Initiation Ritual

 

Kenneth Mousavian
Dartmouth College
October 24th, 2018

 

Informant Data:

Kenneth Mousavian is a member of the class of 2019 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Water polo Team. He is from San Francisco, CA. He started playing water polo in high school after being a long time swimmer. He recently concluded his career at Dartmouth with their season ending this fall.

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Men’s Water polo team prior to the beginning of full team pre-season work outs. The freshmen players are impacted through getting to know each other and developing friendships prior to meeting everyone on the team.

 

Cultural Context: In water polo, like most sports, the athletes have pre-season training. This is essentially just practices and conditioning to prepare for the start of the season when they will be competing. This is often the first time new members meet the rest of the team and their first taste of being on a college sports team. Getting to know the upperclassmen can be scary and typically the athletes do not know anyone in their class coming in with them.

 

 

Item:

Prior to the official pre-season, freshmen players are required to come to campus earlier than the rest of the team in order to begin getting to know each other and train. It is a much smaller group at practice than usual, so they benefit from one on one development and help from the coach. They are able to get to know the campus and the school without the stress of classes or being overwhelmed getting to know the entire team at once. They spend time with their class who are the only ones on campus and are able to begin getting to know each other prior to the start of the season.

 

 

Analysis:

This represents a structured way of incorporating the new athletes into both the team and the school. They are separated from the rest of the team being there before everyone else and then during this time, transition to knowing each other and the program better. Once all the upperclassmen on the team arrive on campus, the freshmen are incorporated into the group better equipped to adjust to the training and team given that they have been there with each other for awhile already.

 

Comparison:

This ritual is similar to the Women’s Swim team ritual. Both teams get to know upperclassmen and each other over a meal and in a relaxed environment. This ritual has more structure in regards to story telling unlike the Women’s Swim team which is more casual conversation.

 

 

James Patrick; 22 years old
4400 Montreux Rd
Warrenton, VA
16 W Wheelock St
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
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