The Michelle Akers Homepage

The Michelle Akers Homepage

http://www.michelleakers.com/

page author: Michelle Akers (content provider), site administered by Campus Crusade USA

Site established: 1996

Number of hits: Not listed

There are several crucial elements in any professional athlete’s website. Whether official (approved by the subject) or unofficial (created by a fan), the site must have photographs, statistics, and records of wins presented in chronological order. It ought to provide the user with links to more information about the athlete’s sport or team, and a biography of the star player that charts his or her rise to stardom from childhood onward. And in most cases, athlete-profiling sites incorporate inspirational words of wisdom from the professional to the amateur sportsman or sportswoman. The content of these inspirational quotes tends to centre around the importance of dedication, perseverance, and hard training, but may also mention the athlete’s personal belief system. It is in this inspirational capacity that a sports website’s content can make the transition from secular to religious, as the athlete’s inspiration is revealed to be a foundation in religious belief.

Michelle Akers is a member of the US Women’s Soccer team, which won the 1999 FIFA World Cup. She is also a devout Christian, who has decided to allow her notoriety as a soccer player to be used to share her faith via the Internet. Akers’ site is at once typical in its design structure and innovative in content, reshaping the conventions of an athlete’s homepage, and refining the evangelical message to target a specific audience – namely, young female soccer enthusiasts.

The Michelle Akers Homepage is accessible through a variety of soccer and sporting websites, and at first glance looks like any of the other pages that can be reached through these links. Sports figures’ homepages tend to be relatively no-nonsense in their textual layout – simple blue and white or black and white colour schemes, with common fonts like Arial or Times New Roman selected for easy transmission of the data that they are meant to present. The Michelle Akers Homepage has a background of white banded on either side by textured navy blue. The body of the text is Times New Roman, with Arial headlines. At the top of the homepage is a graphic that has been designed to communicate instantly that this is a soccer page through a series of visual cues. On the left of the top graphic is the Michelle Akers ‘MA’ logo, bounded in a circle and heavily reminiscent of the Converse All-Star trainer logo, a graphic style with some cachet in youth-oriented advertising. Immediately beside this logo is a montage illustration streaming out of an American flag that fades into a flying soccer ball. Beneath this, an illustrated Akers in team uniform kicks a soccer ball on a field. Right of this is a title graphic, welcoming visitors to the Michelle Akers Homepage – the words ‘Michelle Akers’ are in a gold-toned script, perhaps to remind the viewer implicitly of her status as an Olympic Gold Medallist. In case this subtle reminder was not enough, there is a photo of Akers wearing her gold medal airbrushed in to the right of the title. Additionally, the words “World Champion, Olympic Gold Medallist” appear on a blue frame that surrounds the graphic. A sidebar menu of linked internal pages is listed on the left-side textured blue panel. These are the sports-page standard: ‘Home, My story, Bio, Resources, FAQ, faves, photos, tips, e-mail me’. There is also a link to Akers’ ‘CFIDS’ page (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, a condition from which she suffers). The body of the home page is an informal letter of welcome from Akers to her fans:

Howdy.

Thanks for checking out my page. This marks the fourth year of michelleakers.com, and I am so thankful you continue to stop in to say hi. The past year has been amazing to say the least. In July, we became World Champs (again) and since Brandi smashed that left-footed penalty kick into the back of the net, things for us have not been the same. Life has been a blur…. .

This informal style is typical of the sort of letter often posted in an athlete’s ‘official’ website and is most often found in pages that are meant to appeal specifically to the young. The athlete will discuss his or her training schedule, recent triumphs or defeats in an upbeat and chatty format, in an attempt to give the user an impression of what the athlete’s life is ‘really like’. Akers’ direct participation in the content of her site is relatively unusual for a sports figure, however. Most sites ‘make do’ with an occasional letter of introduction from their subject, a brief account of their recent activities, or from a compilation of quotes to the press[1]. Likewise, the epithets “World Champion” and “Olympic Gold Medallist” that underscore the lead graphic are not unusual – many sites devoted to sportsmen and women tend to trumpet their achievements at the outset of the page, or use/create nicknames to highlight the greatness of the athlete that they support. David Beckham pages often refer to him as “one of the greatest living footballers”, and one of Alan Shearer’s fan webpages crowns each page in the site with the tribute title “Angel of the North”.

