Scavenger Hunt

General Information:

Informant = Zac Milestone

Date = 5/20/20

Country of Origin = United States

Informant Data: Zac Milestone was born in Princeton New Jersey on November 17th. He began figure skating at age 7, in the form of pairs ice dancing, and it became his greatest extracuricular commitment throughout his life. In college there is no ice dancing option so Zac transitioned to figure skating and won various awards including 2^nd place in the male competition at the national collegiate championship. Zac is currently a senior at Dartmouth College looking to graduate in spring 2020 with a degree in chemistry, he also completed the pre Med curriculum and has aspirations of becoming a doctor.

Contextual Data: The club figure skating team is one of the oldest, strongest, and most established club teams at Dartmouth College. They are one of the few teams with an adult coach and one of the few club teams that has the ability to influence admissions via recruiting. This is largely in part due to the lack of figure skating in NCAA competition. However, while some skaters are recruited and generally have lots of experience and talent, the team does not cut members as it is an individual sport. This results in a large spectrum of talent on the skating team, from beginners to elite skaters. It is also noteworthy that college figure skating includes only individual competitions.

Item: While the details of “the hunt” change every year, the overarching themes and goals of the folkloric tradition remain the same. A significant characteristic of the hunt is that it always takes place at the beginning of the season, and is designed to foster team unity. Preparation for the scavenger hunt requires a large time commitment from the captains and coaches of the team. Designing clues is difficult as they should be solvable, but not too easy. Also ,the clues must point to locations throughout the Dartmouth campus, greater Hanover relevant to experiences in Dartmouth life, Baker library, the Hop, etc, and relevant to experiences specific to the figure skating team, such as the rink, the locker room, dorm rooms of influential members. Another important aspect of the scavenger hunt is the race component. This is orchestrated by separating the entire figure skating team into sub groups. Usually 4 groups of around 5 or 6 people, these groups are racing to solve through the scavenger hunt as quickly as possible. Groups are usually set up to establish mingling between class years within the team, particularly for the older members to get to know the freshmen on the team. The first team to solve all the clues is declared the winner and receives a prize, a typical prize being a gift card to Lou’s.

Collector: Matt Armstrong

Title: Harry Potter Party

General Information about the item:

• Customary Folklore: English tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Brady McCallister
• Date Collected: May 19, 2020

Informant Data:

• Brady McCallister is a student at Dartmouth college and is about to finish his junior year there. Brady is from California and has a very strong athletic background in all sports, though he is an especially talented frisbee player. Brady has been a member of the club frisbee team for his entire Dartmouth career. The frisbee club is divided into different teams based on their level and Brady is on the top team because he has a high level of play.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The informant was interviewed regarding the Harry Potter tradition done by the club frisbee community at Dartmouth College. According to Brady, this tradition occurs every Halloween in the Fall term at Dartmouth and it is designed to be a sort of welcoming to the freshmen class that are joining the frisbee community at Dartmouth, as well as a solidification of the entire frisbee community. The tradition is organized by established upperclassmen in the frisbee community—people who are especially involved socially in the frisbee community. According to Brady, the tradition has been going on for at least 15 years, but he does not know exactly how long.
• Cultural Context: Team bonding is really important for many teams, particularly the club frisbee team. According to Brady, many members of the frisbee community look forward to the “Harry Potter Party” all year because the frisbee community is the community they are closest with at Dartmouth. Further, Brady says that the tradition has been a way for freshmen to feel more comfortable both with the frisbee community and at Dartmouth in general. Thus, the night of this tradition is an important night for everyone involved.

Item:

• Freshmen receive emails from aliases with the names of Harry Potter characters. All members of the frisbee community are instructed to gather at night near the Green at Dartmouth where everyone is broken into groups and mystical “Harry Potter” passages are read off. Once everyone has spent a long time in their smaller groups, the entire frisbee community comes back together and has a celebration at an off-campus house owned by an older member on the team.

