Tag Archives: Squash

Left Sock

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Title: Left Sock

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data:

  • L.W. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023. He has played squash at Dartmouth all three years here. He was born in Massachusetts and is a big fan of Boston sports. He is currently studying history and would like to work in Boston after graduation.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: L.W. grew up playing squash in Massachusetts. Squash is a one versus one sport that is played on the same courts as racquetball courts. The squash is a smaller less bouncy version of a racquetball, but the sports are similar viewing experiences. Squash, on the other hand, is slower paced as the ball does not move nearly as fast or bounce as many times as a racquetball. Furthermore, squash requires a lot of mental fortitude and focus during matches. 
  • Social Context: On the day of a match when he was young, L.W. realized he had forgotten to bring one of his socks. Unfortunately, he was left with the decision to either play with no socks or one sock. L.W.became anxious about his performance and did not want to wear no socks for his match. L.W.’s dad then told him that he had played with one sock when he was a child and that it was his best match of the season. L.W. then decided to wear one sock on his left foot for his game.

Item:

  • L.W. chooses to wear one sock on his left foot for the most important match of his season each year. When he was a child he believed he played his best match of the season the day he forgot one of his socks and attributed it to his success. 

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

Transcript:

  • “I always wear one sock for big games. It feels different than with both socks on, but I just play better. I feel like I focus on the sock and playing well in the past and it helps me during the game.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I don’t really believe in superstitions, but this is one that I like to keep alive. It’s probably a placebo; however, I definitely get excited for the match that I choose to wear just the one sock. It hypes the match up and having one sock is a reminder of how important it is.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think this superstition is awesome. It has to feel a little awkward wearing just one sock, but I know a lot of people who wear no socks in their cleats, skates, or shoes. It is interesting to me his decision to pick his left foot instead of his right and his consistency of placing the sock on his left foot. I’m not sure if I would have even remembered which foot I placed it on in the first instance, let alone continued to keep it on just the left.

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

Pre-Game Stretching (Troy Burkhart)

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Title: Pre-Game Stretching

General Information about item:

  • Magic (Sympathetic) Superstition
  • Origin: Florida
  • Informant: W.S.
  • 10/3/2021

Informant Data:

  • W.S. was born in Gainesville, Florida in the year 1999. He played on club squash (1 year) freshman year and was a weightlifter (4 years) throughout high school. He is majoring in engineering moded with economics and a minor in Japanese. His background is mostly European with family origins in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and England.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Stretching is a typical exercise that sports teams go through to increase mobility and reduce injuries during games and practice. While the amount of stretching varies in importance for every sport, in high impact running sports like squash, it is a very important exercise to do pre-game.
  • Social Context: Stretching is usually done in a circle before the game. Teams are able to discuss tactics and strategies for the upcoming game, joke around, and take their mind off the anxiousness for the game.

Item:

  • According to W.S., most squash players take the rubber ball and use it to stretch their muscles and focus. Players take the ball and place it between their body and the ground and slowly roll back and forth on their feet and arms. However, at Dartmouth, they have a different warm up routine with the squash ball. Instead of rubbing the bottom of their feet, the team takes a squash ball, and goes through a full body warmup using the squash ball rather than just their feet.

Associated files/pictures:

Transcript:

  • “I roll my entire body starting with my calves, then hamstrings, quads, back and finally lats. I feel much more stretched and prepared than just rolling my feet and arms.”

Informants Comments:

  • He highly recommends everyone to stretch. It significantly lowered the number of injuries he received while playing sports and he still stretches even though he does not play anymore.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Stretching is also a huge aspect of pre and post-game for hockey and is pretty much universal in all sports. However, we do this everyday before practice and before and after every game, not just before games.

Collector’s Name:

  • Troy Burkhart

Tags:

  • Water Polo
  • Dartmouth
  • Superstition
  • Repetition

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

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