J.F.P. “Just Fucking Play”

On my volleyball team, we used this saying when the refs were being unfair or the other team was playing dirty or the coach was being an asshole. It let us remember the forget everything else and just fucking play.  I first heard it on my high school team in Ventura.  I heard it again when I played club volleyball for USC.

Julie has played volleyball for most of her life.  She did not encounter this acronym until she reached high school.  This is probably because it uses mature language.  Julie usually self identifies as Mexican, but in this instance she identified as a volleyball player.  Knowing this phrase identifies her further as a volleyball player, because no one outside the team is supposed to know what it means.  I find it interesting that Julie said it is only supposed to be understood by the members of her team, but she encountered it on two different teams.  It is interesting how this acronym has spread, especially considering that the two teams that Julie was a part of were completely unrelated.

This acronym identifies the group even further because it is purposely keeping people out.  Julie said J.F.P. is used when the team is upset with the other team, the ref, or even their own coach.  The fact that they are even attempting to exclude their own coach shows how intimate of a group they are trying to form, including only the actual player on that specific team.

The phrase itself represents the general mentality and stereotype of the athletic world.  Athletes are generally seen as tough people, who will gut anything out to win the game.  This is the idea of J.F.P. As Julie said, it is meant to remind the player to forget everything else and just play to win the game.

Annotation: The Nike advertisement “Just Do It”.  This phrase can be seen in commercials, on billboards, in stores, and many more places.  It is a Nike trade mark that has very similar phrasing and meaning to J.F.P. They also both refer to athletics.