Collector: Peter Conklin

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

Midwest Menaces

General Information about Item:

Genre: Sports Tradition – Integration Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data:

Kai Sane is a 21 year old male born in Minneapolis, Minnesota but raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a Junior at Dartmouth College and has been playing tennis competitively for 17 years. He has been on the Club Tennis team for three years, is a member of Beta Alpha Omega, Colleges Against Cancer, does research in the Quantitative Social Sciences department, and is a co-owner of DartBike. He first encountered the following tradition in October 2018, which is when it started. 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs every away tournament for the Dartmouth men’s tennis team. It originally started in 2018, with a senior, sophomore, and freshman, all hailing from the midwest, who began rooming together for every tournament. They found that their calm, level-headed demeanors, which they all attributed to their midwest upbringing. Upon graduation of the senior, they brought in a freshman whose personality matched the group’s well. 

Item:

The “Midwest Menaces” is a term that refers to a roommate group that has become a tradition among the men’s club tennis team. The members of this roommate group, which changes from year-to-year as team members graduate and replacements are brought in, find that their personalities complement one another well and that this rooming arrangement leads to superior performance in tournaments.

Collector: Robert Hopkins

Title: End of Year Dinner

Informant: Julie Lim

Date: 5/22/20

Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data: Julie Lim was born on April 22nd and is from Georgia. She grew up playing lacrosse as with her town youth and high school programs, but according to her, she is from an area where lacrosse is not necessarily as popular so coming to Dartmouth, the club team was more competitive than the lacrosse teams she is used to playing on. Julie considers herself one of the less active members of the lacrosse team but values her experience with the team and the friendships she has made through the team. Julie is currently a senior at Dartmouth College, studying neuroscience and also completed the pre Med curriculum.

Contextual Data: Julie also describes the Dartmouth Women’s club lacrosse experience as a very relaxed team experience where competition is valued less than the social experience of being on a team. While she initially did not consider playing, she was drawn in by friends also considering the team, and she chose to remain a member because of the social bonds she formed through the team. Again, Julie related how the team had a large number of members and that, members are allowed to show up when they chose and have time in their busy Dartmouth schedules. The team competitive season occurs only during the spring term but the team is sure to have social events and “low key” practices throughout the year.

Item: This custom consists of a prepared team social event, in the form of pasta dinner at one of the upper-class leaders off campus houses. The event is rooted in surprise however, as it is disguised in the form of a normal practice. Practices occur at a field about 15 minutes walking distance away from main Dartmouth campus, so because of this team members with cars typically drive the younger students to the field for practice. Group-me messages are sent out about practice and picking team members up for practice, however instead of driving the team to the lacrosse field for practice, they are driven to an off campus house or apartment of a senior on the team where the seniors have prepared a team dinner for the younger members of the team. The night is used for team bonding and socializing instead of athletic practice and it is part of what helps build team community and spirit.

Collector: Matt Armstrong

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General Information

Folklore: Chipotle After Games

Informant: Erin Fitzgerald

Date: 5/22/20

Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data: Erin Fitzgerald was born in Easton Massachusetts on August 26th. She began playing lacrosse in middle school and played for 8 years where her high school career culminated in her play as a prominent midfielder on one of the best teams in the state. In college she joined the club lacrosse team, where she once again plays midfield and has been one of the team leaders her senior year. Erin is currently a senior at Dartmouth College looking to graduate in spring 2020 with degrees in Economics and Anthropology.

Contextual Data: As far as club sports teams go, Erin describes the club lacrosse experience as one of the more relaxed sports teams. They maintain a large number of members on the team, but only a few of the most dedicated members consistently show up to team practices, games, and events. They are not coached and rely more on student leadership, particularly from the team captains. However, in competitions against other schools they often fare incredibly well. Their season lasts only the spring term, and they typically play 2 to 3 weekend tournaments, which almost always take place at other schools.

Item: When the team travels for away games, often to schools in Boston or other locations in Massachusetts or Connecticut, they often have multiple games in one day. The nature of women’s club lacrosse at a collegiate level involves meetups of multiple schools at one school, where they will all play each other. For Dartmouth students, travel for athletics is often one of the few ways to spend significant time off campus, and one of the few available travel outlets for those who do not have their own form of transportation. After travelling and playing multiple games in a day, the team always congregates at a Chipotle restaurant on the trip back to campus for a team meal. Chipotle is one of the favorite restaurants of team members and as there are no Chipotle’s in Hanover or the neighboring towns, it is an experience that many Dartmouth students miss. Because of this, all of the individual rental cars driving back from the lacrosse games stop at the same Chipotle and the team members all eat a meal together as a symbol of a job well done and an opportunity to experience a taste of life outside of the Dartmouth bubble.

