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Author Archives: f0041r4
Lifting Setup (Troy Burkhart)
Title: Lifting Setup
General Information about item:
- Magic (Sympathetic) Superstition
- Origin: New Hampshire
- Informant: E.S.
- 10/10/2021
Informant Data:
- E.S. was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the year 2001. He is currently on the tennis and powerlifting club teams at Dartmouth College. Eli is majoring in psychology with a minor in economics. His background is mostly European with family origins in Italy, France, and Ireland.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Before lifters and powerlifters move incredible amounts of weight, they have techniques that help them focus. These techniques allow them to mentally prepare for the movement they are going to perform which have been proven by doctors to increase weight and strength. For some reason, when a lifter/sports player hits his or her pressure points in the correct way, their muscles somehow become more attuned and exceed their potential that the lifters could not do moments before.
- Social Context: The powerlifting club meets a few days a week at an off-campus gym where the group gets together and powerlift. Powerlifter groups are formed to help members push each other and get to the next/higher weight class. They all scream encouragement to each other when they are going for their maxes.
Item:
- The routine movements that E.S. learned from the team at Dartmouth are about the final setup. Every teammate always enters the machine/weight by going left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand. They believes this focuses their minds and prepares them for the lift because they enter the machine the same way every time. E.S. claims it felt weird at first to follow this tradition but now he feels off-balance and weaker if he does not follow this Dartmouth entrance routine. The team does not know who started this tradition, but E.S. suspects it was whoever started the powerlifting club.
Associated files/pictures:
Transcript:
- “If I do not enter left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand then I am off balance and fail a lot more than I usual do if I just follow the routine. It was weird to get the hang of remembering the routine but now it is second nature for me.”
Informants Comments:
- He recommends getting into routine because he feels the consistency of the pre-game let also helps him consistently perform in powerlifting.
Collector’s Comments:
- Sports routines are very common, but E.S. shows how important they can be and the consequences of not doing the routine or having it broken. He underperforms if the routine is broken and performs or improves from his last lifting session as long as he continues with his pre-game routine every week.
Collector’s Name:
- Troy Burkhart
- Dartmouth College ’23
- Russian 13 Fall 2021
- Professors – Gronas, Apresyan
Tags:
- Powerlifting
- Dartmouth
- Superstition
- College athletics
Knuckle Cracking (Troy Burkhart)
General Information about Item:
- Magic (Contagious) Superstition, repetition
- Origin: Maryland
- Informant: J.B.
- 10/28/2021
Informant Data:
- J.B. was born in Bethesda, Maryland in the year 2002. He is currently on the water polo team at Dartmouth College and on Phi Delta Alpha’s flag football team. He is majoring in PPE (Government modified with economics and philosophy). He and his family are all of Canadian or French Canadian descent.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Sports team usually have a traditional social aspect passed down through the team. These pre-game aspects are usually superstitious in nature and are believed to help the team win. J.B. happened to pick up his superstition from his old football team which is a sport in the US which many people, players and viewers alike, create superstitions to help their team win.
- Social Context: Knuckle cracking is a typical action that people will mindlessly do, but in J.B. case it serves to mock the opponent/signify they are going to break their bones (beat them in the game). Joseph got his knuckle cracking superstition from his old high school which he believes originated about thirty years ago. The schools rival did this to his high school before the coin flip and now it is a tradition that the whole football team cracks their knuckles to the rival right after the coin flip.
Item:
- J.B. knuckle cracking superstition is that he must crack his knuckles before the game starts and every time before he enters the water polo game after a timeout or other stoppage (instead of a football game like in high school). He specifically cracks each knuckle one at a time starting with the right index figure and going to the pinky and then repeating it on the left hand. He believes this helps his team get the lucky bounces or calls in the game.
Associated files/pictures:
Transcript:
- “I start on my right hand and crack each knuckle, minus the thumb, individually and then go to my right hand and repeat it. I believe it helps my team with bounces and getting lucky so to speak. Like instead of hitting a post, the ball will clip the post and go in for a goal.”
