient for them. Others may have the need because they need something to do around campus. 

4) For my five interviewees, I choose a couple University of Florida students, a die hard Gator fan, a casual Gator fan and a University of Florida alumni.

In a summary of all these interviews, I found that there is a need for a Men's soccer program at the University of Florida. The students that I had interviewed expressed interest in attending soccer games even though they had never attended a Women's soccer game on campus. I believe this runs parallel with a trend we see where men's sports are much more popular than women's. The die hard gator fan likes to attend almost all sporting events because of entertainment and passion for the school which helps to answer some of the why. The casual gator fan did not live in Gainesville but did make it known that if he happened to travel to visit the school and men's soccer was playing that he would most likely not attend because soccer is not interesting to him as well as the alumni. I believe though that in my interview I gleaned a piece of information that people who enjoy soccer believe they lack the fill of the void here at the University and that community would be formed should the University create a men's soccer team. Popularity would not be as extreme as football, but nonetheless be there.

5) I learned that this opportunity is narrow because even though the need for community is universal, the need is narrowed down to our University and more specifically a single sport. This will limit the individuals but the point here is that when you try to fill the need for community, you must be narrow in order to attract people who have common interest to form a community in the first place.