Author Archives: Sarah Tabeek

The Stick Slap

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Title: The Stick Slap

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Megan Cornell
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Meg Cornell is an 18 year old freshman defenseman on the Dartmouth College women’s hockey team. She is from Bloomington, Minnesota and is currently undecided on her major. Meg started playing hockey when she was six years old and hasn’t looked back since. Meg is the youngest in her family and has two older brothers.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: This ritual was not bequested nor handed down to Meg and Linda. They began this ritual on their own, and thus the origin of the ritual traces back to this past season (2017-2018). Meg and Linda enjoy this ritual between each other, and believe that it instills a confidence within them to perform their very best.
  • Social Context: Before every game before the first period begins, the entire team get into a huddle by the net. In the pregame huddle before her teammate Alyssa Baker joins, Linda and Meg stand next to each other. First Linda slaps Meg’s stick, then Meg slap her stick, then Linda slaps Meg’s stick–it gets pretty aggressive! Meg is not exactly sure how or why this ritual started, but they kept it up all season.

Item:

  • The pregame stick slap ritual was not bequested to either of them, but they just began doing it spontaneously on their own and ultimately became a ritual between them. They definitely plan on keeping up this ritual for the next three years and maybe will bequest it to two other players at the culmination of their senior year. This ritual gets them ‘pumped up’ and ready to go for the game!

Meg and Linda are next to each other in the huddle, slapping each other’s sticks a few times

Transcript:

  • “Yeah, so Linda and I just kind of started slapping each other’s sticks in the huddle before games–honestly it gets pretty aggressive! We definitely have a lot of fun with it. I’m not sure if we will pass this down to younger teammates, but Linda and I will definitely keep doing this for the next three years.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Like I said, the stick slapping can get pretty aggressive ,so you need to make sure you have your feet (or skates) under you!

Collector’s Comments:

  • Meg was interviewed by Sarah Tabeek in downstairs Collis on a friday afternoon. Webpage published by Sarah Tabeek.

Collector’s Name: Sarah Tabeek

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Stick Slap

 

Goalie Warm Up

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Title: Goalie Warm Up 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Game/Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Christie Honor
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Christie Honor is a Junior at Dartmouth College and a goalie on the Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey Team. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada, and has lived there her whole life. She started playing hockey when she was five years old because she looked up to her two older brothers who played. She is a biology major and just finished her first year as the starting goalie.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Goalies are a unique position. They do workouts that are a little bit different than the rest of the team, thus explaining why they have a different warm-up routine. A very important task for a goalie is to track the puck with their eyes and catch pucks with their glove
  • Social Context: There are two goalies on the team in the same year: Shannon and Christie. They are very good friends and share a special bond, especially since they both play the most unique position in the game: goalie. Although Christie plays in a majority of games, this does not affect their bond as they are still great friends and roommates. This item has been practiced for three years.

Item:

  • During the teams off-ice warm up, the two junior goalies, Shannon and Christie, started getting a racquet-ball and throwing it off the wall back and forth to each other. While throwing the ball back and forth to each other, they maintain a low squat position. This is an important ritual to them as it warms-up their hand-eye coordination that is crucial for peak performance.

 

Transcript:

  • None

Informant’s Comments:

  • I find this pre-game routine particularly interesting because to be a goalie in hockey is a very different, particular position. It makes sense that they should warm-up in a different way than the rest of the team. They also carry this special bond by doing this warm-up together which I could see through Christie telling me about this ritual they do together.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Christie Honor was interviewed by Brooke Ahbe in Thompson Arena, Dartmouth College. Webpage was published by Sarah Tabeek.

Collector’s Name: Brooke Ahbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Game
  • Goalie Warm Up

The Quote

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Title: The Quote

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Proverbs and Famous quotes
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Shannon Ropp
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Shannon Ropp was born in Royal Oak, MI. She is currently a junior goalie on the women’s ice hockey team and is an engineering major at Dartmouth. She started playing hockey when she was six because of her older brother. She started off as a figure skater, but coaches told her she skated like a hockey player so she decided to quit and began to play hockey.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Mackenzie St. Onge had this ritual before Shannon. Mackenzie was a very good speaker and loved poetry. She chose Shannon for this job because she is similar to Mackenzie in the sense they are both pretty quiet but have a natural voice for poetry and quotes. Mackenzie passed this down to Shannon after Shannon’s freshmen year on the team when Mackenzie was graduating.
  • Social Context: This tradition is another bequest that has been going back in Dartmouth Women’s ice hockey for many years. Shannon was aware of this when she visited for her official visit senior year of high school. She visited during a game weekend and was able to be apart of the huddle when Mackenzie St. Onge read a quote. When Shannon got this passed down to her after her freshman year, she was honored and excited about this responsibility and freedom to bring a quote form of motivation to the team before every game.

