Growing from a young boy to a growing teenager, life was simple. Residing in the smallest incorporated village in New York State wasn’t exactly the most thrilling. The square mile village was centered on one and only one traffic light. One local market, one family owned deli and a Kindergarten through 12th school. The high school has approximately 85 kids per grade, with little to no ethnical diversity, making conflicts between students minimum. This country setting town of Galway, NY is where I’m from, where there are more farm animals around then people. The one thing that makes this town unique is that it’s located 20 miles away from the tourist-heavy city of Saratoga Springs, along with its historical racetrack. Saratoga Springs is very corporate, where I can get all my wants and needs. Back to Galway… with little places to look to find social boundaries or borders, one common and overruling social boundary dealt with the men’s varsity soccer team. With Galway’s Soccer program being number one (sometimes top 5) in New York State from 2007-2004 (when I was in high school), the community had something to worship. No other athletic teams stood out, so those players were treated just like everyone else. But those 15 boys on the team were treated very highly above others from teachers, other students, community members, etc. As a member of the team I could provide primary evidence to support the statement of being treated “differently.”
I’ll start with the fact that it was very hard to get in trouble with the faculty. With most teachers ignoring the fact they broke a rule or acted wrongly inside or outside of the class, etc. You can get away with a lot of things. Another social benefit of wearing that jersey were students felt lower than you, everyone wanted to be like you and I don’t mean that in a stuck up way, people just envied them. Also outside of school, the community knew who you were and they made you feel like local celebrities, always getting praise wherever you were. Another way we were being separated from the rest of the student body was from the littering of free stuff we received: shirts, pants, warm-up jackets, all-inclusive hotels, and free meals, to name a few. The fact that we felt we were treated better than our other classmates made us feel different, and then came the haters. Being treated better made other people feel that we were getting away with things just for being on the acclaimed #1 soccer team in the state.
In analysis, the social border the soccer team made with the rest of the community came down to hard work and talent. The social boundary wasn’t created from racial segregation, sex type, social cliques, rich/poor, etc, but from a self made effort. It’s a different way to think about imaginary social exclusions between groups because the border was made on its own and not based on how people look, act, wear, etc. It was more based on the stand out performance they endured over other competing schools, which made their own community feel apart of it. This formula of success created confidence, town-pride and brought the community closer together. Wherever you went, you wanted to say I go to Galway High School or I’m from Galway, to get that awe from bordering towns because they know that’s the soccer capital or the region. And for its such small size, it just makes it that much better for our team to compete with bigger schools and win, 25 straight wins and a state championship in my senior year cemented a social marker for our town to forever be looked upon as a soccer dynasty.
