Men’s Varsity Tennis

Pre-match Breakfast

General information about the Item:

  • Customary Folklore: English Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Dan Martin
  • Date Collected: May 14, 2020

Informant Data

  • Dan Martin is a junior studying economics at Dartmouth College. He is on the tennis team here and has been playing tennis his entire life. Dan was a top ranked tennis player in Canada before coming to Dartmouth, so clearly tennis has played a huge role for nearly the entirety of his life. Dan has developed many habits and routines playing tennis throughout his life. These habits and routines are partly what has made him so successful. One of these routines is a tradition of having breakfast at 1953 Commons with all his teammates prior to a tennis match at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant was interviewed regarding the tennis team pre-match tradition of everybody eating breakfast together before a Dartmouth tennis match at 1953 Commons, also known as FOCO. Martin says that everyone is in attendance for the team breakfast about 3 hours before a match is about to begin and that they all arrive for the breakfast at the same time. He says that usually one person reaches out to all members of the team to coordinate the breakfast. Further, he claims that this tradition has been going on throughout the entirety of his Dartmouth career and that he believes it had been going on for quite some time during the years before he got do Dartmouth, though he does not know exactly how long. Dan says that in order to stress the importance of team bonding, the team arrives to the breakfast together, stays for an hour, and leaves together to go to the match.
  • Cultural Context: Team meals before a match has long been a tradition of many different sports teams. For many teams it is a way of bonding with each other and having the comfort that everyone is on the same page as each other. Dan argues that although coming together before a match is important for strategy, what is even more important is the bondage and the feeling that everyone has each other’s back, before the team goes off into a stressful, competitive environment.

Item:

  • The Dartmouth Men’s Tennis team arrives to a breakfast approximately three hours before the start of every team match. The team arrives together, stays for an hour to get on the same page and bond, and then leaves together to go to the match.

Collector: Peter Conklin

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Grit Grind

General Information about the Item:

  • Customary Folklore: English tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Casey Ross
  • Date Collected: May 18, 2020

Informant Data:

  • Casey Ross is a student at Dartmouth College and is about to finish his junior year. Casey is from Denver Colorado and has been a member of the Dartmouth men’s varsity tennis team since he arrived at Dartmouth. Throughout his Dartmouth tennis career, Casey has been an integral member of the team, playing a large role in helping the team win its first Ivy League title in 21 years back in 2017.

 Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant was interviewed regarding the “Grit Grind” tradition performed by the Dartmouth men’s tennis team. According to Casey, this tradition is performed just minutes before the start of a team match. Casey notes that the tradition has been going on for a “long time,” at least 10 years he thinks, though he does not know exactly how long. The tradition is performed by the entire team, and there is no leader as everyone is participating in the tradition at the same time. The tradition, which involves yelling the words “grit” and “grind”, is designed to get people “amped up” and in the right frame of mind before a match begins.
  • Cultural Context: For at least 10 years, the Dartmouth men’s tennis team identity has been characterized for people who are “gritty” and who like to compete really hard on the court, in other words, “grind.” Pre-match chants by teams are very common and they are designed to get everybody on the team energized to compete, while also maybe intimidating the opponent. For Dartmouth men’s tennis, the specific of this pre-match objective of the chant is to vitalize the team and intimidate the opponent by sending the message that the Dartmouth men’s tennis team is going to be tough to beat as they are “gritty” and they love to compete on court.

Item:

  • After the Dartmouth men’s tennis team has finished their warmup prior to a match and directly before the match is set to begin, the team comes together with their arms around each other and in unison yells out the words “Grit” followed by the words “Grind” three times in a row.

Collector: Peter Conklin

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Winning Song

General information about item:

  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Sid Chari
  • Date Collected: May 19, 2020

Informant Data:

  • Sid Chari is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and is currently studying economics and is on the men’s varsity tennis team. He was born and raised in San Francisco, but his parents are originally from India. He has been playing tennis for thirteen years and has competed for the varsity team at Dartmouth for two years.

Contextual Data:

  • The informant was interviewed over a zoom call regarding the winning song tradition on the men’s tennis team. He said he first learnt of the tradition before the start of the tennis season his freshman winter when the team was trying to decide what song to pick for the year.
  • This tradition has been part of the team culture for many years, but the informant was not sure how long it had been going on for. He thought at least five or ten years.

Item:

  • After the Dartmouth men’s tennis team wins a match during their season, they will play a chosen song in the locker afterwards as a way to celebrate the win.

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End of Year Banquet

General information about item:

  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Casey Ross
  • Date Collected: May 20, 2020

Informant Data:

  • Casey Ross is currently a junior at Dartmouth college and is majoring in sociology. He has competed for the varsity men’s tennis team all three years he has been at Dartmouth and has been playing tennis for

Contextual Data:

  • The informant was interviewed over a zoom call regarding the end of year banquet tradition on the men’s tennis team. He said he first learnt of the tradition after the end of the tennis season in the spring of his freshman year.
  • This tradition has been part of the team culture for many years, but the informant was not sure how long it had been going on for.

Item:

  • The men’s tennis team banquet is an end of year dinner held at the coach’s house to celebrate the success the team has had during the year and is a way of saying goodbye to the seniors.

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