Superstitions of sports: Do they make you super?
Chad Stratton, Staff Writer
Whether it is baseball, soccer, football or even rugby, many athletes have their own formulas to have a great game. For example, it is a common belief that the last person to make a hoop in warm up for a basketball game will have good luck. Another example is during a bowling match, bowlers will wear the same clothes every time as a sign of a continued win streak. That all seems like nonsense, but athletes get caught up in it and it becomes tradition. Many people have their superstitions, even athletes at North Greenville University. Here are some people at North Greenville who carry traditions with them.
Katheryn McClure, a current volleyball player and a senior at North Greenville University, has a few traditions of her own. After every game she and her teammates share a victory, she claims that she wears her hair the same way for the rest of the day, and she does not wash her knee pads for the next game as a sign of hope for more victories.
Colin Karhu, a freshman and one of the kickers for North Greenville’s football team, has his own good-luck charms as well. He and his teammates feel that if they do not do a warm up a certain way every time, than they feel limited in their ability to perform out in the field.
Let us look at some other sports like tennis, football, and baseball.
According to professionals, common superstitions of tennis involve clothing, and little tweaks that some may say make a big difference. A few superstitions are that tennis players can not wear the color yellow, as they say it will be bad luck. Some of them say that a player must not carry two or more tennis balls while serving, as it could “affect your performance throughout the game.” For the most part, these “rules” are not left out associating with North Greenville’s tennis team. Most players on the team can agree that they believe the same things.
Being one of the most popular sports in the United States, it is commonplace for this sports to have a lot of superstitions. Many things can cause bad luck in this sport. Double number on a uniform bring bad luck as well as switching numbers after being traded can bring bad luck as well. Things that bring good luck are mascots, and merchandise. North Greenville players have similar beliefs and some have very different. Some must warm up exactly the same way every way before a game or its bad luck, and some wash themselves before a game as they believe they will be stinky anyway and its bad luck.
Being one of the oldest sports in the United States, it has more superstitions than most sports. Some include that spitting in your hand before swinging the bat brings good luck, or it’s bad luck if a dog walks across the diamond before the first pitch. Most North Greenville baseball players share the same superstitions, but some have others as well. For many NGU players, if someone is doing very well, it should never be spoken about while in current play, or the players might lose their luck.
*Featured Image: Image from digital library.