Collector: Matt Armstrong

Pre Match Psych Up

General Information about the Item:

• Customary Folklore: English Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Abigail Chiu
• Date Collected: May 12, 2020

 Informant Data:

• Abigail Chiu is a junior majoring in government at Dartmouth College. She is on the Dartmouth Women’s tennis team and has been named captain for next year’s season. Abigail was born in Austin, Texas and has spent almost the entirety of her life playing tennis. Throughout her life, Abigail was a highly ranked tennis player. Throughout much of her life, Abigail has developed many pre-match routines that have led her to have much success on the tennis court. Today, she (along with the rest of the Dartmouth Women’s tennis team) share pre-match rituals that have led to much success.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: The informant was interviewed in person regarding the Psych Up tradition. She first learned of the Dartmouth women’s tennis team tradition when she was a freshman in college and had just become a member of the team. The tradition takes place before every one of the women’s team college tennis matches and it is led by two members of the team. According to Abigail, this tradition can be led by any two members and the leaders are chosen at random by their coaches. Abigail also notes that this tradition occurs approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes before the match is set to begin. Abigail further explains that the “psych up” activity can be anything as long as it does not involve tennis and every member on the team is involved.
• Cultural Context: It is often the case that sports teams will have pre-game traditions before a match. Sometimes, teams will have certain before match traditions because they want to take their minds off of the match to reduce feelings of stress. This is the intention behind the “Psych-Up” tradition, according to Abigail. Although this approach is different from the way she would go about preparing for matches before she got to Dartmouth, Abigail says that she has appreciated the tradition more and more as she has gone about her Dartmouth career because she feels that the tradition helps her relax and bond with her teammates.

Item:

• About an hour and twenty minutes before a match is set to begin, two people on the Dartmouth Women’s team (chosen at random) are assigned to lead a team activity involving all the players, which can be anything. The activity is called “Psych Up” and it is designed to loosen the tension in everyone prior to the beginning of a match.

Collector: Peter Conklin

Scrub Sesh

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Custom
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Aron Rudich
• Date Collected: May 21, 2020

Informant Data:

Aron Rudich was born in Long Beach, California and has lived there his entire life. He is 22 years old and is of Russian and Hungarian descent. Aron has played soccer for 17 years, including three years of varsity soccer at Dartmouth. He also played baseball and flag football while growing up. At Dartmouth, he is a member of the Varsity Soccer team and a member of Chi Heorot fraternity.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

Aron was injured early in his Dartmouth soccer career, and thus, has not gotten the chance to play during many matches. While he was not able to play in games, at times, he has been healthy enough to practice with the team. After his first game with the team in August of his first year at Dartmouth, he experienced a team tradition. The day after this game, he went to practice at Burnham Field, but practice was not run normally. Over the years, Aron has really enjoyed practicing this tradition because he believes that it allows the non-starters to have fun (because they are not playing in the games) and feel like they are truly a part of the team.

Cultural Context:

College soccer teams usually have about thirty players on their roster, but only about fifteen typically play over the course of a game. Thus, there are many players on the team who rarely (if ever) get to play in a game. Furthermore, because the starters and normal players need to prepare heavily for the games, they receive more attention and playing time in practice, too.

Item:

Whenever the Varsity Soccer team has a match (home or away), they always have a practice the next day. However, this practice is not a normal one because the best players do not play. The practice is called the “scrub session”, and during it, all the “scrubs” (players who rarely play in games) get to scrimmage each other, while the starters sit on the bench and watch. The coaches, along with one or two seniors, helps organize the scrimmage, but then let the “scrubs” play their match. The match gets extremely competitive and is exciting for the “scrubs” because the starters cheer for them throughout the game.