Informants Comments:
- He hopes his high school continues this tradition and that he can get the knuckle cracking superstition to start at Dartmouth.
Collector’s Comments:
- Although I do not crack my knuckles I have other hand warmups I do for hockey. I also find it hilarious that this tradition has continued for thirty years at his high school, just to mock the rival high school.
Collector’s Name:
- Troy Burkhart
- Dartmouth College ’23
- Russian 13 Fall 2021
- Professors – Gronas, Apresyan
Tags:
- Water Polo
- Dartmouth
- Superstition
- Repetition
Pre-Game Stretching (Troy Burkhart)
Title: Pre-Game Stretching
General Information about item:
- Magic (Sympathetic) Superstition
- Origin: Florida
- Informant: W.S.
- 10/3/2021
Informant Data:
- W.S. was born in Gainesville, Florida in the year 1999. He played on club squash (1 year) freshman year and was a weightlifter (4 years) throughout high school. He is majoring in engineering moded with economics and a minor in Japanese. His background is mostly European with family origins in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and England.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Stretching is a typical exercise that sports teams go through to increase mobility and reduce injuries during games and practice. While the amount of stretching varies in importance for every sport, in high impact running sports like squash, it is a very important exercise to do pre-game.
- Social Context: Stretching is usually done in a circle before the game. Teams are able to discuss tactics and strategies for the upcoming game, joke around, and take their mind off the anxiousness for the game.
Item:
- According to W.S., most squash players take the rubber ball and use it to stretch their muscles and focus. Players take the ball and place it between their body and the ground and slowly roll back and forth on their feet and arms. However, at Dartmouth, they have a different warm up routine with the squash ball. Instead of rubbing the bottom of their feet, the team takes a squash ball, and goes through a full body warmup using the squash ball rather than just their feet.
Associated files/pictures:
Transcript:
- “I roll my entire body starting with my calves, then hamstrings, quads, back and finally lats. I feel much more stretched and prepared than just rolling my feet and arms.”
Informants Comments:
- He highly recommends everyone to stretch. It significantly lowered the number of injuries he received while playing sports and he still stretches even though he does not play anymore.
Collector’s Comments:
- Stretching is also a huge aspect of pre and post-game for hockey and is pretty much universal in all sports. However, we do this everyday before practice and before and after every game, not just before games.
Collector’s Name:
- Troy Burkhart
Tags:
- Water Polo
- Dartmouth
- Superstition
- Repetition
Straight Rail Shots in Squash (Troy Burkhart)
Title: Straight Rail Shots in Squash
General Information about Item:
- Magic (Homeopathic) Superstition, repetition
- Origin: Canada
- Informant: K.D.
- 10/25/2021
Informant Data:
- K.D. was born in Shanghai, China in the year 2001, but his family now lives in Canada. He is currently the captain of the club squash team at Dartmouth College. He is majoring in Economics and head President of Scholars of Finance and Board member of EMS. He and his family are all of Chinese descent.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: To win in squash, ball placement is much more important than strength and hitting the ball as hard as possible because sometimes harder shots can bounce higher and be easier to return. Practicing accurate shots is a highly repetitive process that teams use in practice and warmups to prepare for matches.
- Social Context: K.D. isolates himself when practicing this repetition to give himself full focus on the straight rail shots. By doing so, this creates a barrier against outside distractions and allows him to perfect his shot in time for the match. It was a warmup he learned from a previous coach who also does not know who originally started this warmup.
Item:
- K.D. must be the last player to leave the warmup before the match and only after he hits 5 straight rail shots in a row. Rail shots in squash are hitting the ball as close as possible to the side wall without having it bounce out to the middle of the court. These shots make it incredibly difficult to return the ball and K.D. claims this superstition helps prepare him to make a straight rail shot in the game. Also, being the only person left on the court, he isolates himself to give himself complete focus on his abilities and his own accuracy right before his match. He acquired this folklore superstition from a previous coach of his who claimed that repetition is very important and it helps mentally prepare players to make the perfect shot and score during the match.
