Category Archives: Dartmouth Water Sports Folklore

Diving Suit Superstition

Title: Diving Suit

General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: rituals
  • English
  • United States of America

Informant Data:

  • Allison Green was born on January 1st, 1997. She began diving year round at age 8. She is now a sophomore at Dartmouth College and a member of the women’s varsity diving team. She specializes in the 1m board.

Contextual Data:

  • Allison described divers in general as very superstitious. She described one typical item here that was passed down from each captain to the youngest members of the team.

Item:

  • Allison describes how divers often practice in their competition suit and can only compete in it if they dive well in it during practice. The item exemplifies contagious magic.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Diving Suit

Collector’s Name: Robert Purvis

Tags/Keywords:

  • folklore, water sports, diving, diving suit superstition

Starting Block Routine

Title: Starting Block Routine

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Rituals, Traditions
  • English
  • United States

Informant Data:

  • Iain Storm Edmundson was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on December 30th, 1996. Iain is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and a member of Dartmouth’s Varsity Swim Team. Iain began swimming when he was 6 years old, after almost drowning which prompted him to learn. He began swimming competitively at the age of 8 and joined the Greenwich High School Varsity Swim Team in 9th grade. Iain met with members of the Dartmouth Swim Team as a junior (is this right) and quickly knew that he wanted to be a part of the close-knit community of teammates and friends. His experiences swimming freshman year were huge parts of his time at Dartmouth, and now, as a sophomore, he has had the chance to experience the Swim Team from the other side, as a leader and mentor to the incoming freshman swimmers.
  • Contextual Data:
  • Social/Cultural Context: Iain has his unique pre-race ritual, but the idea of repeating the same set of actions before any competition is one shared by swimmers and athletes of all ages and across the globe. For example, some divers step onto the board exclusively with their right foot to maintain uniformity and rhythm, as well as for the perceived added good fortune associated with the right side.

Item:

  • Iain, a Dartmouth Varsity swimmer, steps onto the block with his right foot only after listening to hard rock music to pump him up and prepare him for competition.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • Jayson: Did your captains teach you and pass down traditions and routines that you guys go through?Iain: Yeah definitely. So probably one of the biggest things our team does, which I guess isn’t really a trick to get ready for the race, but like the day of the race we always have a cheer. And it’s been on the team for a very long time, and so the captain’s lead us in that, get everyone pumped up for the day. Normally we get a speech from the captains as well, just yeah get everyone pumped up.Jayson: Right before the race do you listen to any music or step forward with the same foot or anything like that?Iain: Right before the race I listen to—I don’t want to say metal but like really heavy rock. So like I really like anything by Jack White, I listen to a lot of his stuff before races, and then before the race I normally step up on the block with my right foot, and my right foot is always in front when I take off.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Iain makes a habit out of doing the same thing every time he races to clear his head of any distractions. Both mentally and physically, if he is not weighed down by thinking about what to do or how he will prepare, he has less to worry about and more focus and energy to swim with. Additionally, he always uses the same music and foot placement, following the “If Good A Then Good B” structure.

Collector’s Name: Jayson Chojar

Tags/Keywords:

  • Swimming, Ritual, Superstition, Pre-Race

Muffin Superstition

Title: Muffin Superstition

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Superstition
  • English
  • United States

Informant Data:

  • Caroline Poleway is a 19 year old female from New City New York. She currently resides in Hanover New Hampshire, as she is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Caroline swam for the Badger Swim Club for ten years, and has now been competing on the Dartmouth Varsity swim team for two years.

Contextual Data:

  • Social/Cultural Context: Caroline describes a superstition that many swimmers on her club team followed for years. She describes the “if A then B” superstition that many swimmers follow because they believe it will bring good luck before a big race.

Item:

  • Caroline describes a superstition that she has been following since she swam on her club team. One mother baked blueberry muffins for her son the day of a big meet. Although muffins are not typically recommended as pre-competition food, the boy did extremely well at that meet and bettered his times in every event. Ever since then, Caroline has eaten these same blueberry muffins before every swim competition because she believes the muffins bring her good luck.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

  • Blueberry Muffins

Transcript of Associated File:

  •  “A bunch of kids on my club team, we used to eat a bunch of blueberry muffins. Specifically one mom on the team would make these blueberry muffins and we all started eating them before meets because one time this mom was being really nice and was like I’ll make you guys a bunch of muffins before the meet. We all ate them and this one kid swam really fast so we were like we have to eat a bunch of muffins and we’ll do really well and it just became like a team tradition.”

Informant’s Comments:

  •  Caroline has mentioned that at all levels of swimming, she has encountered people with different superstitions. Although some are related to eating certain types of food or wearing different articles of clothing before a competition, she finds that having superstitions is common among the swimmers she has encountered.

Collector’s Comments:

  •  Food based superstitions were very common among informants. Many swimmers that were interviewed believe that eating a certain type of food will enhance their performance, not because of scientifically proven reason but because of an experience that happened to them in the past. The muffins give Caroline a confidence that allows her to preform exceptionally in the pool.

Collector’s Name: Molly Brickman

Tags/Keywords:

  • Insert Tags/Keywords Here: Muffin, Superstition