Lacrosse Folklore (W18)

Introduction:

The Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team has been part of Dartmouth Athletics since 1926. With its ninety-two years of competitive history, it prides itself in following the in the core values of the community. By “developing a team of comprehensive excellence in order to build a championship culture and Dartmouth leader for life;” this group of thirty-eight men and five members of the coaching staff represent a brotherhood.  They share a unique bond of camaraderie, leadership, drive and determination both on the field and off the field. The culture is always one of growth and leading by example for current players, future players and past players. Mentoring is of significant importance so that the strong heritage of Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse carries of for years to come. As Dartmouth men’s lacrosse is generational since its inception, the unique bondage that has formulated throughout history can be seen in customary, verbal and material folklores which are found in the rituals, chants, jokes and many more experiences. Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse members share and promote their experiences through leadership strategies meetings, meals, work-out sessions, field practice, locker room experience and fraternity. The involvement if these life experiences have a common theme to build leaders for life and to those who have been given great privilege, come great responsibility to give back.

 

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore/Material Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Brendan Callahan is the Head Coach of Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Coach Callahan started his career as head coach in 2015. Coach Callahan graduated from Stony Brook College in 2007. Prior to Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Coach Callahan was an assistant coach at Lehigh University for seven years. He also was defensive coordinator Lehigh University.

Contextual Data:.

Social Context: D on Chest represents honor and pride that each player has while wearing it. One does not have to be a member of any athletic team to know it is an honor to wear any clothing that has a Dartmouth logo on it.  A D on Chest, symbolizes by the wearer that they take pride in representing Dartmouth anytime they may say Dartmouth College throughout their lifetime.

Cultural Context: D on our Chest represents the core values of Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse. Since 1926, the team has represented Dartmouth College in intercollegiate competition. As a team, we represent resilience, ingenuity, valor and excellence like all other teams at the college.  In addition, “it is understood with great privilege comes great responsibility.” So when wearing a D on our Chest, on and off the field, each day verbally we chant Dartmouth during practices and games. When we speak those words it is with honor and respect.

Item: These images represents Coach Callahan and image of a Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse shirt with D centered on shirt. Message is to always wear shirt with honor and represent Dartmouth to the highest integrity. The Dartmouth D can be seen as Material folklore because we make sure whenever we are wearing something with the D on it, we conduct ourselves in a respectable manner because we not only are representing ourselves, but also representing the team as a whole. 

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: The informant has shared that D on Chest is a symbol of our heritage as a Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse. It represents core values that are lived every day, all day.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Wearing D on Chest throughout the history of Dartmouth has been a verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not what to happen while at Dartmouth
  • The informant has verbally stated to Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse team over and over again that wearing a Dartmouth uniform is to be worn with honor, respect and pride.

Collector’s Name: Parker and Westy

Tags/Keywords: Verbal and Material Folklore

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kyle Clampitt is a member of the Class of 2020. He is a 19-year-old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Kyle is from Bloomsbury, New Jersey and has played both lacrosse and soccer since his youth. His leadership made him a captain of both the soccer team and lacrosse teams during his high school career. Kyle is a current defenseman for the Big Green wearing the number 38.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation, while funny, represents the social guidelines for Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Since a big part of the college is balancing commitments with classes, social life and the team, sticking together as a unit on the weekends away from the field, helps to keep social situations in control. Sometimes unexpected situations happen and the social rule book helps to make them less stressful by remembering these simple guidelines

Cultural Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation has become the guideline for how to handle any sticky situation the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team or player may find themselves in over the course of the year.  Clam’s Clammy Situations has claimed the verbal mantra of “focus, have fun, stick together, and if you have a sticky situation, remain as a team.  If you need help, look to an upper classman for help and suggestions.” While written by Clampitt himself, he took his own personal experiences as well as past experiences from other teammates on the team and created a book to help future teammates avoid troubling situations. The book is kept in Clampitt’s locker and is referenced to a player if he experiences a problem with social life away from the lacrosse field so he can read the book and then learn from the situation.

Item: This image of Clam’s Clammy situation is a customary guideline to assist Men’s Lacrosse players in how to handle unexpected or sticky situations that may arise on weekends. The goal is to avoid them at every cost. If the team cannot, this guideline has become the customary guide to resolve the sticky situation the player may find himself in. The informant relays these terms verbally from the book to members of the team on weekends when we are away from the lacrosse field for a night. Lastly, it is a ritual that every season a player on the team writes a book and shares his past experiences to the team from problematic situations he learned from. 