Collector: Jack Mascali

Sewer Ball

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Custom
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Collin Rutherford
• Date Collected: May 20, 2020

Informant Data:

Collin Rutherford was born in Buffalo, New York and has lived there his entire life. He is 22 years old and is of Scottish and French descent. Collin has played hockey for 19 years, including three years of varsity hockey at Dartmouth. He also played golf, tennis and baseball before coming to Dartmouth. In college, he is a member of the Varsity Hockey team, a member of Chi Heorot fraternity and an entrepreneur.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

When Collin played in his first game at Dartmouth’s Thompson Arena, he taped his hockey stick and then went to the concourse. Many of his teammates were beginning to warm up, some stretching, others stickhandling, and the rest playing some sort of game with a soccer ball. He joined in and quickly learned the rules of the competitive game. Over the years, Collin has participated in the game before every home and away hockey game. He explained that the game consists of the same group of players every time, and thus, has become a way to bond with certain players on the team.

Cultural Context:

Hockey players often arrive at the rink an hour or more before their game (the Dartmouth team arrives two hours before the game). During this time, players prepare their equipment, listen to music and warm-up before getting dressed. The warm-up can consist of stretching, cardio, or some casual form of a sport.

Item:

Certain players of the Dartmouth hockey team play a soccer game called “sewer ball” before each home and away game. Players stand in a circle and attempt to juggle the soccer ball between players without letting it touch the ground. If the ball is touched by or hits a player and then hits the ground, that player is eliminated. The game continues until only one player is left remaining, and they are considered the champion.

Collector: Jack Mascali

Bequests 

General Information about Item:

Genre: Sports Tradition – Passing-of-the-Torch Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data:

Andrew Skow is a 21 year old male born in San Francisco, California. He was raised in San Francisco and London, England. He has played rugby for eight years of his life and has been on the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club (DRFC) for the past three years. He is a Junior at Dartmouth College, and in addition to playing rugby he is involved in the Rude Mechanicals theatre group, he is the house manager of Theta Delta Chi, and does engineering research on campus. He first encountered this tradition in the spring of 201 at Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse. 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs at the end of every rugby season. The tradition is led by the seniors, and the whole team is in attendance (players, not coaches). Since the building of the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse, it always takes place there. 

Item:

Over the years, the DRFC has acquired a great number of sentimental/interesting/funny rugby paraphernalia, and there tend to be a lot of stories that go with these items. At Bequests, the seniors get to hand out the bequests that have been given to them and pass them on to younger members of the team. Different bequests have different meanings, as certain bequests are designated to go to the captains, co-captains, president of the club, etc. The order in which seniors pass out bequests is hierarchical, starting with non-executive members of the team and finishing with the captain. Through the passing on of items and their accompanying stories, this tradition serves as a way to pass on the history of the DRFC. Additionally, the tradition honors the seniors for the time they spent with the team as after they are done passing out bequests they have the opportunity to give a speech about what the DRFC meant to them. 

Collector: Robert Hopkins

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Jersey Presentation

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Custom
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Chris Wilford
• Date Collected: May 19, 2020

Informant Data:

Chris Wilford grew up in Downers Grove, Illinois and has lived there his entire life. He is 21 years old and is of English, Swedish and German descent. Chris has played rugby for 3 years, all of which have been at Dartmouth. He also played baseball, football and ran track while growing up. At Dartmouth, he is a member of the Rugby team, the Risk Manager for Phi Delta Alpha fraternity and a member of ROTC.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

When Chris was a first-year, he tried out for and made the Rugby team. He quickly learned that the team had many traditions, including a pre-game ritual. Before each game, the players gather in the Rugby field house, which acts as the “home” for the team. Although the starters are normally named before any kind of sports game, this tradition went further than that. Chris loves this tradition because it made him realize why he was on the team and made him truly feel like he was a part of the team.

Cultural Context:

College rugby teams either play games with seven or fifteen players in a game. In addition, for college sports, it is common for the coaches or leaders announce the starting lineup to their teams to get them excited. The Dartmouth Rugby team is a very skilled team, and although labeled “club”, competes at a very high level and takes the sport very seriously.

Item:

The day before each Dartmouth Rugby home game, the team gathers in the clubhouse. The jerseys of the starting players are laid out and each starting player is announced by the captain, and the announcement is followed by two quick claps from all the of players. After the whole starting lineup is announced, a senior, or a player who has something special to share, gives a speech to the team. This speech usually centers around what the Dartmouth Rugby team means to them and why they feel that their group of players is special.

Collector: Jack Mascali

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.