Women’s Sailing (Alexa Limb)

Title: Pre-Competition Rituals of the Dartmouth Sailing Team

General Information about Item:

• Type of Lore: Customary Lore, Verbal Lore, Ritual
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: South Korea
• Informant: Kasey Rhee
• Date Collected: May 21st, 2019

Informant Data: Kasey Rhee is currently a sophomore on the varsity sailing team. Her position on the team is a crew. She is a Quantitative Social Sciences (QSS) major and was born in Seoul, South Korea. Her first time sailing was at the age of 7 with her father and at 10 years old, she began sailing on her own. Kasey decided to join the Dartmouth sailing team because her father sailed throughout college, which was very inspiring to her and gave her a more personal connection with the sport. She has been on the team since her freshman year.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Sailing, while a team sport, also is highly individualized. The regatta, which is the sporting competition where the sailing team participates in boat races, usually involves less time with the team as a whole. Some of the Dartmouth sailing athletes will travel to one regatta, while others will go to a different competition. Moreover, during the race, the sailor is only with one other person in the boat, not the entire team. With this context of the sport’s culture in mind, the pre-game rituals are highly important and meaningful because they are an opportunity for the team to come together and be united before their individual races. It instills team bonding and spirit that is more difficult to sustain in a very individualized sport. 
• Social Context: Kasey first learned about the pre-competition ritual of the sailing team when she first joined the sailing team her freshman year at Dartmouth. The “clap out” and reciting of the acronym “TMB’s” is performed during the fall and spring athletic seasons. While Kasey doesn’t know the origin, it is an ongoing tradition that alumni know as well. Every friday, the team will perform this ritual in preparation for the Saturday regatta. It is typically performed at the boathouse or the erg room, which is where sailors can use various rowing or exercise machines. While there is no set time for the ritual, it is usually done right after team practice every friday of competition weekends, when everyone is together. According to Kasey, this is a ritual that you “learn by doing” when you first join as a freshman, since no one really explains it to the new team members. Eventually, it comes naturally. It is performed with the entire team and is led by the captains. The shouting of the phrase “TMB’s” is an acronym that stands for different words that only the sailing team understands. At first, no one is allowed to tell the freshmen athletes what it means. Kasey only learned what “TMB’s” meant after she won her first three sailing races during freshman year. Each time she won a race, she would get to choose one letter of the acronym to learn about.

The “clap out” and chanting of “TMB’s” is meaningful to Kasey because of the exclusivity of this ritual and its ability to effectively rally team spirit. It is something that only the sailing team and its alumni know about and participate in, and not even the coach understands its meaning. The team as a whole is impacted by this ritual because it makes everyone feel good and excited for their race. It also reminds them that they are part of a greater team that supports them.

Item: One of the sailing team’s pre-competition rituals includes a “clap out,” in which the team stands in a circle and starts clapping together, first slowly and then gradually speed up. As they clap, the team will come close together in a huddle and the captains will crouch at the center of the huddle. They will make a “little fire” motion with their fingers, say something to the team to rally spirit, and then everyone on the team will collectively say the phrase “TMB’s.” After saying this acronym, the huddle will break.

Athlete’s Photo:

Transcript: “Before we leave on that Friday, we do a clap out where we start clapping slow and speed up and come together in a huddle. The captains will crouch in the center of the huddle, make a little fire with their fingers, say something to the team, and we all say “TMB’s.”

Informant’s Comments: “Its something that has been around forever, it’s just a little thing. It’s kind of like a habit, it makes you feel good. People are sad if they have to leave practice early, since it is this habit they have.”

Collector’s Comments: I think that this is a particularly meaningful ritual because of its exclusivity and secrecy. No one knows what the phrase “TMB’s” means except for the sailing team, which gives them a very special and unique bond. It also is such a simple act to say this phrase, yet it carries a deeper significance for the team and functions to rally emotional response in a way that is really fascinating.

Collector’s Name: Alexa Limb

Tags/Keywords:

• Dartmouth Sailing Team
• Customary Lore
• Verbal Lore
• Pre-Competition Ritual