Item:

  • Before we leave the locker room for the start of the game, the team huddles in the center of the locker room. We form a circle surrounding the “D” at the center of the locker room and everyone puts one of their hands in the center. Shannon then has a quote that she has looked up before, and reads it to the team. It can be anything she chooses and she liked to find something that is fitting to this particular game and team they’re playing or just to get the team more pumped up.

 

Transcript:

  • None

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I take a lot of pride in reading the quote before every game. When the girl before me, Mackenzie, read it, it always gave me a lot of inspiration. She was our former captain and it made me realize how cool of a tradition it is.”

Collector’s Name: Sarah Tabeek 

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Proverb
  • The Quote

 

The Bell

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Title: The Bell

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Caroline Shaunessy
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Carol was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and then grew up in Austin, Texas. She moved to Massachusetts when she was eight and has lived there ever since. Her father played professional hockey so they moved around a lot when she was little, but when her family moved to Massachusetts at the age of eight she began playing ice hockey. She wasn’t able to play ice hockey at an earlier age because there was no youth hockey in Texas. She started playing hockey because she idolized her father. She is currently a junior assistant captain on the women’s ice hockey team and a government major.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Catherine Berghuis was a captain on the team when Carol was a freshman. When Catherine graduated, she bequested, or passed down, this tradition to Carol just like it was passed down to her. She chose this person as someone who carries herself as young, vocal leader  
  • Social Context: Every time Carol hits the bell she thinks of Catherine Berghuis and how much she inspired her and looks up to her. Caroline believes the bell does not just have a significant meaning to her, but also to every past, present, and future member of Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey.

Item:

  • While waiting to go on the ice for the start of the game, the team waits under the stands in a line. Above our heads on the wall right before getting on the ice, there is a very old round bell. Carol hits the bell as hard as she can with her stick right before we all run on the ice. This is the signal for the rest of the team that its time to start the game. 

 

Transcript: 

  • “Our former captain Catherine always hit the bell before me. This really pumped-up the team and was an honor to be that person to lead the time out on the ice at the start of every game. I am thrilled to be the one to now carry out this ritual.”

Informants Comments: 

  • The bell holds a lot of significance to the team as a whole and the person who has the honor to do it.

Collectors Comments: 

  • While hitting a bell before every game may not seem to have a lot of significance, within the hockey team it does. I could tell how much it meant to be the person who got this tradition passed down to and how much the team thrives on hearing this tradition before stepping on the ice every game.

Collectors Name: Claire Bird

Tags/Keywords:

  • Rituals
  • Ice Hockey
  • Bell

 

The Jersey Tuck

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Title: The Jersey Tuck

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Christina Rombaut
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Christina Rombaut is currently a sophomore on the varsity women’s ice hockey team. She is a biology major and was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. She started skating when she was three and started playing hockey when she was five. She has two older brothers, 21 and 22,  and they are the reason why Christina started to play hockey.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: While Christina grew up playing hockey her whole life, she never sported the ‘full tuck’ style (tucking her hockey jersey in her pants). She feels a bond with each of the girls in the different classes that all share this fun “secret” between one another.
  • Social Context: Christina first learned about this folklore during the Thursday night practice before her first game freshman year. The three older girls in each class who were a part of this ritual sat her down and told her about this bequested ritual. She would be the girl in the 20’s class that would do full-jersey tuck for pre-game skate. She was very excited to do this but thought it was pretty odd at first because it’s very uncommon and considered “bad style”. But, she enjoyed being part of a small group on the team, which the rest of the team knew nothing about.

Item: 

  • There is a pre-game skate for every Friday’s game and in this pregame skate, every player only wears sweatpants and a jersey. Christina is a girl from the sophomore class that tucks in her jersey all the way into her sweatpants because it was bequested to her. It looks terrible but when people ask you about it they can’t tell them that it’s a ritual. Only the people in the group know about it. There are only four players that do this ritual–one person from each class. A freshman is added each year to the group and the people in the group get to decide who joins among next year’s freshmen.

Christina Rombaut, sporting her full jersey tuck before pre-game skate

Transcript:

  • “This ritual is important to me because creates a bond between teammates and also adds fun to our pregame skates. People always chirp us for wearing our jersey fully tuck but it’s always good to have a laugh with those in the group cause we all know we look dumb but important to hold the tradition”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The jersey tuck is not an attractive look, but a fun tradition within the Dartmouth hockey program

Collector’s Comments:

  • I find this as a particularly special tradition because of the secretive significance. The bond between the four players seems to be something that they are able to have between each other without anyone else particularly aware. It is captivating seeing a psychical expression of something that is more internally motivating.

