Wake-Ups
General Information About the Item:
- Customary Folklore: Sports Tradition – Integration Tradition
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: Unites States
- Informant: Jennifer Kane
- Date Collected: May 11, 2020
Informant Data:
Jennifer Kane is a junior studying Engineering at Dartmouth College, hoping to earn a BE in four years. On campus, she is a member of the Dartmouth Women’s Club Soccer team, the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and Dartmouth Emerging Engineers. She is also the president of the Society of Women in Engineering. Jenny is from Seattle, and has a strong interest in sports, photography, and cooking. She was a four-year starter for her high school’s soccer team, and a senior year captain. Jenny joined the Dartmouth Women’s Club Soccer team her freshman year at Dartmouth. She has served as social chair for the team, and will serve as the team captain next year.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: The following tradition occurs after the tryouts for the fall roster have been completed, and the team has decided on what new members to take. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from the previous junior class team members to the current junior class team members.
Cultural Context: Many sports organizations make it a custom to let new team members know that they have made the team in a fun or interesting way. At Dartmouth particularly, it is a campus wide practice to let new members know that they have been selected to join an organization by waking them up early in the morning and surprising them at their dorm.
Item:
After the last day of try-outs for the Dartmouth Women’s Club Soccer team, new team-members are woken up in their dorms at 5 AM by the Sophomores and Juniors of the existing team. The new team-members then dress-up in flair (eccentric clothing) and are taken around campus to participate in small games that allow the existing team to get to know the new-members. Following the games, the new members, as well as the Sophomores and Juniors of the existing team, meet at Sachem fields where the Seniors of the team greet them. The entire team, new and old, then go to a local diner for breakfast. The tradition is a great way for the older team members to get to know the freshman, and a great way for the freshman to get excited about joining the team, and to provide them with a large social network of peers and upperclassmen. It is definitely a tradition whose meaning depends on whether you are a new or returning player.
Collector: Grant Gualtieri
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Club Soccer Tails
General Information About the Item:
- Customary Folklore: Sports Tradition – Integration Tradition
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: Unites States
- Informant: Katie Bernardez
- Date Collected: May 11, 2020
Informant Data:
Katie Bernardez is a senior studying Computer Science at Dartmouth College. On campus, she is a member of the Dartmouth Women’s Club Soccer team, the Alpha Phi Alpha sorority, and the Dartmouth Programming Board. Katie is from Seattle, and apart from sports, she has a strong interest in computer coding and traveling to interesting destinations. Katie joined the Dartmouth Women’s Club Soccer team her freshman year at Dartmouth. She has served as social chair and currently serves as team captain.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: The following tradition occurs at the beginning of the fall term at Dartmouth, before the freshman are allowed in fraternities or sororities. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from elected social chairs to newly elected social chairs.
Cultural Context: Tails is the term used at Dartmouth to describe a social gathering by a certain organization or between multiple organizations. On campus the term is typically used to describe a social gathering between a fraternity and sorority, but has since been applied to a variety of social events and a variety of organizations. Additionally, during the fall term, freshman are banned from participating in most Greek Life events through the first six weeks.
Item:
Following the first few weeks of practices and games, the Women’s Club Soccer Team and the Men’s Club Soccer team kick-off their social schedule for the term with an annual tails. There is a general structure to the gathering that is aimed at facilitating cross-team interactions, and there are small games and competitions to allow the upperclassmen and freshman to get to know each other, both within their own team and with members of the other team. During the fall, freshman have limitations on their interaction with Greek Life, which largely dominates social life and social experiences at Dartmouth. This limits the spaces freshman are able to experience, and limits the interactions between freshman and upperclassmen. This tails offers freshmen the opportunity to interact with other freshmen who they may not know, and to meet and befriend upperclassmen from both teams. As such, the tradition is generally more meaningful for the freshman because for some of them it can be their first experience in a social scene other than the dorms or college hosted events. For upperclassmen it is really just an opportunity to get to know the freshmen better, and to have fun with friends they have on both teams.
Collector: Grant Gualtieri