Title: Serving Routine

General Information about Item:

Genre: Customary Lore, Magic Superstitions

Language: English

Country of Origin: Germany

Informant: DP

Date Collected: 11-6-21

Informant Data:

DP was born and raised in Munich, Germany. He is in the class of 2023 at Dartmouth College, and he plays on the varsity tennis team. He has played Tennis since he was 12 years old in 2011. He didn’t play on a high school team in Germany as they didn’t have one. His high school was called “Institut für Lernsysteme.”

Contextual Data:

Social Context: DP once had a Tennis coach when he was 16 that he really looked up to. Once during practice, DP was serving the ball poorly. His coach pulled him aside and told him to take a few breaths and focus clearly on the serves. He told him about something that a lot of professional tennis players in Germany do before their serves. They bounced the ball three times with their right hand and three times with their left hand. DP tried this method before his serves, and he served the ball well for the rest of practice. Now, before every serve, DP focuses as hard as he can, takes a few breaths, and bounced the ball three times in each hand. He doesn’t know which player started this pre-serve routine, but he knows that it has been going on for a long time in German tennis. I learned about this routine when I called DP to ask him about his pre-match rituals.

Cultural Context: Serving in tennis is almost all about focus. If any little thing throws off the person’s focus, then the serve will be bad, and the player will lose the point. If a player is serving bad, they will lose the match. This is why a players routines are so important.

Item:

If DP takes a deep breath, and bounces the ball 3 times in each hand, then I won’t serve the ball poorly.

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

Transcript:

“My coach taught me this routine, and I have stuck to it ever since. I know that if I don’t do exactly this before I serve, then my serves for that match will be bad.”

Informant’s Comments:

I know that it sounds weird that I have to bounce a ball a certain number of times in each hand. I have been doing this for so long, and it just feels like something that I must do at this point in my career. It has become second nature.

Collector’s Comments:

I notice that the role of three is at play here. This is like how this number is often present in fairy tales. It is interesting that three is the number of times he needs to bounce the ball.

Collector’s Name:

George Altirs

Dartmouth College

Russian 13: Slavic Folklore

Professors Gronas and Apresjan

21F