Tag Archives: Dartmouth Sports

Pre-HEPS Dinner and Cheer

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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

“Positive Vision” (Tanner Palocsik)

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Title: “Positive Vision”

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data:

  • J.H. is a 20-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from Stamford, CT and is on the diving team. He was raised in a family of divers, as his father was also his diving coach.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sports teams always have different rituals or superstitions they follow so that they have success in their sport. Diving is no different. For diving, you are expected to perform with perfection every time. It is a difficult sport with many intricacies.    
  • Social Context: Within the team atmosphere, every teammate relies on each other to perform to the best of their abilities. Team’s need to have every guy pulling the rope in the same direction for success, so it’s important that every person does whatever they can to reassure their performance. J.H.’s superstition is one that is performed right as they walk out the door. His team has always done this superstition as someone from Dartmouth unknown in the past brought it to their locker room.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition the entire team has. There is a sign above their door that every guy taps before they exit their locker room for the meet. The sign says, “Positive Vision”. In addition to performing this action, the team also has a pregame chant which can be seen in the picture below. (Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo of the locker room sign.)

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

Transcript:

  • “Sort of a good luck charm we have is, as we walk out the locker room door, we all tap a sign that says, ‘Positive Vision’. This sign has been in our locker room for many years and has always been a team tradition. We also have a pregame chant that dates back decades if not centuries”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He believes in these superstitions and thinks if the team doesn’t do these superstitions each game, they will have bad luck and won’t perform well as a team.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think these superstitions are unique and interesting. The chant is something that is secret to their team and so my informant wouldn’t share the words. I also thought it was cool that he said these superstitions date back decades. He had no idea when or how they started but it’s something their team has consistently practiced since.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

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

Dartmouth Superstitions

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Title: Dartmouth Superstitions – Currie Putrah

General Information about Item: 

  • Customary Lore, Magic Superstition 
  • Language: English 
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Currie Purtrah 
  • Date Collected: 11/14/21

Informant Data:

  • Currie Putrah was born in Faribault, Minnesota which is where she played hockey at Shattuck St. Mary’s high school. She is now a member of the 2022 graduating class at Dartmouth where she plays forward on the Women’s Ice Hockey team. 

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context is that putting on your gear in a specific order is a common superstition among hockey players. Most of the players on DWIH have a specific way of putting on their gear and that is how they’ve gotten dressed their whole lives. It helps them feel balanced and ready for the game, and if they don’t dress in their respective ways it can throw them off and make them play badly, as it serves as a distraction. 
  • Social Context: The social context is that Currie is only one of many people on the Dartmouth hockey team that puts her gear on a certain way. The magic involved in this superstition is that if she does not put on her gear from left to right she will feel off and play badly. 

Item: Currie putting on her gear in a specific order is in the genre of magic superstition which comes from the category of customary lore.  

Transcript: 

  • “I always have to put on my gear in a very specific order. I put on my left sock, then my right, followed by my left skate, then my right. After that I put on my hockey pants and my left shin pad, followed by my right shin pad. This trend continues on with putting my left gear on before the right until I am fully dressed. 

Informant’s Comments:

  • Currie told me that if she does not put on her gear in this specific order she feels like her pads are not on correctly which in turn makes her think she will have bad luck during the game and play poorly.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I was able to resonate with Currie’s superstition because I do the same thing but in a slightly different order. This is also a common superstition among hockey players. 

Collector’s Name: Gabby Billing