Every new sport comes with its own language. Learning the words is the first sign you’re becoming part of it.

Every group runs on shorthand, and the shorthand is not decoration. One word for a coverage or a lift carries a whole set of expectations in two syllables, and until you own the word you cannot think quickly in that room. Picking up the vocabulary is not pretending to belong. It is the actual process of belonging.

Keep a note on your phone this week with the terms you nod at but do not really know. Ask about two of them after practice, where nobody is watching. By next month you will use them without thinking.