She sits in silence, twiddling her thumbs. Through her headphones she focuses on the podcast Fearless Motivation, the voice of John Jones instructing her to never quit, and give her best effort. After ten minutes she rises and walks across the locker where her teammates, although full of anxiety, are ready to give their best on the pitch.

Juana Pardo, TCS 11th grader and center forward for the Girls High School Soccer Team is a superstitious athlete. This is her pregame routine in order to have a good game. Like Juana, many athletes, both professional and amateur, also follow pregame rituals to play a good match. While not every athlete believes in superstition, Juana is one of many athletes who do.

According to Juana her superstitions work, “Yes, they help me calm down my nerves, and focus on the game.”

The Pros are Superstitious Too!

While a good game is attributed to talent and skills,  but it’s only physical. Superstitions and rituals before or during a game, are the ones that affects the player’s mind. As well as Juana does, professional soccer players have their own pre game rituals that help them have confidence over themselves, and help them have a good game.

Professional soccer player John Terry(36), iconic defender for Chelsea F.C, who his teammates have declared as the most superstitious player of “The Blue’s”, follows a series of strict routines and acts previous to a game.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror of London, England, Terry was quoted as saying, “But I am so superstitious. I’ve got to have the same seat on the bus, tie the tapes round my socks three times and cut my tubular grip for my shin-pads the same size every game.”

It’s believed hockey players are one of the most superstitious players of all.Professional NHL player, goaltender Ken Dryden was said to have lots of superstitions and rituals for games. One of various Dryden’s rituals was to shoot a puck off a certain part of the boards at the start of pregame warm-ups. Even though these types of rituals helped Dryden reach Hall of Fame, he’s not proud of all of them.

“I don’t tell anyone about them, I’m not proud I have them, I know I should be strong enough to decide one morning, any morning, no longer to be a prisoner to them,” wrote Dryden in his book, The Game.

TCS Athletes also have their superstitions

Not only professional athletes have superstitions, but also amateur athletes have them as well. In the case of Tomas Moreno, TCS 11th grader, player for the Men’s H.S Basketball team. Even though many players start their rituals only due to luck, Moreno has started his pregame game rituals due to past injuries he’s had.

“In the lockers, I wrap my right ankle tighter than my left ankle, and I put on my right shoe first, because I’ve already injured my right ankle three times before,” Tomas Moreno, Boys High School Basketball player, said.

There are many types of rituals athletes can do before or during a game, from the most normal as the order at which you put your shoes on,to sitting in the same seat always. .Although most of these rituals are done in the lockers or have something to do with the game preparation, this is not the case for Nicolas Vergara, TCS 11th grader, player for the Boy’s H.S Basketball Team.

“The day I have a match, I always have one egg and milo with a bread for breakfast,” Nicolas Vergara, Boys High School Basketball player, said.

Does it actually Works?

Many may argue that superstitions are only beliefs and crazy unnecessary routines, but does doing any type of ritual has on impact on your body? Studies have proven to demonstrate that superstitions actually work, connected to psychologically helping the player and giving them security and confidence over areas where they’re lacking it. George Gmelch, anthropology professor at University of San Francisco who has studied superstition in baseball for years, stated that doing rituals increases a person’s confidence, therefore leading them to succeed in this area.

In an interview with  the Science of Us, Gmelch was quoted as saying, “What they’re really doing is giving themselves confidence. If I do these little rituals, then I’m gonna feel confident going into this activity, and I can succeed and do well.”

So.. What’s the point?

Many athletes have them, and many don’t. From professionals to amateur players, from hockey to soccer, and from being actions you do previous a game to the food you eat before it.The athletes who have superstitions claim them to be helpful for games.

“It’s like my lucky bracelet although it’s not an object, but an action,” Pardo, 11th grade Girls High School Soccer player.