Whether it’s the same song you listen to before every game, what you wear, or maybe you don’t shave your beard in the playoffs, most athletes or teams have some sort of superstition or ritual they do before every game.

If these rituals work or not, we may never know but we do know that some are as weird and wacky as can be.

For example, varsity field hockey player Alison Carr said, “For field hockey we all stand in the net and one person has an inspirational quote on a piece of paper with enough copies for everyone. They read it to us then we all fold it up and put it in our sports bras.”

The varsity girls soccer team has a ritual to; after warm ups they go into a team huddle and read two different paragraphs that team members wrote. In the paragraphs each player wrote why they play. The soccer team reads them before every game as motivation to play hard for their teammates every game.

The JV girls’ soccer team has a superstition where they do the same warm up and their coach gives the same speech before every game.

“I always wear the same sports bra to every game,” said soccer player Maddie Binding.

Sophomore, Jen Lovett always has to wear a ribbon in her hair on game days to school and during the game. “If I don’t wear it in my hair then it is in my backpack or somehow attached to me,” she said.

The Pentucket wrestling team has a ritual where they all line up by weight class, seniors in front, and then jog around the mat before they warm up.

Pentucket cheerleader Shannon Wesley said, “Before every competition we all eat a green skittle for good luck.”

Some are bizarre, some are motivational, some are pure repetition, but these rituals or superstitions are the best way to build team chemistry and provide good luck on game days.