When asked if I have ever experienced cliques or clans, I think back to elementary school, when such things were of no importance. Although as our personalities and character traits began to grow we as humans began to migrate towards those with similar attributes.
Cliques first made their appearance when I was in the sixth grade; it wasn't a big deal in the beginning, just groups of friends sharing common interests. But overtime these groups of friends began to form into exclusive groups for only those of their own kind. At our school we had the basketball players, the smart kids (nerds), bad kids, tough guys, and the skate boarders just to name a few. After looking around for a while I found a place for myself among the smart kids or (nerds), we all got along very well for our three years in our middle school. Without a clique you were nobody, without a group behind you school would have been very difficult to make it through. And I imagine that it probably was for a few kids in my school without a group for them to hang out with. For us, to not belong to a clique or a group, was to not belong period, so a few kids were somewhat shunned during their years at middle school. In comparison my track team was in stark contrast to my school, while my school was absolutely full of cliques and clans my track team was not. All different types of people became friends that previously hadn't even known each other at all. Each and every member of the team made at least one friend that they hadn't known before. But in retrospect our track team may not have been just a huge group of friends. It may have just been another clique in the makings and we just didn't realize it.
All in all cliques had their pros and cons in the school atmosphere and in sports and it seems that they are prevalent in all areas of society. Whether it is school, sports, or clubs people will tend to gravitate to those of their own kind. Human nature dictates that to belong to a group a (clique) gives one a greater chance of survival. Although for those that do not have a group to call their own, survival is near impossible.