Linking Pages

Beneath the welcoming letter on the homepage is another set of links. ‘My latest update’ is another message from Akers, a report on some more personal details of her life including: the details of recent contract disputes between her team and their owners, her uncertain status in the team, her new book, her father’s health, and her pets. The ‘Update’ section is essentially a continuation of the welcoming letter on the previous page; its wording assumes that it is being read by repeat visitors to the site. This means that some assumptions are additionally made about the site users’ familiarity with Akers’ faith. The section ends with prayer requests from Akers – asking users to pray for her ‘health’, ‘spirit’, ‘wisdom’, ‘Godly Dude’ (presumably a request for romantic guidance), ‘relationships’, ‘Pops (and family)’, and funding for her non-profit program, Soccer Outreach International. Previous entries from the ‘Update’ section can be found in the link below on the homepage, titled ‘Soccer, Life and Adventures’. In the ‘Adventures’ section are past updates, dealing with the salient events in Akers’ life each month from February 1999 through the present. Sometimes the point of the updates is entirely secular, as in her February 1999 account of an injury. But the content can be almost wholly faith-related, as in this excerpt form the October 1999 update describing a trip to Israel:

We also visited Meggido where all the nations of the earth will be gathered and the last war (the famous Armageddon) will take place. Meggido is where God's judgment and wrath will befall those who have ignored Him, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Message of repentance (acknowledging we are boogerheads at heart) and salvation (accepting Jesus as Savior out of faith and grace). I tell you what, when I stood looking out on this valley and heard these words from the Bible (Zechariah 14, Revelation 19, Isaiah 63), I was struck by the impending, final urgency and meaning of this promise.

The content of this update would perhaps seem inappropriate for inclusion in a sports figure’s website if it were not for the introductory link at the head of the homepage sidebar, ‘My Story’. The ‘My Story’ section is in introduction to the general philosophy behind the page’s design. In this section, Akers talks briefly about her “tomboy” childhood, an inspirational teacher she had at school who introduced her to Christianity, her early sports success and subsequent difficulties with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It ends with an account of how she returned to Christianity, and the improvements that the return has made in her life and outlook. This sort of biographical narrative is another common feature of athletes’ webpages, which invariably begin with an account of how the athlete’s childhood showed promise of their later career, details any difficulties, and chronicles the athlete’s later triumphs. These narratives seem to be a shorthand adaptation of the myth of the epic or biblical hero: extraordinary childhood, symbolic (career) death, and rebirth/return to greater success. This narrative presentation is used in a multitude of webpages devoted to football/soccer players:

From the Alan Shearer: Angel of the North page (http://fly.to/shearer):

At 12, Shearer was captain of his school's football team. Even then, his skills were so remarkable that his sports teacher remarked, "If Alan was ill, we tried to get matches called off." He once scored 13 goals in one game…Newcastle failed to notice his goal-scoring abilities, a mistake which has cost them £15m…Shearer never really made an impact at the Dell…At Euro 96, Shearer became the top scorer with 5 goals in what were some of England's most memorable performances at home soil…in 1998, Shearer was inducted into the FA Hall of Fame for his 1994/95 season with Blackburn... He also captained England into France 98. In a touching move, Newcastle fans crowned him the Angel of the North by placing a giant Shearer jersey replica on the 65-ft Tyneside statue before the FA Cup Final.

From The World of David Beckham (http://beckhamsite.tripod.com/):

David first kicked a ball at Old Trafford in December 1986 when as an 11 year old he became the TSB Bobby Charlton Soccer Skills Champion for his age group…However he suffered a dip in form towards the end of the [1996-97] season, a problem Alex Ferguson has tried to avoid this season by resting David at the start of this season…David's career has not been totally devoid of controversy. He was accused of diving at Old Trafford against Rapid Vienna and then trying to get the ref to book the player, an accusation he has not tried to deny or justify. He was also accused of mooning at the Southampton fans at the Dell an accusation that he has denied…At international level David represented England at Under 21 level in seasons 1994-95 and 1995-96…When fit and available, David has played all the England games under Glenn and has shown his versatility operating both in midfield and at wing back.

