We’ve all heard about professional athletes having superstitions. Whether it’s the clothes they wear or if it’s something they must do during the game. Tiger Woods, a pro golfer, always wears a red shirt on Sundays, Jason Terry, an NBA player, sleeps in the opposing team’s shorts the night before a game, and Michael Jordan, a former NBA player, wears his blue North Carolina shorts under his Bull’s basketball shorts. These superstitions don’t affect the game directly but they may affect how the player performs. According to Mark Bailey, a writer for The Telegraph website, “activating a superstition boosts participants’ confidence in mastering upcoming tasks, which in turn improves performance.” No matter the sport, many athletes do have superstitions or rituals they must perform before every game because they feel it brings them good luck.

     Rikki Neading from Dover High School says  “always wakes up in the morning and does  the same eight stretches” before each cross country meet. She makes sure to wear her “pink lucky hair tie and lucky underwear that’s ripped” but has had since forever. She also mentioned that she sprays three squirts of her favorite perfume and uses men’s Old Spice deodorant. It makes her feel “refreshed and ready” before she has to go out and run three miles.
     Many athletes like to eat a certain type of food before their game that boosts them with energy. From TCC High School, Brooke Beamer chows down on Subway before each softball game and Taylor Williams, from Indian Valley High School, always munches on a Twix candy bar while in the locker room before her game. Cambria Schlarb, a former Garaway athlete, would eat a peanut butter sandwich before each of her sporting events.
     Like Turk Wendell, another popular thing is performing a superstition during a game multiple times. Maggie Dominick, from TCC High School, has a ritual of “wiping the batters box with her right foot” every time she is up to bat. From Garaway High School, Ben Koshmider always “spins the club three times in my hand and then wiggle my toes,” before he goes to hit the golf ball.
     Some superstitions are as simple as just listening to the same music before a game. Hannah Duff, from Strasburg High School, always listens to same three songs before every softball game and Summer Price, from New Phila High School jams out to the same songs before every volleyball game.
     Not every athlete has a superstition though. One person I asked said they just do what they do and don’t worry about silly things like that. Kenzie Herron, from Claymont High School, said she doesn’t have any personal superstitions but her softball team has one together. They decide as a team what uniform they will wear and keep wearing it as long as they keep winning. When they lose a game, they feel the luck has been washed out of that uniform, so they change uniforms and wear them until they lose again.
Whether superstitions actually bring good luck or not, many athletes depend on them to help their performance, whether it’s simply brushing your teeth between every inning like Turk Wendell, a professional baseball player, or like Lyoto Machida, a UFC Fighter, and drink your own pee before every fight. They bring calmness to the player knowing they performed their lucky ritual. So, is the game actually affected by superstitions, or just the mindset of the athlete using them?