Pre competition rituals

[roogu]

Hi there,

I'm doing a report on athletes with pre-game rituals and would love any feedback you guys may have ... whether it's your own personal rituals or what you think of them in general. If any of you are on a varsity sports team, in a Canadian College, that would be perfect. Looking forward to your responses

[arena_gal]

So I was in a small town arena last year, er, Woodstock? and there was a girls hockey tournament going on, I was absolutely astonished at the pre-game rituals they all have. For guys, it's all rah rah rah in the dressing room, get on the ice, warm up, fire slapshots randomly off the glass, a last glove touch with your goalie. Girls, oh my goodness, they bring the stuffed animal mascots out to centre ice, do a warm up, have a big team cheer, do a mascot ritual, do a goalie ritual, then actually have a game.

Anyway, if you have any way of looking at girl rituals vs. boy rituals it would be interesting, there's this whole other universe out there. My daughters play in the boys leagues so I'd never seen it before.

[Skatingsarah]

Speaking of stuffed animals I have 3 stuffed animals that I have brought to every competition since I was 8. I cannot skate with out them, but now my coach refuses to stand by the boards with them so my mother has to hold them in the stands. Once I forgot them in my skate bag and I skated terribly so I have it stuck in my head that that is what makes me skate well. Also I pray at least the week before the competition, 6 days is to late.. Every night, Please let me skate well and I say all my goals and then go to sleep, and I'm not really very religious..lol. I actually do that 4 other ppl even the ones I dont know. Like for Canadians or for us nationals. I also cannot forget to wipe my blades before I get on the ice. Also the night before I reherse every part of my program in my room clarifying arm movements, I'll spend at least an hour with my music playing over and over and over again.

Well those are all the crazy things I do... Now half the ppl that know who I am are going to think I'm CRAZY ;) But isnt skating about superstitions and I'm superstitious.
-sarah

[rinkrat24/7]

I have a lcuky necklace that i never take off that i always have 2 have at competitions. I know this sounds very strange but my friend and i always flip our ponytails (or just pretend when we wear buns) around just as we step out onto the ice. Im not quite sure how and why we started this, but we always do it for good luck.:D

[CanAmSk8ter]

I have two lucky teddy bears, a big one and a little one, that come to my competitions. The big one has a bow around his neck and he has to wear one of my Lake Placid pins on his bow.

Actually the pin story is kind of funny. I was testing at the end of Adult Week in 2001, and one of my friends couldn't stay the extra day to watch me, so he gave me this pin that one of the store keepers had given him two of for good luck. I already had the same one, but I figured I would wear the one my friend gave me on my sweater the day of the test. Well, I got back to the house and of course by the next morning I no longer knew which pin was which, and had gotten it into my head that the one my friend gave me HAD to be with me. I didn't have my bigger teddy bear yet (he was a present last year) so I put one on my bag and one on my sweater. I passed the test .2 over, so needless to say I do not go to competitions or tests without both of them now- and I still don't know which one actually was from my friend!

Anyway, so my bear wears one pin and I wear the other one on my sweater, along with a Canadian/American flag pin my mom gave me 'cause her grandparents are Canadian, and a little pin of a spaniel that one of my friends gave me for Christmas when we were eight. She moved and I haven't heard from her in over ten years, but I still have that pin.

For awhile, I had two beanie babies for competitions, a cow and a flamingo, but when I tested my Ten-Fox, my coach at the time kept calling the flamingo a turkey and telling me it was a good thing I didn't have to solo because he wasn't gonna stand there holding my d*mn stuffed turkey. I think he was just trying to make me laugh, though.

Edited to add, I also have a crystal necklace that I wear for tests and competitions. My boyfriend gave me one for either Christmas a few years ago with a butterfly on it, and I happened to have it on when I passed my Pre-Juv Free, which I fully did not expect to pass that day. Within a week, I had lost both the necklace and the boyfriend (I lost the boyfriend by choice, I should add). When the next test approached, I decided I needed to go get myself a necklace just like it. I chose one with a faerie on it, and so far have managed not to lose this one.

Ok, so I'm crazy too. Aren't we all? I can't believe there haven't been more responses to this thread.

[Mel On Ice]

I have diamond earrings my husband gave me for our first Christmas that I always wear. PB&J has apparently become the breakfast of champions because it is filling without feeling too full or greasy like McD's can be. Post competiton always seems to involve a steak!

Oh! and for good karma, I always ALWAYS wish my competitors good luck and root them on. It makes me feel better, win or lose.

[JD]

Well, I have one that my daughter seems to like: [but she is only 10]

I find quotes-motivational type, if you can dream it, you can do it sort of things... print them off into little strips and pack them in various parts of her bag the night before a competition,-in skates, in walkman, in warm up mitts, in makeup bag...so that while I am helping her get ready, she has an inspiring quote to make her feel special....[and warm and fuzzy and all that]

also, she always brings a stuffed animal-lately its a unicorn..

She also has a walkman and tape-tape full of uplifting songs including her fave "light the Fire" within from SLC...before that her fave was "when you believe "-Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston...we now never go to competition or test without the SLC song....

she has lost her gold sparkly skate guards for tests and is convinced its an omen [I can't find another pair -nor have we tested lately]

She always has carbs the night before an event [pasta] usually spaghetti - a favourite, and always asks for a homemade hamburger that night after competing...

A rather bizzare ritual is a minor injury of some sort in the week before-always in a rather freakish way,--every time she has had this minor glitch, she has won gold....I think now she is looking for an accident---once, she stubbed her toe at, of all places a birthday party at Chucky Cheese the day before-swollen, bruised, etc, she went and won...,another, hit with a lacrosse stick-cut open, not stitches,left mark across bridge of foot, [still scar there]....etc

hope this helps