Superstition Rituals Superstitions are the gateway to focus and concentration. Whenever I have a hockey game I spend all day preparing and doing my same 4 superstitions every single time. My first ritual is that I have to listen to the same music in car on the way to every game. The second ritual is the pregame warm up like doing the same stretches in the same order. Third I get dressed a certain way, wearing lucky underwear, socks, and shirts. And finally the last ritual is skating around during whistles. Listening to music is the time to start focusing and getting ready for the big game. It’s when I realize what is about to come my way. The purpose is to get me pumped and energized and overall in a better state of mind. I believe that listening to certain songs will be a possible outcome of the way I perform on the ice. I’ve listened to two of the same songs for the past three years because of this belief. …show more content…
All of this is the time when everyone is getting prepared for the upcoming game. We all get dressed up into our warm ups and get active before the game. Every single time I do the same set of stretches and movements before the game. Doing this also leads me to believe that it will improve my game. After warm ups I walk into the locker room to get out of my workout clothes, but only to get into my equipment. Even before leaving to go to the game I pick out what i'm gonna wear because I think certain clothes are lucky depending on the type of game i'm playing. The clothes are usually underwear, socks, and shirts; I choose these because i’ve done good while wearing them in the past and I just stick with them even till this day for that extra boost of confidence and
Many cultures ascribe to some kind of superstition, magic, or faith. Merriam-Webster defines superstition as “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation” ("Superstition”). This definition makes superstition sound like it belongs in a lower developed country that lacks the ability to have scientific knowledge. However, magic and superstition are alive and well in developed countries, such as the United States. Sports are rife with superstitions. Many players use “ritual, taboos, and fetishes to manage the anxiety generated by unpredictable events that challenge human control” (Gmelch 266). Superstitions are entirely psychological; a way to create a reason for an event that has occurred. In his article “Baseball Magic,” George Gmelch examines the rituals, taboos, and fetishes of American baseball and how they compare to the magic of the Trobriand Islanders.
Before the 1980 Winter Olympics began, the US Olympic hockey team was not expected to do as well as they did. They had many powerhouse teams to beat and the team was just a bunch of college kids who wanted to play hockey. In the end, they had performed one of the greatest upsets in the history of hockey by defeating the USSR, the whom many thought of as the greatest hockey team in the world.
Drink plenty of water throughout a game because dehydration results in cramping and tightness of the calf muscles and tendon of which is known to increase the chances of getting injury
And the last question: I know that a lot of sportsmen have their out rituals before the matches. Do you have any?
Hours before a match, athletes in all corners of the world tend to freak out due to all the psychological factors that accompany performance in sports. Stop for a quick second and imagine becoming a Manchester United Striker or a Denver Broncos Wide-Receiver. For those who did not know already, these two positions are among the hardest in the sports world to play. Not only must the person assigned to these positions stay up until the early hours of the morning studying plays and formations so they might better assist their team come match day, but they also act as the main way the teams they play for get any points. If the expectation of being the team’s top scorers isn’t enough, they must also act as an inspiration to every other teammate that plays alongside them. Even though most people say psychological factors have no effect on an athlete’s performance in sport, athletes are negatively affected by the psychological aspects because of pre-game jitters they may experience, the relationship each athlete has with the stadium crowd, and the toll each match has on the athletes’ bodies.
...ic to get focused in on their match, and to motivate them as well. As mentioned, most importing reason for doing a warm up is to prevent injury during competition. Warming up the muscles will prevent injuries such as hamstring tears and other types muscle strains.
Priest, D.L. & Karageorghis, C.I. (2008). “A qualitative investigation into the characteristics and effects of music accompanying exercise.” European Physical Education Review, 14: 347-367.
However, there have no solid explanations of how it should be implemented. Therefore, their study extends the previous research on hockey since there is very little literature that explains the performances of player. In addition, this study also fills an important research gap on the Malaysian hockey team since to date no research has been carried out in Malaysia on the area of performances. Therefore this study is to determine the influence of mental imagery techniques on sport performance among UiTM female hockey player.
This is your first starting game of the season. Once you have arrived at the arena, you have to get dressed. You put on your shoes, all the way to your jersey and finally you put on your helmet to play. You are in the tunnel now, waiting to be released onto the turf. The butterflies start fluttering around in your stomach in anticipation for your name to be called out on the speaker systems.
Olivia Andrew sticks to these superstitions and there has not been a time where she hasn’t done this inside the basketball setting. “I don’t know what happens if I don’t do this, but I don’t want to find out.,” said Andrew. It does not bother her if people don’t follow her superstitions because they may have their
When people began to believe in superstitions do they really believe or do their unconscious behavior take control? In the reading “In Defense of Superstitions,” the author starts off by giving examples of what is considered superstition, with that being said, he states that everyone perhaps shares one superstition or another. He introduced the idea that certain superstitions can influence the future either for good or ill. He additionally explains that believing so much in superstition causes symptoms due to the increased levels of stress and fear. Even though superstition seems foolish they have roots in folk traditions and remind us of important historical events.
pressure it helps you relax for a period of time. Getting rid of popular sports
Superstitions exist everywhere in the world. Every country on the planet has its own local superstitions. Each country also has its own variations on common superstitions. Some of the most common superstitions have to do with cats, alcohol, and death.
Mysterious happenings are all around us today. I personally have done extensive studies in the histories of many of these superstitions, from the common to the absurd. Science tends to claim that all superstitions are pointless, and, in some cases, I agree, such as the fear of black cats, but the fact of the matter is that some superstitions come from a rich pre-Christian background. Many superstitions have been doubted since the rise of science, but it has been said that "In spite of advances and science, people are still superstitious." First, today's superstition is yesterday's magick; second, many people still practice the old ways; and finally, even common people practice. Superstitions are a part of our everyday lives and always have been.
Bouncing the ball, the same number of times before a serve, eating the same food before a game, and bouncing the ball the same way before free throws are just a few ways I show this belief. I have no idea where this started for me, it had to have been subconscious and I’ve just done it automatically all the time. However, if I don’t do one of these things beforehand, it’s not the end of the road, I just have to concentrate on doing well more and I have something to fall back on if I don’t. On the other end of the spectrum, is a girl I worked with in basketball. She considers herself a superstitious person but it did not really come into effect in sports until after she won the state championship her freshman year of high school. Since then she has specific clothing from spandex to her headband that she has to wear. She believes that if she doesn’t wear this and do everything the same then she won’t do well and her team will win. Just recently she lost her headband and started crying and wouldn’t play at all until she found it. She is one end of the spectrum with her beliefs while I am on the other. There are people that believe it’s the end of the world if they don’t do that, and then there’s people that get more nervous and worry more if it doesn’t happen. However, another guy I know, that plays ice hockey, is in the middle