Associated files/pictures:
Unfortunately K.D. sustained an eye injury and was unable to complete the superstition on film for the archive but below is a video of straight drive shots which are straight rail shots when hit along, almost touching, the wall. If the shots were closer to the wall, they would be said to be rail shots.
Transcript:
- “I must be the last person on the court for warmups. Then I can end with five straight rail shots. These shots are placed as close as possible to the wall which makes it extremely hard to return them. The placement on them are hard, but when done right can easily score you points or tire out the opponent. Before I get off the court, I do this until I get five good rail shots in a row which prepares me to execute these in the match.”
Informants Comments:
- Straight rail are some of the best shots in squash, if you were to improve on anything in squash, I would recommend the placement on these shots.
Collector’s Comments:
- Squash is a very unfamiliar sport to me but repetition is something I also do in hockey. Repetition and practice is what lets you improve on anything and it makes sense that squash would have the same practice with improvement.
Collector’s Name:
- Troy Burkhart
- Dartmouth College ’23
- Russian 13 Fall 2021
- Professors – Gronas, Apresyan
Tags:
- Squash
- Dartmouth
- Rail shots
- Repetition
Rock and Roll and Trap Shooting (Troy Burkhart)
Title: Rock and Roll and Trap Shooting
General Information about Item:
- Magic (Sympathetic) object Superstition, song, bullet placement
- Language: English
- Origin: Massachusetts
- Informant: N.S.
- 10/5/2021
Informant Data:
- N.S. was born in Newton, Massachusetts in the year 1999. He participated in trap shooting at Dartmouth in the past. He described himself as a very neat and organized person. His family background is mostly European with family origins in Ireland, Poland, Germany, and French Canadian.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Trap shooting is an American sport that was created as a very popular alternative to using real birds which was a big factor in its widespread popularity. At trap competitions, all competitors line up in a row and signal for a single clay one at a time which gives each shooter time in-between rounds to prepare.
- Social Context: According to Ned, many of the participants are very nationalistic and pro-America. Practices, competitions, and other events are mostly focused on competing within the team and outside, however, having after all these events the team will have socials and other entertaining events that create a team bond.
Item:
- (Non-folklore superstition, just interesting) At trap competitions, all competitors line up in a row and signal for a single clay one at a time. They shoot and then have until all other competitors to reload their gun. During this time is when N.S. pre-game/pre-round superstition comes into practice. His personal superstition is that would always load the special Western bullet into his gun with the words facing upwards.
- (Team folklore superstition) N.S. trap shooting team had a folkloric superstition of listening to music only by AC/DC leading up to trap shooting events. While they are in the bus or locker room, AC/DC is the only music allowed. He does not know when this folklore was started but thinks it was because AC/DC makes rock music is an American genre of music which matches the American origin of trap shooting. Listening to AC/DC hypes the team up and prepares them to shoot at competitions. Their favorite song that they always end with is Hell’s Bells.
Associated files/pictures:
Transcript:
- “Everytime I load my break-open shotgun, I must place the logo, that is imprinted on the brass bottom, upright in the chamber. If the logo is not upright, my shooting accuracy decreases because all I can do is focus on the fact that the bullet is loaded incorrectly.”
- “To hype ourselves up for competitions, it is a team rule that we listen to only AC/DC’s music during bus rides or in the locker room. I am not sure where this came from, but it is very effective.”
Informants Comments:
- He recommends listening to AC/DC’s music, as it is very catchy and popular music back in the day
Collector’s Comments:
- The personal superstition of bullet placement is really interesting. It is very specific and precise in nature. Both of these superstitions are also very intriguing to me because I had never really heard of trap shooting before talking to Ned.
Collector’s Name:
- Troy Burkhart
- Dartmouth College ’23
- Russian 13 Fall 2021
- Professors – Gronas, Apresyan
Tags:
- Trap Shooting
- Dartmouth
- Music
- AC/DC