Superstitions, Superstitions, Superstitions! Everybody has them and some of them are very strange.
Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks, will wear the game shorts of the opposing team to bed the night before the game.
Bruce Gardiner who was a former Ottawa Senator, would always dunk his hockey stick in the toilet before every game, prior to going on the ice.
Lone Peak athletes have pre-game rituals too. Rituals can come about in many different ways, and help athletes in their own specific game play.
Lone Peak senior soccer star, McKenzie Evans, has some superstitions of her own. Evans says, “Before every game I have to juggle a ball 14 times.” This ritual began when she was a junior and her number was 14 and juggling helps settle her down before games. McKenzie has many other rituals that improve her game such as; she has to wear her shin guard sleeve and put her bracelet in it that she wears everyday, but only on her left foot and then tape her right shin guard with medical tape. Evans says, “After devotional, before the game we pass around skittles. I take only four and if I get matching colors that means I will have a good game, or it determines how many goals I or my team will score depending on how many matching colors I pick.”
The Lone Peak girls soccer team have a tradition together. They drink out of the same water bottle named, “Dale”, to receive good luck in the upcoming game. Not only does the team drink out of the same water bottle, but five players (McKenzie Evans, Kaitlyn Wright, Kim Josse, Sara Burns, and Cara Olsen) have to perform their own handshake prior to walking on the field before the game.
McKenzie Evans comments, “Personal training helps me get in shape for the season and for try outs. It helps a ton!!” When asked how juggling the ball helps her in her game she says, “Juggling the ball, I initially did it to help me settle down and find my touch, it helps me calm down and focus, even if it is just 14 juggles. The skittles, shin guards, and handshakes are all mental superstitious things for me, but they keep me focused, motivated and pumped before games.”
Through athletes careers they acquire their own unique, superstitious pre-game rituals. Lone Peak’s, McKenzie Evans, is one of those athletes, and these specific quirks help her in her own game as other routines help athletes all across the world.
