Tag Archives: college athletics

Bandana

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Title: Bandana

General Information about Item:

  • Magic Superstition, Sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.R.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • D.R. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2024.  He was a 2023, but took a gap year due to covid. He was born in Massachusetts.  During his time at Dartmouth, D.R. has played squash and enjoys philosophy. He is currently studying philosophy and economics in his sophomore year. He has not made a decision on what his plans are for after graduation. However, he has mentioned plans to see his family in France for a year or two after college.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: D.R. has played squash since a kid and has always worn a bandana during his matches. The matches are one on one matches forcing him to rely a lot on his mental fortitude. When he was younger he just wore a bandana because he liked them, but as he got older he was forced to develop his mental abilities in order to stay dialed during his matches. He then began to focus on his pregame methods and actions in order to prepare him for a match.
  • Social Context: D.R.’s father often wore bandanas when D.R. would play squash with him when he was young. So he developed a desire to wear them due to his father. He began wearing them during matches. After beginning to focus on the mental aspects of his squash matches, D.R. began to fold his bandana into parallel quarters. He also began to wear the same bandana every game as he associated it with good luck.

Item:

  • The bandana D.R. wears did not begin as a specific bandana, but it developed into one specific bandana that he must wear for each match. He uses the bandana and the method of folding it into parallel quarters to sharpen his focus before matches and believes it helps him stay dialed while performing. 

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

Transcript:

  • “I always wear the same bandana when I play, and my ritual comes in the form of the folding/tying process of the bandana. I lay the bandana on my knee and fold it in half, then proceed to fold the bandana into equal parallel quarters. Focusing on the perfection of each fold helps me lock in and focus, and I’ve been doing this ritual since I was 15 years old.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I don’t really believe in superstitions, but I do believe that mental triggers can help put a person in the right mood to compete, and beliefs are a strong way to get there. In other words, I don’t believe in superstitions, but I believe that they can positively or negatively affect humans due to our psychology.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • D.R.’s method of folding his bandana is particularly interesting to me. It seems to be an effective method to help him focus and is extremely unique. Wearing the same bandana makes a lot of sense to me seeing how he got it from his father (His grandfather also wore bandanas so it seems to be a trend), but the method of folding the bandana is completely his own. The emphasis he places on the folding of the bandana over the bandana itself is also inspiring as it exemplifies a routine and work ethic that D.R. has maintained for almost 6 years.

Collector’s Name: 

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Northeast America
  • Squash

The Lucky Horseshoe (Tanner Palocsik)

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Title: The Lucky Horseshoe

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: R.B.
  • Date Collected: 11-4-21

Informant Data:

  • R.B. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from London, England and is on the Rugby team. Being from England, rugby is a very popular sport in his background. He had family members that played and helped him adapt the sport into his pride.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sports teams often have some tradition that the team practices throughout their season that is meant to bring good luck to the whole team. In the rugby culture, they also have many players that contribute to the team effort, so it’s important to have something the entire team participates in. It creates better team chemistry and comradery.
  • Social Context: This superstition is performed right when the whole team is about to enter the field. Rugby is a physical sport so they do this for luck of the win but also for luck of good health and strength.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition for their whole team. They all tap the top of the locker room door where they have a horseshoe hanging. This is meant to bring good luck, strength to their bodies and good health.

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

Transcript:

  • “Before every game we tap the horseshoe at the top of our door. This is a common superstition in the Rugby world and something our team takes very seriously. I think it truly helps us to muster up strength and mental stability while trying to focus in on the competition at hand. Each game is a learning experience, and we try to take a lot of pride in our culture and tradition. The rugby team here has been doing this for many years and all the older guys reiterate that we must keep it going as long as we can and continue to pass it down to the younger guys.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He believes this truly brings the team luck and that it will be something that will stick with Dartmouth Rugby for many years to come.  

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think this is a strong superstition and one that every team should try to encapsulate in some way. It’s a good way to create team bonding over a common superstition and get everyone believing in the same things.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Green D

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Title: Green D (Dartmouth D)

General Information About Item:

  • Magic Superstition, homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: R.L.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • R.L. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.  He was born in Maryland.  During his time at Dartmouth, R.L. enjoys listening to music and hanging out with his team in his free time. While at home he often watches sports and spends time with his family. He has plan to work on wall street after college and is dialing in his schoolwork to achieve a quality education for his work after graduation.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In sports there is often a logo in the center of the locker room. The logo is meant to represent the school or team and to show respect to the players that have been on the team before. The logo plays a large role in a team dynamic and provides a connection between players.
  • Social Context: As a team, the Dartmouth lacrosse team has the Dartmouth D for their logo in the middle of the room. The players never step on the D and if anything touches the D then they have to kiss it as a sign of respect. The superstition seems to encourage camaraderie and unity within the team.

Item:

  • The Green D is a simple logo and is not designed specifically for anyone on the team. Instead it is meant as a symbol to represent the culture built for the program. Players do not step on the D in order to respect the legacy of the program. Furthermore, it is bad luck to step on the D and not kiss it afterwards.

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

Transcript:

  • We never step on the D in the center of our locker room, if someone does they have to kiss it.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I enjoy superstitions and traditions as it is a way of keeping the group tied together from year to year. This is because when alums of the program come back they still know not to step on the D”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I enjoy this superstition because the hockey team has the same tradition. I find it to have a unifying effect on not only the current team, but the program as a whole. Reece specifically outlined the effect the logo has on the Alumns when they come back and it seems to be a profound way to keep the respect for the program alive.