Associated media

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Clam’s Clammy situation is especially helpful for incoming freshman who have not yet experienced Dartmouth’s social culture and weekend events like Winter Carnival.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Clam’s Clammy Situations has become a new verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not want to happen while at Dartmouth
  • The informant noted that Clam’s Clammy has been helpful to know the social rules and expectation at Dartmouth and not put yourself or any teammate in a bad situation. Getting yourself or the team in trouble is not worth it. The simple rule is, avoid trouble at all times and stick together on weekends as a team.
  • Before Clam’s Clammy Situation the book was called Key’s Keys to Success which was written by a senior at the time who now is a graduate. This book also showed past experiences that Key was in and then learned from them.
  • Overall, these books are written each season and shared to the team over the summer going into the next season so students on the team can learn about how to respond from situations whether it be socially, in the classroom, or the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Name: Parker/Westy

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Avoid Trouble, Clam’s Clammy Situations, Verbal

 

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Folklore and Customary Folklore (rituals and superstition)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kellen Paradine is 19 years old and is a member of the 2021 class from Greenlawn, New York. He is in his first season and plays defense.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: New Gear-Pumped Day is a material folklore that throughout Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse history is a time that socially excites the team with cool gear. It is tradition that the team in the locker room goes crazy as it not only makes freshman now feel part of the team but their team number also makes them feel as if they now are a part of this special bond of brotherhood.

Cultural Context: New Gear-Pumped Day is a time that unites the team as they are proud of their new gear, such as helmets, cleats, gloves, sticks, uniforms and pads. The culture of the team is also one of a thankful environment for all of the gear sponsorship. Companies like Cascade, Nike and @ 14 Graphics play a big part in bonding this team with their gear and logos. Each team number that is placed on the gear has its own history of bonding as well as sayings. Example could be “Hey #10, do it again. Hey #2 I am watching you.” As each piece of gear is numbered, the significance of that number on a helmet or jersey is shared from past generations to futures generations. A special bond created by a numbered uniformed that after each game takes its prominent spot in each players wooden locker and is hung and worn with pride.

Item: This images and videos of New Gear-Pumped day represents how each player looks at their new gear as a deep-rooted part of their play and performance. Everything has to be molded and formed just right by each player as it becomes a superstition towards their performance. If A then B, if the player doesn’t feel right in his gear, then he won’t play well. Our informant stated his ritual of placing his new jersey on game days on his middle hook in his locker for good luck. This ritual and superstition he does every game, has been going on for years and he believes it helps him play well.    

Associated media:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfTgSGiBZej/?taken-by=dartmouthmlax

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Gear Day-Pumped day was the day when it all feels like the team is unified and the freshman are now official. It’s a great day, it feels as good as win and the freshman are brought into a new environment with different colors and gear.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • New Gear- Pumped Day is a material folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team since throughout history. Dartmouth logo gear represents to all other teams that we are a team and we share a special bond that can only be experienced by being a team member. It is a constant reminder for many players, of how they were able to attend Dartmouth.

Collector’s Name: Westy McLaughlin

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Gear Day, New Gear- Pumped Day. Material and Verbal

 

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore (ritual)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Harrison Lane is a member of the class of 2019. He is 21 and an attackman from Hingham, Massachusetts. He is in his third season on the Men’s lacrosse team.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Into the Woods is a team bonding hiking and endurance experience, almost based on a version of a Navy Seal experience. All team members depend on each other to push through the hiking experience as we push to master the elements of the weather, both day and night, only using the gear packed on our back.  Proper packing the essentials is key and team’s members learn to depend on each other when some essentials may be lacking by teammates. The Men’s lacrosse team partakes in this preseason ritual as it again offers off field cross training. In military fashion, the social elements remain that of dependency on your group as exhaustion sets in through the dark night and the only lights shining are that of our team.

Cultural Context: The Men’s lacrosse team each year takes advantage of the mountainous terrain New Hampshire offers the Dartmouth Community. As our team utilizes the terrain as both a cross training and team bonding experience, the cultural differences of our team allow us to take this experience and help us to be united as one in the element of our home, Hanover, NH for the next eight months of our season. The sub-zero temperatures, wind, rain, snow and ice reminds us that the lacrosse team’s native heritage is that of warriors. It represents what can be accomplished by working together and fighting the elements and obstacles of the hike as a team. Whether moving sticks or logs as a team to take our next steps or camping out on the ground in any weather, it provides the experience and cultural bond of surviving as a team outside our comfort zones and modern conveniences. The Into the Woods ritual experience is one that that has created dread during preseason but once out of the woods back on the turf, the strength of team attitude has expanded far beyond a photographed memory.

Item: This image titled Into the Woods represents the end of preseason ritual of hiking into the woods as a team. The annual ritual represents teamwork as a unified group hike through any condition and work together as a unit no matter what the conditions are.

 

Informant’s Comments: The informant’s experience of Into the Woods, was an experience that was shared in in verbal context but once experienced as a team member, now allows the experience to be shared first hand with future recruits.  The experience will always be seen as a major achievement for off field stamina. The informant stated he looks forward to the trip every season because it pushes him mentally and physically. Although the trip is a team ritual, the informant has a superstition that he always packs light and puts a water bottle at the top of his pack each year because of the frequent hard work he goes through, he needs a lot of water.

Associated Media

 

Collector’s Comments:

  • The preseason woods hike under extreme weather conditions is difficult and pushed each member of the team to the max. Mental toughness is key to endurance and is needed to descend down the mountain after ascending up.  Into the Woods is customary in that each fall, this tradition marks almost the end of preseason and creates the readiness of the new season to come in January. It provides for new bonding experiences especially for the new players on the team to find inclusion.
  • The informant found the players and coaches offered a dependency on each other that cannot be found on a field. The Woods represents Dartmouth’s history and should be experienced by all through its beauty and rugged terrain.

