Author Archives: f004mp8

Team Bonding Winterim Video Compilation

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Tradition 
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: LL
  • Date Collected: 11/12/19

Informant Data:

  • LL is a ‘21 on the Dartmouth Track & Field team from Delta, Colorado. She has been on the team for five years, she is a graduate student, and participates in the throwing events, specifically hammer, shot put, discus, and weight throw. She began competing in track and field in the seventh grade.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Most athletic teams have team specific traditions and activities that occur annually to help build cohesiveness, comradery, and teamwork. Team spirit is crucial and shared traditions and experience help promote the relationships between teammates. Traditions that are held specifically for the athletes by the athletes when coaches are not present are especially impactful in increasing team bonding and feeling comfortable with one another. 
  • Social Context: This tradition is a fun one that brings the throwing squad (the members of the track team that compete in throwing events) together. Both the men and women in the throwing squad are a part of this tradition. It is done during Winterim (the time between terms when mainly winter athletes are on campus) and is a fun way to tease your teammates while also becoming much closer. It is fun and humorous and a lighthearted way to make fun of one another and become more vulnerable and closer before the indoor season begins. 

Item:

  • LL says that during Winterim before the season begins the throws squad puts a video compilation together using a few funny viral videos and memes to describe each member of the team. It can be embarrassing but it is incredibly fun and lighthearted and makes the team much closer. It creates a better understanding of your teammates and their quirks as well as creates another form of folklore, inside jokes, between the team. 

Associated File: 

*Informant did not feel comfortable being recorded or sharing any past videos. 

Informant’s Comments:

  • LL said that in her five years here this ritual has been done within the throws squad. It has become much easier to do over time with the increase of social media activity but it’s impact on the team has remained the same. It allows for a good laugh and is a fun experience for the team to share.  

Collector’s Comments:

  • My volleyball team in high school had a similar tradition where every year we would make a video which shows each member of the team acting out a funny scene from a movie that the rest of the team would pick as they felt it represented that person. I think these kinds of traditions are really fun and helpful in creating an environment for team building and where people can feel comfortable being vulnerable and a little bit embarrassed in front of their teammates. It also creates a better understanding between teammates. 
  • This would fall into the categories of customary folklore, as it is an annual tradition that has unknown origin and has been passed down through its practice over many years. 
  • This is Dartmouth throwing team specific tradition/superstition, but other event groups have their own similar traditions like puppet shows and lip sync battles that occur annually during Winterim before the season kicks off as a way to build team relationships. 

Collector’s Name:

  • Madyson Buchalski 

No Talking to Competitors

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Ritual/ Superstition 
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: JD
  • Date Collected: 11/14/19

Informant Data:

  • JD is a ‘23 on the Dartmouth Track & Field team from Andover, MA. He has been on the team for three years and participates in the throwing events, specifically hammer and weight throw. He began competing in track and field in the eighth grade.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural context: Many athletes are very superstitious and have lots of pre-meet rituals that they participate in. These ritual superstitions can be anything from an clothing item, a song they listen to, or a ritual. JD stated that he participates in this ritual because it makes them feel calm and puts them in a competitive mindset. 
  • Social Context: Rituals like this are a large part of athletic participation because how you interact with your competitors plays a big role in your competition experience. Rituals like this help make one feel more comfortable in a situation that they have little control over and provides them with an individualized action even when surrounded by a lot of people. The rituals can be playful or serious depending on the athlete. 

Item:

  • JD says that before and during every meet he does not talk to the competition at all until he is finished competing. Sometimes he does this by listening to music to distract him from everything else, and other times he just goes off to the side and avoids talking to people.

Associated File: 

*Informant did not feel comfortable being recorded. 

Informant’s Comments:

  • JD has done this ritual every meet since they were in high school. He said it makes him feel focused on himself and not on his competition and it makes him feel like he will do better. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • As an athlete myself, I have heard and seen many of my past and current teammates and opponents who have a similar approach to preparing for competition. 
  • This would fall into the categories of customary folklore, as it represents a transition from everyday life to incorporation into the competition mindset. 
  • While this isn’t a Dartmouth team specific tradition/superstition, this is just one example of the many athletes on the team who have similar superstitions. 

Collector’s Name:

  • Madyson Buchalski

Pre-Meet Preparation Ritual

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Ritual/ Superstition 
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: JT
  • Date Collected: 11/14/19

Informant Data:

  • JT is a ‘23 on the Dartmouth Track & Field team from Houston, Texas. She has been on the team for three years and participates in the throwing events, specifically shot put and discus. She began competing in track and field in the fifth grade at her middle school.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural context: Many athletes are very superstitious and have lots of pre-meet rituals that they participate in,  believing they will help them perform well. These ritual superstitions can be anything from an clothing item, to a song they listen to, to an action they perform. JT stated that they participate in this ritual because it makes them feel calm and in control before a competition and it puts them in a mindset to compete well. 

Item:

  • JT says that before every meet she does her makeup a particular way, paints her nails, and wears a fun pair of socks. This began as a personal ritual that she picked up from teammates in high school, but has now spread to other members of the track team as well.

Associated File: 

*Informant did not feel comfortable being recorded. 

Informant’s Comments:

  • JT has continued to do this same ritual before every meet since they were in high school because it makes her feel confident and in control. She enjoys going into a competition feeling and looking her best because the positivity often translates into her throwing that day. 
  • She has never completed without doing this tradition before a meet since she’s been in college, and when asked if she ever would, JT was hesitant and said probably not, because she’s had such great results with it. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • As a varsity athlete myself, I definitely have heard of many of my past and current teammates who have a similar ritual/superstition for themselves. While I don’t currently have a ritual and steps I go through before a meet, I can see how doing the same thing before every meet could have a positive psychological effect on an athlete. 
  • This would fall into the categories of material and customary folklore, since it includes something physical the athlete wears on meet day, like the makeup and socks, but it also is a ritual because of its particular steps that represent a transition from everyday life to incorporation into the competition mindset . Additionally, it is a sign superstition in the form “If I do A, then B ” because JT believes that doing this ritual makes her perform better. 
  • While this isn’t a Dartmouth team specific tradition/superstition, this is just one example of the many athletes on the team who have similar superstitions. 