From Michelle Akers Homepage, ‘My Story’ link:

As a kid, I was a typical tomboy…Soon enough, I fell in love with the game. I thought I'd grow up to be a pro soccer player in Europe…The only person I really talked to about my life was a soccer coach at school, Mr. Kovats. I was intrigued by him and why he was so excited about being a Christian…We bowed our heads and I repeated a prayer Mr. Kovats said to begin a relationship with Christ…It didn't take long, however, before I forgot all that Christ had done for me. I received a scholarship to college, was a four-time All-American, won a World Cup in 1991 and was named the best player in the world…Finally, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). On top of all that, my four-year marriage ended. I was sick, alone and disillusioned with life…It took total devastation before I would acquiesce and say, "OK, God. You can have my life"…The 1999 Women's World Cup is a tournament I will never forget. It was not only a team victory, but a personal victory for me as well…Now I face each day with a happy expectation as to what God has for me.

It is notable that Akers’ biographical narrative differs from the Shearer and Beckham narratives in two key ways: Akers’ story is told in the first person, and her religious faith plays a pivotal role in shaping the stream of events she describes. These differences are crucial to understanding the Michelle Akers Homepage as an evangelistic endeavour. On the surface, all of the conventions of the sports webpage are followed, from the format, chronology and photographs of the star player to the narrative that shapes Akers into a heroic figure. But on an equally self-conscious level Akers is set up as a web evangelist; her bio uses the “excesses and silences” structure that Harding associated with witnessing and biblical narrative and the word “salvation” introduces the formal language of belief in her description of Meggido.. A link at the bottom of the ‘My Story’ page is another link that brings readers to a page that enables users to “learn more bout how Michelle developed a relationship with God”. Titled ‘Introducing God’, the next page chronicles her thoughts on her conversion experience, and attempts to impress on readers the benefits of conversion. It is for the most part a ‘read-only’ or passive text-based approach, but does offer the slightly interactive element of inviting readers to become a Christian with the following direction:

If you can't find the words, let me help you. You can say this prayer. It is the same one I prayed to become a Christian when I was 14. Here goes:

Dear God, thanks so much for sending your son to

die in my place. I want to know you personally. I

want you to change my life. I want you to be the

center of who I am. Thank you for forgiving my

sins and giving me eternal life with you. Now, take

my life and myself and make me who you want me

to be, and give me the courage and strength to go

where you want me to go. Amen.

At the bottom of this page are instructions telling users how to get more information about Christianity off-line. This outreach page uses many of the dialogic elements typical of witnessing - inclusive personal pronouns draw the surfer in and create a sense of responsibility to reciprocate and reflect the emotional experience Akers describes.

Akers’ Christian belief is also brought to the forefront in her linked page on Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, but the remainder of the links in her ‘Homepage’ site are fairly straightforward and conventional – the sale of posters and books by her and about her; a lengthy CV listing her soccer achievements, photos of her on the field an off of it. All of these elements enable the Akers site to claim its place among other sports sites, like those devoted to Beckham and Shearer, despite the religious content of the text. Sports fans will find her page listed alongside other, completely secular, sites devoted to internationally famous soccer players in resources pages like the World Soccer page[2].

