As the fall season for sports comes in, student athletes and coaches across every sports platform have both team and personal rituals. Throughout the season, these are things they do to help them transition from practice to competition.
For senior Tyson Walker, who is both a football wide receiver and basketball post/forward, he and his team have a team dinner before a game. “As a team, it’s very important to have a team dinner to bring us together pre-game,” Walker said. Before every game or practice, Walker drinks a Gatorlyte, a mix of Gatorade and liquid IV
Wrestling coach Casey Horn believes home dual meets are very important to get the wrestlers hype before competition. “We all line up in the hallways, listen to music, and it makes the kids get pumped up and excited,” Horn said.
Although Horn doesn’t have personal rituals, he supports and encourages his team to do these pregame traditions . They work as a bonding experience, and to switch their body into competitive mode.
“I like to have a routine,” Girls basketball coach Shawn Stinson said. Stinson is aware hes superstitious. He parks in the same parking spot, goes through the same door, and write with the same pen. While those are the little things, his main pregame ritual is closing his eyes and visualizing the game before it happens, the good and the bad outcomes. Stinson and his team have a team dinner before a big game to bring everyone together and give them a pep talk. While Stinson isn’t sure why he does it ,a silly one he does is before every game, he shaves his head for a clean look.
For wrestling and football coach Bryan Barker, although he doesn’t have many pregame rituals, his big one for both wrestling and football is a prayer.
“I say a prayer before the game, I watch over our kids and the other kids.” Barker’s most exciting pre-game tradition would be an unusual one “Whenever I wear a shirt to a football game and we win, I continue to wear the same shirt every game for the rest of the season, as luck,” Barker said.
Pregame rituals are important to coaches and student athletes to help build focus, confidence, and team importance before competition. These routines help relax and bring coaches and athletes into the competition mentality and prepare for their best effort throughout the game, and for coaches, it mainly brings them into a serious mentality and creates a tightly bonded team with consistency and a positive mindset.
