Description of a Subculture: Gymnastics Competitive Team Essay

Culture is the ways of thinking, acting and the material objects that smorgasbord a peoples way of life. Within each husbandry thither argon many subcultures, which are cultural groups within a larger culture with similar beliefs. Many whiles, the subculture a person belongs to im ingredient him/her with a sense of identity and belonging. Subcultures are characterized by their origin and the characteristics that specialise it. While growing up I belonged to many different subcultures, still my main one was my lyceenastics competitory team. This was definitely the most influential and time-consuming subculture I was a plowshare of and is aimed a special absorb subculture. Along with its origin, subcultures also cause a specify of characteristics that are utilize systematically and provide one with information. Characteristics include boundary rigidity, language/ pious platitude, values, identifying signs, the item of adhesiveness and initiation rituals.Boundary rigidi ty refers to the subcultures exclusivity and how one gutter amaze a image of it. My gymnastic exercise team was accountably exclusive. The team I was on consisted of active seven or eight people, who all started at the young age of close to three or four. As smaller kids we practiced in hopes of becoming good enough to be trigger of the competitive team, get alonging that it postulate a certain level of skills and commitment. This item alone shows the high degree of exclusivity because not serious anyone could become a leave-taking of this subculture, one had to work sullen for it. As a part of the team, I had to be fully committed to giving up the bulk of my free time. Most days, if I wasnt at school I was at the gym practicing. Due to the high degree of exclusivity, I would consider this subculture to be very structured. There was always a schedule to arrive when to be at the gym, what events to practice and for how long, etc. Being a part of the team is significant ly exclusive, but leaving is not necessarily as difficult, it was just very rare. After all of the hard work and time that a gymnast invests in the team, they usually dont give it up easily. Therefore, this subculture has strong boundary rigidity.Another characteristic of a subculture is the language/jargon used by its members. Language can refer to the way its members walk, talk, break awaythemselves, the slang words used, etc. Within my gymnastics team there was a can of language we used that set us aside from other subcultures. The technical terms used in the pastime of gymnastics is one of the obvious language barriers because only those who are familiar with the sport understand the terms and their meanings. The way gymnasts carry themselves also sets them apart from others. An practice of this is when I was on the track team, a coach pointed out that I ran like a gymnast. Although I was not with my teammates or talking about gymnastics, the way I ran was an indicator of th e subculture I was associated with.Values are some other characteristic of a subculture. These are the groups ideas about what is amend or wrong, whats important, how they view other people and so forth. As a part of a competitive gymnastics team, I grew up learning the values my coaches instilled in me time and time again. Things like hard work, dedication and commitment. As a part of the team, we all valued our coaches opinions and demands for what we were judge to do. At a young age we learned to that if you want something, you have to work to get it. We also learned that practicing and being in the gym was what was important, while free time and friends were not.Additionally, identifying signs is another(prenominal) characteristic of a subculture. This can be interpreted as labels, what the members are vesture/listening to/ utilise and inside jokes or nicknames. There are three types of signs private, humans and covert. clubby signs are displayed only to the subculture, pu blic signs are shown to everyone and everyone knows what they mean and covert signs are displayed publicly, but are only known by the subculture. Some signs associated with gymnastics is the DG label, which is a brand of gymnastics sports wear. Most people wearing this participate in gymnastics and only those familiar with the sport would know the labels association with gymnastics. Another sign is the USA Gymnastics bumper sticker. This is a public sign that clearly shows association with the subculture. Further more(prenominal), as a team we ladder to become very close, so there tends to be a lot of inside jokes and nicknames used. These are covert signs because we would shout the nicknames or talk about the inside jokes publicly, but only we would know their meaning.The degree of attachment is another characteristic of a subculture. This refers to the groups importance to its members. As a gymnast, my degree of attachment to my team was very high. Having been involved in the spo rt for the majority of my childhood, I considered the sport my life. I would eat, sleep and breathe gymnastics when I wasnt doing it, I was thinking about it. Being on a competitive team, I would spend a lot of time at the gym, so my team and coaches became like a second family. At this point, it wasnt just the sport I was attached to, it was the friends I made and the experiences I proceed to have. As I grew older, my degree of attachment to the sport heightened. The sport became more demanding and as a result, the degree of attachment continued to rise. Even to this day, although I am not an active member of this subculture, I still consider myself a part of it and I am still very practically attached. Once a gymnast, always a gymnast.Initiation rituals are the characteristics of a subculture that lets one know when they are a part of the group. For gymnastics, there was no set initiation ritual. You knew you were a part of the team when you finally achieved the skills required and the head coach asked you to start practicing with the team.Throughout ones life, he/she is a part of many different subcultures. For me, the most influential subculture I was a part of was my competitive gymnastics team. This is a special interest subculture with many characteristics that set it apart from other subcultures. It gave me my sense of identity, as well as a sense of belonging. It is where I devoted most of my time and energy and willing forever be a part of who I am.