Superstitions and Pre-Game Routines of Athletes:Helpful or Harmful?

Tiger Woods wears a red shirt for the final round of every golf tournament after turning pro in 1996.  Tennis player Serena Williams, five-times Wimbledon champion, always takes her shower sandals to the court, ties her shoelaces in a specific way, and bounces the ball five times.1  We have all seen or heard of elite athletes and their bizarre rituals and superstitions.  As a former collegiate athlete, I too, had my own quirky pre-game rituals and superstitions.  It is very prevalent in all sports but is even more common at higher levels of play. Countless professional athletes do it but why, and does it actually help their play?

Psychologists say people often become superstitious and use rituals when faced with unknown and stressful situations, which explains why so many athletes are superstitious and frequently bound to rigid preparation routines.1 These rigid routines seem to provide athletes with a sense of stability, consistency, and an element of control before entering into the unknown of the game.  What the athletes are actually doing, whether they realize it or not, is a thier own unique form of meditation.  The routines provide a calm and comfortable way to get in the zone and remain level headed before competition.

There have been many studies showing that routines and superstitions actually help the performance of athletes but there have also been cases in which they can hinder performance.  The difference between the two outcomes is best seen by differentiating the terms routine and superstition.  

Studies have analyzed the effect of pre-performance routines among athletes and found that pre-routines related to one’s athletic movement aid in their subsequent performance.2  Superstitions on the other hand, are completely unrelated to the performance and cause athletes to believe that a lucky gesture or object has control over the outcome of their performance such as a lucky shirt, or pre-game meal at their favorite restaurant.  The problem with that, of course, is when an athlete becomes so dependent on that lucky shirt that when it’s misplaced, performance suffers because of it.2    

If you start to spend too much time focusing on these irrational things to improve your performance rather than the important things, such as your swing or being relaxed, then these superstitious techniques can take away from the outcome.  Routines can be a great tool for enhancing performance but when athletes begin relying on superstitions for luck it can become harmful and distracting.  

References

1Do superstitious minds help or hinder athletes? (2012, July 27). Retrieved July 30, 2015.

2Do Athletes’ Superstitions Really Help? (2012, August 9). Retrieved July 30, 2015.