Capital ≠ Cash
As a member of the men’s volleyball team, I’m lucky to have established social capital through the relationships I’ve made both with my teammates and with the athletes on other teams on campus. The famous sociologist Pierre Bourdieu defines social capital as — “the sum of the resources … that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition” (Bourdieu, in Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992: 119). Playing sports on a college campus is a great medium through which to form a durable athletic social network. The specific structures of the Juniatian college athletics program enables athletes to develop so many different kinds of social capital.
In practices and at away games with my team, I create strong bonds with my teammates. We care about the same things and have developed a lot of trust with each other. Our bonding capital is deep and strong. In addition, the games we play at Juniata provide opportunities to create bridging capital with other athletic teams and coaches on campus, Juniata students and peers, and faculty who are all united through the common interest of Juniatian spirit. While there isn’t the same sense of deep care and trust that there is with my teammates, the shared goal of supporting Juniata athletics brings people from many different areas of the school together. The accrued social capital is massive when considering both the connections between team members, these bridged relationships, and the general publicity we as a team get from competing at these events on a small campus.
What are my thoughts on my athletic based social capital? I believe that it plays a bigger role at my school than I often see. Sometimes this capital has a direct and visible impact on me. When I always have a group of teammates to sit and eat meals with at the dining halls, then I know that social capital is visibly supporting me. I have reason to think that it affects me in many more ways than just those identifiable benefits. If one of my more successful peers in my classes reaches out to me to study with them, then it’s possible that a part of their amiability towards me is an invisible result of the capital I have unknowingly built with them through putting on a show at one of our volleyball games.
When I think of people with a lot of social capital throughout the volleyball world, a lot of names jump out at me. One interesting case is that of Coach Donny, a high school girls volleyball coach at Mission San Jose High School, a school neighboring my alma mater, Adrian C. Wilcox High. Donny owns the YouTube channel Elevate Yourself, which currently has 267,000,000 subscribers since starting in June of 2012!
Coach Donny’s personality is suited to accruing a wide network full of social capital. Networking skills, passion, and the expertise that he can offer all contribute to aspects of the personality that has net him his large capital.
No matter how good someone is at volleyball, I would argue that having strong networking skills are imperative to finding a team to play in the IVL Open league, the best amateur volleyball league in Northern California. This league is one in which Donny competes in and posts videos of on his popular YouTube channel, Elevate Yourself.
Coach Donny’s passion for volleyball and athletics is admirable and captures his audience’s attention in each YouTube video he creates. His videos capitalize on the shared passion for game, providing a forum in which bridging capital can flourish. Coach Donny’s expertise in volleyball and weight training is a marketable aspect of his channel, and he utilizes the social capital it earns him both to attract more viewers and create economic capital from his work. Donny’s social capital ≠ economic capital, it’s better.
Social Capital is a valuable resource to have, and athletics are a great way to build it up. I’m no Coach Donny, but through volleyball, the social capital that I have fostered continues to help me in both visible and invisible ways.
