Club Swimming Team Cheer

Title: Dartmouth Club Swimming Team Cheer
Informant: Sierra Levene, 19, Female. Sierra grew up in Wyoming and currently attends Dartmouth College where she is a freshman. She just began swimming competitively on the Dartmouth College Club swim team this year. When interviewed, Sierra discussed various aspects of swimming that were difficult to understand when she first joined the swim team. This included etiquette and proper behavior at swim meets, as well as phrases and expressions that make up a unique “language of swimming.”
Customary: Ritual, Verbal
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Social / Cultural Context:Sierra recounted her experience of going to the Club Swimming Championship Meet at Harvard University. She explained how at the beginning of the meet, all of the teams get together to perform a cheer.
(Only Audio)
Transcript: ““We all kinda just got together and they were like “alright just make sure you know what race you’re in, and then we had a cheer, and they were like ‘good luck.’”
Informant’s comments: Sierra explained that a team cheer was always done at the beginning of a meet. All the teams took turns saying their cheer on the pool deck, and would form a circle when they did.
Collector’s comments: Saying a team cheer before the beginning of a meet in the ways Sierra described are a common ritual of competitive swimming.
Tags/Keywords: Ritual, Cheer

Dartmouth Folklore Archive