Superstitions and routines of WHS athletes

Everyone has superstitions. From the silent, spooky dread of Friday the 13th, to avoiding all black cats in the near vicinity (come on, everyone has watched that one scene in The Matrix) there seems to always be a voice in a person’s head trying to get us to believe any old thing. And when it comes to athletics, this voice is almost 10 times as powerful. As much as a player tries to don the reliable pair of lucky socks, one can’t seem to put them down (though in mom’s opinion they ought to have been put down for years — not even the washer will be able to swallow that stench). Well, don’t fret! It’s time to tell the psychiatrist ‘Hey bud, I know you’ve been trying to help me through this and I’m sorry, but the last seven said the same thing, and it’s just not working out’ and get on with your superstitious life. It’s not that uncommon really — here’s a look into the rituals and routines of five of Wenatchee High School’s athletes:

Alli Hallberg, Volleyball

On game day, Hallberg wakes up and does the “regular things” of a teenage girl in the morning. She makes sure that she eats a nutritious breakfast, then heads off to school. After the school day, where she frequently visualizes playing in the later game, Hallberg has a little bit of down time where she eats a quick snack, before returning to school and cheering on the JV volleyball team.

Hallberg then joins her varsity teammates as they set out to the locker room to get changed and ready for their quickly approaching game. After they’re all dressed, the team heads into the gym where the volleyball coach plays wordless soothing music, including tracks with waterfalls and rain drops. There, with eyes closed, the team visualizes together as their coach prompts them with images such as “visualize you hitting the ball” and “visualize a perfect set.” Hallberg uses this time to get into a positive attitude, and get hyped for the approaching competition.

Before heading off, the coach supplies the team with some Gatorade chews as a quick burst of energy during the play. Finally the team moves back out to the court where they start to warm-up, and before you know it, it’s game time.

Matt Springer, Football

Springer wakes up to a hearty bowl of sugary cereal at 5 a.m. every gameday morning. Ready at 6 with a jersey and one of his three special pairs of elite socks on, he likes to do his homework until about 7:40,  because he doesn’t like to stay up late. His day at school is pretty typical, with the occasional visualizing of scenarios that might come up during the game and how he could react to them.

Springer also likes to race toy cars with one of his good friends junior Kyle Bowman in drafting before every game, as he knows it to be good luck when he wins. Fast forwarding to around game time, after listening to music, Springer makes sure that he gets his daily dose of candy in the time leading up to the game (usually the fruity stuff, including Starburst and Skittles). If nothing’s available, he will drive to Ernie’s or the nearest store and purchase some.

Right before the game when the national anthem is sung, Springer will not remove his eyes from the flag, as it has always been a big superstition to him that looking away is bad luck, even when the pledge is said in class; so rather, he stares straight at the flag the whole time. This is due to one time in sixth grade when Springer was playing at a basketball game, where he thought to himself, ‘I bet if I stare at the flag the whole time, we’ll win’ and they did, so he has done that ever since.

Ali Brandt, Swim & Dive

Brandt starts off her day to four alarms — one at 6:10, one at 6:20, one at 6:25 (which is the one she actually gets up on) and the last one at 6:30, signalling that it’s time for her to leave for zero period. She usually throws on team clothing before heading out the door and grabbing a quick breakfast.

Having already made her dive sheet, which is the list of all of the dives she has to compete that day (either three, six, or 11, depending on the meet) she visualizes each of her dives during the school day, especially her more difficult ones. Brandt tries to think of positive scenarios, but sometimes (especially on the more mentally challenging dives) she starts to think of bad outcomes as well. If her mind ends up traveling that way, Brandt thinks of someone else doing her dive, such as an Olympian or college diver, visualizing how they would dive. She then converts the image back into herself and pretend that she’s doing those dives, making it easier to not go down the route of thinking negative.

After getting to the pool, Brandt always warms up the dive she’s most scared of last — not in procrastination, but rather because it’s closer to when she competes with that dive. Brandt always has snacks with her during meets (especially goldfish and protein bars), and drinks water. Before her dive, Brandt always visualizes whichever one she’s doing, and when setting up on the board, she likes to get her position on the board by putting her feet behind each other four times — usually placing her three dots back on the diving board. As she’s about to start her approach, she rolls to the outside of her feet and taps her toes three times. This subsequently leads to her approach and dive. On back dives, she usually counts to three before she jumps.