It may be as bizarre as slaughtering a sheep or as simple as formulating a mindset, but everyone takes part in some sort of a pregame ritual: a series of thoughts, speeches, actions or whatever one can think of to help a team win.  These rituals may be done unintentionally at first, but a resulting victory propels this act to a tradition.

In one of the most peculiar rituals ever in sports, a Kazakh soccer team, Shakhter Karagandy, slaughtered a sheep before a game in August.  Shakhter Karagandy ended up winning the match 2-0.

UEFA (Union of European Football Association) feared that the team would repeat this ritual because of the victory, so UEFA hit the team with warnings to communicate that the pregame ritual would not be tolerated.

Of course, no high school teams would go to the extent of harming an animal, but many do have rituals that they perform.

Pre-game meal

The football team goes through a number of pregame rituals before they play under the lights.  They go to Denny’s in the morning before games, have meetings in the coaches’ office, and do a pregame chant and prayer before every game.

It’s clear to junior receiver Johnny Evans that these rituals have a strong impact on the mental aspect of their game.

“[They] put us in a rhythm and prepare us for war,” Evans said.

Evans claims he is superstitious and says that the weekly routine is important.  He says that if any of these actions were to be taken out of the routine it would bother him and his teammates.

Dropping a beat

The volleyball team also has rituals to perform before their games.

First, the coaches give them a pregame speech in the locker room.

Then once they leave, the players start banging on the lockers and making a beat.

Juniors Julia Malone and Molly Antoon are known for rapping to the beat provided by their teammates.  Their rhymes may not be at Kendrick Lamar level, but they do get their teammates prepared.  These rituals go beyond just silly superstitions.

“It helps form a bond and makes us closer because everyone participates,” Malone said.

As to the beat their teammates drop, the song is none other than “Lip Gloss” by Lil Mama.

Bubble Blowing

Head coach of the basketball team, David Davis has personal rituals as well.  Davis must wear a Nike sweater vest and blow bubble gum during the games.

The sweater vest and gum put Coach Davis in “game mode.”

Although he doesn’t believe that not having the gum and sweater vest would negatively affect him, his team won’t be risking it anytime soon.

“That’s the superstition,” Davis said. “I don’t want to find out!”

Confidence

It’s clear that these rituals have an impact on a person’s mindset.  Senior track state champion Andrew Hewitt knows that something as small as a pre-game ritual could have an actual impact on the outcome of an event. Hewitt’s rituals give him a “swagger” that his fellow competitors simply don’t have.

“Without performing my ritual I may as well not show up for competition,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt holds school records and has won state championships. He thinks that without his prerace rituals he wouldn’t be the same runner.

When asked what these rituals were, Hewitt wouldn’t disclose the information.

His reasoning was that his rituals give him an edge, and he doesn’t want his competition to catch wind of them.