1K Wednesdays | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

Title: 1K Wednesdays

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Ernie Pichardo is a Junior at Dartmouth College who has been playing rugby with the DRFC for the past three years. Ernie is originally of Dominican descent where he was born but is from New York City where he has lived almost his entire life.

Contextual Data:

Sport requires a lot of dedication and teams require hard work to do well. Many teams have different types of tests to evaluate their players readiness to play as well as their mental toughness.

Item:

Every Wednesday the players of the DRFC are required to run a test called the “1k”, short for 1 kilometer. This test involves running between the goal line and every solid white line on the field twice, adding up to a total run of 1 kilometer. Every player who wishes to be able to participate in the game on Saturday must run the “1k” before they are allowed to play as it acts as a rite of passage showing that the player is ready to take his role in the team. Of course not all players can make it to Wednesday practice every week so they still have to make up the run. This is done on a honor principle within the club and the coaches rely on the players dedication to the team to decide when to make it up which can result in some players running it late on Friday or even on Saturday mornings.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

Benjamin Hannam (BH): So Ernie, can you just give us some quick background information, like where you were born, where you grew up, and sports you played before rugby?
Ernie Pichardo (EP): Well I’m from New York City, and before rugby I played Lacrosse, and I wrestled in High School.
BH: But you are of Dominican heritage though?
EP: Yeah I am, I’m Dominican, I was born in the Dominican Republic.
BH: Okay cool. So can you tell us a little bit about 1K Wednesdays? What is a 1K?
EP: Basically a 1K, we do that before every practice on Wednesdays, and we run to the 22 (meter line) and back, the 50 (meter line) and back, the far 22 (meter line) and back, and the full length of the field and back, twice, which sums up to be about 1K of running, one kilometer of running.
BH: And so everybody does this?
EP: The whole team has to do it, if they don’t do it then they can’t play that Saturday.
BH: What happens if you are not at practice on Wednesdays, do they have to make it up?
EP: You have to make it up, it’s more of an honor thing. They aren’t going to keep track of you running your 1K, but if you don’t run your 1K, you are expected to tell the coaches that you didn’t run it. And if you do, you are expected to tell them that you did, and you made it up.
BH: So when do people typically make up these 1K’s?
EP: They typically make it up Friday, before our captain’s run.
BH: Okay cool. Thank you very much.
EP: No problem.

Informant’s Comments:

Collector’s Comments:

The “1k” is a vital part of the club as a rite of passage that allows the players to show the rest of the club that they are fit and ready to represent the club in a game.

Collector’s Name:

Benjamin Hannam

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