Production and intent

The Michelle Akers Homepage could appear at first glance to be a personal endeavour undertaken by Akers. The first-person informality of the content and the absence of any referral to the means of producing the page foster that impression. But it is a collaborative effort – it is produced and maintained by Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). CCC is a vast inter-denominational Christian organization devoted to evangelisation on an international scale. As such, CCC has an array of technical resources on which to draw, and is capable of producing a well-packaged outreach site that integrates the essential elements of both athletic and evangelistic webpages. Because of CCC’s thorough research into the norms of the athletic site genre, there is no single element in the Michelle Akers Homepage that isolates it at first glance from other webpages devoted to specific athletes. Many ‘official’ pages include personal letters, comments or updates from their subject, written specifically for the site. Almost every site devoted to an athlete includes photographs, lists of wins and achievements, and links to commercial goods associated with the site’s subject. Even Akers’ vocal endorsement of her faith in these pages is not, in itself, all that extraordinary. In the United States it is not uncommon for public figures, celebrities, and athletes to thank God publicly for their success in speeches at award ceremonies, in record liner notes, in press remarks or in their official web sites. The fact that the Akers site ‘masquerades’ as a personal effort is not unusual or even particularly misleading. I have not yet encountered an athletic site that is produced by its subject; the average web user does not expect that to be the case. After all, the subject is an athlete, not a webpage designer. Obviously athletes will need professional help in putting together a website. Fans, friends and family, the athlete’s team or athletic association put most athletic websites together. In cases where the website, whether evangelistic or secular, is not the product of a single person’s efforts it is not uncommon to try to create a personal effect in an attempt to reach the Internet community, which has gained a reputation among businesses and marketers as a refuge of the ‘rugged individualist’.

What does differentiate the Michelle Akers Homepage from other athletes’ webpages is the intent behind the design and content of the page. Unlike other pages devoted to athletes, the primary purpose of the Akers page is not to create good public relations for the athlete or team, to sell products associated with the subject, or even to provide a forum for fans to share their enthusiasm for the subject. Because it has been consciously patterned after athletic sites it does all of these things in some measure, but its real intent is to broadcast an evangelical message to an audience not typically approached by Christian outreach efforts.

The Michelle Akers Homepage has clearly been designed to ‘trap’ specific audiences: soccer enthusiasts, young people, people interested in CFIDS, and religious seekers. By merging the linguistic and design conventions of distinctly different website genres, the audience appeal of the site is maximized. The homepage’s graphic that shows Akers’ initials encircled is reminiscent of the logo/symbol for the athletic shoe brand, Converse, a blend of text and design intended to lend the site ‘youth appeal’. The general themes and page layouts are calculated to draw sports fans. But it is the language that bears the onus of integrating Akers’ evangelistic message with the athletic theme. Akers’ writing style as presented in the site incorporates many of the evangelistic techniques advocated by Whittaker: it is a personal testimonial of faith that relies on biblical scripture to legitimate its claims. Akers’ narratives about her athletic career are demonstrably typical of both athletic websites and evangelistic witnessing. Finally the informality and slang used even in her most formal and urgent passages reflect an identification with youth culture, as she replaces “Christian jargon” with child-friendly slang: “Meggido is where God's judgment and wrath will befall those who have ignored Him, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Message of repentance (acknowledging we are boogerheads at heart)”. In this context, ‘boogerheads’ is clearly equitable with ‘sinners’ , but replaced to put the thought into terms accessible to children who may have limited knowledge of religious terminology.

This blending of format, language and visual content forms a new representational register that identifies Akers as a member of several communities, or a single combined community, simultaneously. She is an athlete, a victim of CFIDS, and an evangelist, as well as emblematic of a category that embraces all of these definitions. Although each of these social assignments are bounded by a unique set of conventions, the Michelle Akers Homepage is able to establish itself as an integrative ‘space’ between categories by incorporating aspects of each. The site is therefore an legitimate member of the online international soccer community, as well as the evangelical community, with its membership in each verified by the links that connect it with other pages from both genres. Targeted web surfers encounter the site as an attractive ‘location’ reachable through either the evangelistic or sports communities online, and may interpret it as an extension of Akers, acting as an agent within both the Christian and secular communities while providing a clear space for a developing hybrid of the two.

[1] See the Dominique Moceanu Official Homepage for an example of the occasional involvement an athlete may have with her official website (http://www.dominique-moceanu.com/messagefrom dom.html 24/04/00). The Shearer and Beckham sites use press quotes.