Collector’s Name: Brooke Ahbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Jersey Tuck

Defense Partners

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Defense Partner Handshake

Title: Defense Partners

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Gestures
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Hailey Noronha
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Hailey Noronha was born in a town right outside Toronto, Ontario in November,1996. She is a senior at Dartmouth College on the Women’s Varsity Ice Hockey Team. Hailey was the captain on the team this past year and is a sociology major at Dartmouth. She started playing hockey when she was about three years old because of her older brother and dad who played.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: When explaining this folklore, Hailey was smiling the whole time and appreciated the bond it created with a girl on the team two years younger than her. They originally started doing this about the first or second game of Hailey’s junior year and Bailee’s freshmen year.
  • Social Context: After on-ice warm-ups before the game, the team comes back into the locker room. During this time coach gives a pre-game speech and then leaves. At this time, the team stands up and a lot of people have pre-game rituals and handshakes with other girls on the team. Hailey and Bailee, a sophomore defenseman on the team, perform their handshake at this time. 

Item:

  • Bailee Brekke, a current sophomore on the team, and Hailey perform a handshake before going on the ice for the start of the game. Once coach leaves the locker room, Hailey and Bailee find each other and do a high five, then low five, and finally grab hands and bring them to the sky. They then back down low and are ready for the game. 

Transcript:

  • “I can’t stop smiling thinking about our handshake–It puts me in the right mindset before the start of the game!”

Collector’s Name: Sarah Tabeek

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Gesture
  • Defense Partner Handshake

Soccer Warm Up

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Title: Soccer Warm Up

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Game, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Morgan Turner
  • Date Collected: 2-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Morgan Turner is a senior at Dartmouth College. She is 21 years old and was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Morgan is majoring in Economics and is on the Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey team. She started playing hockey when she was ten years old and she is an only child.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Bequests are something that connects the team in various ways. For this specific bequest, a younger player is chosen to hang out and release any pre-game jitters with some of the older girls on the team.
  • Social Context: The varsity women’s ice hockey team does a team off ice warm up about an hour and a half before games. After this, there is free time to do what you want and put on your equipment before on ice warm ups. There are always four girls who juggle the soccer ball together, one girl from each class. This is a bequest and no real deciding factors go into who they chose other than someone who says they are decent at juggling the soccer ball and does not have any other real rituals they need to do at this time. Morgan was able to share this tradition with me over a meal together. She enjoys this bequest because she is able to connect with these four girls a lot of the course of the year while simultaneously having a little bit of fun before it is game time.

Item:

  • This is a bequest where one player, from every class year, juggles a soccer ball before game-time. Morgan was bequested this ritual starting her freshman year. When she was a sophomore she got to choose the next group member from the freshman class and the following year that girl chooses the new freshmen to join, and so on. Each member of the group writes their number on the ball. While juggling the ball, they count how many times the four of them juggle the soccer ball. They have to touch the ball at least the same amount of times as the highest jersey number of the four players before they can leave. 

Transcript:

  • “Sometimes it can be really hard trying to get 22 touches…sometimes we get 50 plus and others we really struggle and waste time. We have good days and bad.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It’s a fun tradition and the four of them get closer and have jokes as time goes on.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Playing soccer to warm up seems like a fun way to get started and they always try to pick the freshman that seems to have the most potential in juggling skills.

Collector’s Name: Claire Bird

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Game
  • Soccer Warm Up

Get ‘Er Done

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Title: Get ‘Er Done

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Sabrina Huett
  • Date Collected: 2-27-18

Informant Data:

  • Sabrina Huett is a 20 year old sophomore at Dartmouth College. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Plainfield, New Hampshire when she was four. Sabrina has lived in Plainfield ever since. She has played a variety of sports such as lacrosse growing up and has played hockey since she was 9. She has an older brother who went to RPI.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Many athletes have superstitions that start unintentionally. When something occurs, and a good game or performance is followed, many athletes might attribute A to cause B. The action might then turn into a superstition that is repeated every time in the hope of the same outcome.
  • Social Context: Kate and Sabrina were in Smoyer Lounge (at Thompson Arena) after a game one night. Kate and Sabrina were standing with Sabrina’s brother and Coach Joe Marsh. Sabrina’s brother said “get ‘er done” in a rather weird context that made everyone laugh. The next game, Coach Marsh said “Get ‘er done” in the locker room and only Sabrina and Kate really understood the context.

Item:

  • After Coach Marsh made a joke about this saying, Kate and Sabrina went up to each other before leaving the locker room for the game and said to each other, “get ‘er done.” They kept this as a funny, yet meaningful pre-game ritual. “Get ‘Er Done” is a special inside joke that turned into a ritual for Sabrina and Kate.

 

Transcript:

  • “It’s a pretty funny story, but after one of our games my brother and I were joking around. He said “Get ‘er done” to me, and Marsh heard it and thought it was the funniest thing!”

Informant’s Comments:

  •  It really just started as a little inside joke but then it has turned into a pre-game ritual that we can’t go on the ice without saying to one another.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It is interesting hearing about how some of these rituals have come to be. Around the locker room everyone is doing and saying different stuff before every game, and some of these rituals really don’t make sense to any outsiders. It is funny to hear how the “Get ‘Er Done” quick slogan to each other came to be.

Collector’s Name: Brooke Ahbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Get ‘Er Done