Thursday, April 16, 2020

Socialization Through Sports (Autosaved) Essays - Resocialization

Reflection Paper Dr. Mark Killian Introduction to Sociology 11 December 2017 Socialization Through Sports Throughout my life I have been socialized as an athlete. The past year, due to an injury, I was told that I will no longer be able to play softball. The hardest part about the journey so far has been the resocialization into society without having the collegiate athlete title. I never realized how many social factors were influenced by my athletic career, and how engrained softball was in my social identity. Two of the most influential factors that have shaped me are my culture, and the organizations I have been a part of. Being athletic, and playing sports were always idealized in my culture. I was raised in a very sporty family; every member of my family was an athlete at some point in their life. The values in my family were centered around academic and athletic success, a form of "nonmaterial culture" that influenced me (40). Trying to keep this status of a student athlete was very difficult for me, I had to make a lot of sacrifices. Most of the friends I had were on my sports teams, and being constantly surrounded by them swayed the way I thought and acted. We all developed a culture in which we shared common values, beliefs, norms, behaviors, and even language. Since we spent so much time together, I portrayed these shared ways of believing and of doing things. The "culture within" me showed in my everyday life, even when I was outside of games and practices (41). Softball culture includes time management, teamwork, listening to coaches, taking constructive criticism, and working hard. Softball c ulture was engrained in my everyday life, and the athlete title was associated with who I was as a person. Since I am no longer an athlete I am going through a resocialization process into a new culture. This process has been very difficult for me, it involves; not going to practices, not having to contour my schedule around softball, the way professors and classmates treat me, and even the way my family views me. It has been a "norm" for me to constantly arrange everything around softball, and to be treated as a player (50). Being treated as an athlete is difficult to explain, but it is your identity and people look at you with a sense of respect. Especially as a collegiate athlete I had to develop a relationship with my professors, which was hard since I missed classes and exams for softball. Also in my family culture, we socialize by talking about, and playing sports. I have been struggling a lot with this part of the resocialization process in particular, because I feel as if I have disappointed my family. Sometimes it is challenging trying to communicate with them because I am una ble to speak the language, and implement the gestures used by athletes (48). For example, I cannot talk about practices, other players, or the ability of our team because I am not there to experience it. Whereas usually I could have long conversations about all aspects of my culture, and now a lot of times I don't know what to talk about. The organizations I belonged to helped socialize me into an even more well-rounded athlete. I have been associated with high school softball, travel softball, collegiate softball, and student-athlete organizations. All of these "social groups shared something significant in a common," group members pushed each other to achieve goals (133). These groups were very influential and they greatly affected each person, we all wanted to be the most successful athletes. These organizations were created for athletes to grow and perfect skills. They are run by trainers who refine, teaching and helping us reach our goals. Leaders in "peer groups" such as these, demonstrate how we should act and what we should value (89). We begin to take the roles of those leading us, constantly "measuring ourselves in the roles that people see us in" (91). The members of the group can be the most persuasive, but the can only affect us as much as we let them. In my opinion, it is inevitable to be persuaded by teammates. When a teammate stays late