Sports Rituals

Sports Rituals Athletes use sports rituals in every sport in the world. They can be simple, something the person came up with just then on the spot, or they can be complex, something the player has been doing since they can remember. No one truly knows when sports rituals started to make an appearance in the modern world, but they are here now and do not seem to be leaving any time soon. Sports rituals mean so much. They get an athlete pumped or excited before a match. They help a person get focused on the task at hand and help them achieve success. Folklore has tie ins with sports, more importantly sports rituals. In any folklore tale, a ritual of some sort always occurs. Rituals are defined as a stereotyped sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and designed to influence preternatural entities or forces on behalf of the actors' goals and interests. In relation to sports rituals a ritual is a certain behavior or action that an athlete performs with the belief that these behaviors have a specific purpose, or power, to influence their performance. Modern sports rituals are derived from early ritualistic practices.
Many athletes believe that performing a specific ritual before competition improves their performance. It can be as simple as clapping their hands 5 times in a row or a specific handshake they do with another player. For example, former football player Ray Lewis had a pre-game ritual of performing a quick dance that would excite the crowd and his teammates each time he did it. Another great example of sports rituals is the Haka. The Haka is a traditional Maori dance from New Zealand. The best known Haka of them all is called "Ka Mate". It has been performed by countless New Zealand teams both locally and internationally. Some call these rituals “superstition”. The real value in superstition and ritual is the boost of confidence and the sense of control that they provide an athlete. If you