Collector’s Name: Westy McLaughlin

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Preseason Into The Woods, Hike. Customary

 

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore (superstition)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Mike Connolly is a member of the 2021 class from Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is a 19-year-old male on the Men’s Lacrosse team. Mike is a midfielder on the team and brother to two older boys who played lacrosse and football here at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:  The Last Man Standing is a paintball game activity Men’s lacrosse team partakes in each preseason. This offsite bonding is central to be to expanding enhancing team bonds in an area that does not involve field play but still involves great agility and endurance.  This ritual of rugged, toughness and secret attacks is a social ice breaker especially for freshman players as they begin to bond within their new team.

Cultural Context: The Last Man Standing paintball competition allows for all players to place themselves in an equal and level setting without lacrosse gear or a field involved. It received its coined name from social media posts. This woods ritual represents we are one unit in all we do, but it also allows for individual quickness and mobility without being tested on performance. The culture is one hiding your best inner hunting and warrior talents. The Last Man Standing signifies the last man to not be hit with a paintball remains the ultimate winner, and is honored by the team for perhaps thirty seconds. When the fame is over, the laughter, back slapping in congratulatory manner brings the team to a new level of bonding that they may not had experienced in preseason. The added cultural experiences become an ice breaker for the season. The lacrosse team is a group that takes pride in rising to challenges wherever they may find themselves. The Last Man Standing paintball game experience it one that players form memories that stands out from the daily routine of field practice and weight room training.

Item: This image represents Men’s Lacrosse after team bonding ritual of paint ball competition at AG paint. It depicts camaraderie of the team off the field. The informant stated that he loves going paintballing and early on he would not be able to hit many people because his hands would be too sweaty from nerves. He then proceeded to rub dirt in his hands before every single time he went paintballing. This is a superstition that our informant has and he stated he does it before every single paintball game to help him have better control of his gun. If A then B, if our informant rubs dirt in his hands, the gun doesn’t slip and he shoots well.

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Informant’s Comments: The informant’s experience in the paintball game coined, Last Man Standing was a great fall preseason bonding experience. It allowed new players to form a bond with all the members on the team, including the coaches at an off-campus environment and away from the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The paint ball game that has been given the name, Last Man Standing is customary in that each fall preseason it provides for new bonding experiences especially for the new players on the team to find inclusion.
  • The informant found that this team bonding experience with players and coaches offered a form of performance that allowed for different skills sets to be displayed that was not measured by a unique skill set not found on a field.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Paintball Game, Last Man Standing. Customary

 

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Matt Erfle is a member of the Class of 2021. He is a 19 year old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Matt is from West Chester, Pennsylvania and has played both lacrosse and football since his youth. He told us that he began training over the summer by looking at the Dartmouth Training Packet the Coaches sent out in June to help prepare him for when he got to campus in the fall. To this day, Matt is one of the more fit guys on the team and it’s because he started following the training packet closely and put great importance on discipline through fitness.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Fall into Shape involves commitment to following a structured and discipline physical fitness program. As many team members share regional hometown locations, bonding within local communities builds a strong bond during fall preseason workouts. Dartmouth team members support each other in huddles, on the end line while running sprints, line drills and overall grunts and cheers as workouts takes the team through endurance stamina.  After each practice, teammates continue bondage through locker room talks, shared meals and campus walks.

Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team represents we are one unit in all we do. The culture is one of extreme endurance, sweat, pain and push to the limit. If unable to achieve the limit, perhaps by some teammates perseverance is everything and team members and coaches are the anchors of support for each individual. The lacrosse team is a group of men that mentor each other, fall with each other and rise to the challenges that their coaches place in front of them of the better of the unit, no the better of the individual. While each individual has personal goals, in the end they are shared for bonding and creating an atmosphere of champions. The team spends most of their time together on and off the field. Their objective is to take one season at a time, one run beep test at a time and falling into shape over the season is about one practice at time to better our unit each day.

Item: This Instagram video represents an opening day in Fall into Shape training during preseason and the endurance and commitment each team member displays. The video is part of the season history posted by coaches for players and followers alike. The running program is seen as a ritual to the program because each year the coaches place heavy emphasis on getting into shape. If A then B is seen because if you follow the training packet and are disciplined with your running, then you will pass the tests and be in good shape.

 

 

 

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Informant’s Comments: The informant stressed the importance of fall preseason as laid the ground work for the expectations of in season to follow. As a freshman, it helped that the returning guided the new players on expectations.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Fall into Shape is customary in that each fall preseason sets the stage for the next day. As each day passes, soon a week has passed and then a month. With each passing period, the team is better for each day of the grind.
  • The informant noted that when starting on first day of preseason with the beep run test, the anticipated stress of passing the test, was more stressful than the test itself.  While passing the test is a relief, knowing you are not alone helps.
  • The informant also stated it’s the guys around him while running the sprints that keep him moving in the right direction.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Fall into Shape. Customary Folklore (rituals)

 

 

 

Mens Lacrosse Traditions