Collector’s Name:

  • Madyson Buchalski

Pre-HEPS Dinner and Cheer

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

• Ritual / Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: TBS
• Date Collected: 11/15/19

Informant Data:

TBS is a ‘23 from Portland Oregon on the Track & Field team. She has been on the team for three years and participates in the throwing events, specifically hammer and weight throw. She began competing in track and field her senior year of high school.  

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Dartmouth is one of eight colleges in the Ivy League. The Ivy League is a Division I athletic conference made up of colleges and universities all located in the eastern U.S. and extremely rigorous academically. The biggest competition each season for the track and field and cross-country teams that compete in this conference is the Heptagonal Championships, or HEPS for short. This meet is referred to as the heptagonal championships because there used to be only seven teams in the Ivy League. Throughout the years some schools left the league and others joined to create a total of the eight teams there are today, however the name of this championship stuck. This meet is the only one all year where only all eight teams compete against each other, and it is extremely important.
• Social Context: Although not every athlete on the team qualifies to compete at HEPS, the whole team comes together to send off those competing. It is important for overall team comradery and spirits going into the competition. It is also very common for all athletic teams to eat a meal together before competition so they can form deeper connections with their teammates.

Item:

• The tradition is that before the HEPS meet, the whole team comes together and has a team dinner at 53 Commons and does a team cheer at the end as a sendoff for those competing.

Associated Media File: 

Video of the 2010 Dartmouth Track and Field Team doing the team cheer before the 2010 Heptagonal Championships.

Informant’s Comments:

TBS says that before every big meet, specifically HEPS, the whole team sits at the “track team” table at 53 Commons and eats dinner together. At the end of the meal, one of the captains begins the team cheer and the rest of the team joins in and chants together. This is done in front of all the other people eating in the dining hall. While it can be somewhat embarrassing to draw attention to yourself by participating in the cheer, you know you are not alone because the whole team is participating in it. It is a great bonding experience and one that makes you feel really special and proud to be a part of the Dartmouth track and field team.  

Collector’s Comments:

  • As a newer member of the track and field team whose experience has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not a tradition that I have been able to participate in yet. However, I am very excited to do this before the indoor HEPS this upcoming winter. The cheer is something that all new athletes on the team learn very soon after arriving on campus. This is a great example of verbal folklore because the author is unknown, it is passed down orally through generations, and it doesn’t have any true meaning other than for the team itself. The team dinner is also important because of the bonding it encourages between event groups and upper/underclassmen.

Collector’s Name:

Madyson Buchalski

Lucky Socks

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Ritual / Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: MG
  • Date Collected: 10/25/21 

Informant Data:

  • MG is a ‘24 from Schaghticoke, New York on the Track & Field team. He has been on the team for two years and participates in the throwing events, specifically hammer, weight throw, and shot put. He began competing in track and field at Greenwich High School in NY during his sophomore year of high school in 2015. 

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Clothing has been used throughout time in many different cultures as a way to distinguish when a certain event or ritual is taking place. Athletes all over the world at every level of competition have pieces of clothing/accessories that they consider lucky for game/race day. It is very common in the athlete world, and beyond, to have a lucky piece of clothing that is worn when the person wants to be successful.

Item:

  • MG always wears the same pair of socks for each of his competitions. They are a pair of Captain America socks that was gifted to him by his mother. 

Associated File: 

Photo courtesy of MG of him competing wearing the item. At this meet he got a personal best, and attributes some of that success to the socks.

Informant’s Comments:

  • MG has continued to wear the same pair of socks because he has been very successful while wearing them and believes he will not do as well if he doesn’t wear them. This belief stems from the fact that all his personal records in high school and college were set in them and the few times he did not wear them he did not do as well. 
  • Even though the item is falling apart (the socks have holes in them), MG says he can’t bring himself to get rid of them because he truly believes they give him the ability to get personal records. 
  • The tradition stemmed from a family tradition of gifting and then wearing funny socks. He began wearing them to meets and noticed he seemed to do better with this particular pair, so he began to wear them more and more, making it grow into a habit and then a superstition. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • As a varsity athlete myself, I definitely have heard of many of my past and current teammates who have a similar ritual/superstition for themselves. While I don’t currently have anything that I always wear for competition apart from the uniform, I have in the past. In high school during my junior and senior year, every track meet I wore the exact same pair of leggings after winning the state championship in them the year prior. I felt that I always performed better in them, and in the few times I didn’t wear them, I actually did worse. Similarly , when I played volleyball in high school, I always wore the same pair of socks and hair tie. I think this can be attributed to the fact that in a meet or a game you can’t control a lot of things, so the one thing you have total control over is yourself. Choosing to wear the same thing definitely helps in maintaining that little bit of control. I found having a so-called “lucky” accessory/clothing item always put me in the right mindset, gave me more confidence (even if it was unwarranted), and made me feel better going into competition. 
  • This would fall into the category of material folklore, since it is something physical that athletes wear on race day. Additionally, it is a sign superstition in the form “If I do A, then B” because MG believed that wearing the socks would make him perform better. 
  • While this isn’t a Dartmouth team specific tradition/superstition, this is just one example of the many athletes on the team who have similar superstitions. 

Collector’s Name:

  • Madyson Buchalski