Collector’s Name:

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Northeast America
  • Lacrosse

Green Compression Shorts

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General Information About Item:

  • Magic Superstition, Sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: C.H.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • C.H. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2025.  He was born in Indiana.  During his time at Dartmouth, C.H. enjoys playing basketball in his free time. While at home he often bike’s and spends time with his family. He does not yet have plans for after Dartmouth, but he is a freshman and has time to figure it out.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In sports there is always an expectation to perform. Therefore an item of clothing is often associated with a good or bad performance. If a player wears a different pair of socks than normal and performs badly, then they will often associate the poor performance with the pair of socks. The same association works with a good performance. 
  • Social Context: This specific superstition stemming from an item of clothing often occurs in sports. While the specific item is not often shared throughout athletes, many athletes have items of clothing or gear that they prefer to wear and associate with a good performance. C.H.’s specific item of clothing (green compression shorts) stemmed from a really great performance he had in the 6th grade that he associated with his “lucky compression shorts”.

Item:

  • The green compression shorts can be purchased anywhere. Specifically, C.H. received his compression shorts as a gift from his father from Dick’s sporting goods. C.H.’s father wore a similar green pair of compression shorts as a kid and saw them as good luck because of the green. The compression shorts can be bought anywhere online, however he has a specific connection to the compression shorts due to his performance wearing them in the 6th grade

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

Transcript:

  • “It started when I had my first really good game in lacrosse in the 6th grade. I thought what I wore must’ve been my “lucky” compressions.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I just made it a habit after that one game in 6th grade. I really enjoy doing things the same way and having a routine so I just never switched it up.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this specific superstition to be particularly interesting because he does not necessarily believe in superstitions.  C.H. does believe in routine and habit and chooses to do things the same way if they result in a quality performance. It seems to help him mentally and perform the way he wants to.

Collector’s Name: 

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Midwest America
  • Lacrosse

Left First (Jack Cameron)

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Title: Left First

General Information about Item:

  • Magic superstition, homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: JM
  • Date Collected: 11/08/21

Informant Data:

  • JM is a 21 year old male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.  He was born and raised in the areas surrounding New Haven, Connecticut. James is a member of the Varsity Football team at Dartmouth, playing the position of Offensive Line. Away from football, James enjoys music and is an avid fan of the old folk band Carlyle Fraser.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Football teams often stretch before their games and practices.  Football is known and practiced as a very combative sport, with plenty of injury and physical toll. Stretching before a game reduces risk of injury, and is often led by seniors or captains on any given team. Offensive Linemen tend to be the biggest people on the football team.
  • Social Context: This specific superstition pertains to all Offensive Linemen on the Dartmouth football team. While this is not necessarily the case for all of the positions, the interviewee was adamant that the Offensive Line face perhaps the most physical toll of all the positions, as their job is to block the defense from tackling their teammates with the ball.

Item:

A stretching routine is very common. Often led by team leaders, seniors or captains, pre-game stretching routines take place in almost all sports across the world. Each stretching routine can be different depending on the sport, but this routine has the Offensive Linemen always stretch the left body part before their right.  

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

Transcript:

“This is me stretching my left hip flexor. Our pregame stretching superstition always starts with the left side first. Left hamstring, then right hamstring. Left calf, then right calf, etc. I think it started almost 10 years ago because it’s luckier to stretch on the heart side first, that way if something gets banged up on the right side we can always say ‘it’s a long way from the heart’ and keep on moving forward.”

Informant’s Comments:

Found this to be interesting and now found that I do lots of things in my day left side first. Put on pants left leg before the right, socks and shoes left before right and such.

Collector’s Comments:

I found this pregame superstition to be quite interesting, especially since it has since carried over into his everyday life. I think that protecting the heart side is an interesting concept that I would highly consider incorporating into my own life for a feeling of safety.  

Collector’s Name:

Jack Cameron

Dartmouth College

Russ013 21F

Prof. Apresyan and Prof. Gronas

Setting Watches for Dartmouth (Jack Cameron)

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Title: Setting Watches for Dartmouth

General Information about Item:

  • Magic Superstition, sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: SW
  • Date Collected: 11-1-21

Informant Data:

  • SW is a 20-year-old male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.  He was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Seth is a member of the Varsity Cross Country team at Dartmouth. Seth’s father also ran Division I cross country at Duke University before going on to complete three marathons in his 40s. Seth has also spent time on the Varsity Track & Field team at Dartmouth. Seth is a Religion major who hopes to pursue consulting after graduation.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Cross Country races are 8km for men, and 5km for women. All runners start at the same starting line, lined up by team. Because of this, they have ample opportunity for team bonding, last second words of encouragement and strategy all the way up until the starting gun.
  • Social Context: This specific pre-race chant was the first thing Seth mentioned when talking about pre-race superstitions. Seth said this was a call and response chant – the captain would issue a call, to which the rest of the team would shout the response in unison for good luck into their race.

Item:

  • Captain: “Men of Dartmouth set a watch!”
  • Team: “Lest the old traditions fail.”

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

Transcript:

  • “Men of Dartmouth set a watch, lest the old traditions fail is the last thing we say to each other before the gun. This photo is taken moments after the call and response, right before we are taking off. I like the chant, it reminds me where I am, to be proud of what I have accomplished, and to go out and make the history of Dartmouth and former Dartmouth runners proud”

Informant’s Comments:

  • I love it. It reminds me that I am part of something much bigger than myself. This has been a Cross Country team staple for decades.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this pre-race chant to be very interesting, especially after my informant told me that it makes him feel special to be a part of something much larger than himself, and bringing him into hallowed history of Dartmouth athletics.

Collector’s Name:

Jack Cameron

Dartmouth College

Russ013 21F

Prof. Apresyan and Prof. Gronas

Straight Rail Shots in Squash (Troy Burkhart)

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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)

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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:

Ac / Dc - Hells Bells - metalmailorder.com
A hand holding a couple of coins Description automatically generated with low confidence

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