Sporting Superstition

Sporting Superstition

Superstition is a strange and illogical thing. Really there’s no proof that superstition exist, hell I imagine most of us don’t believe in superstition at all. I certainly don’t but then why do we all have strange little things we do?

 

What is the strangest sporting superstition you’ve ever heard? For me personally it is from South African cricketer Neil McKenzie. Apparently he taped his bat to the dressing room ceiling. He scored a hundred so did it again. Any cricketers out there, do you tape your bat to the ceiling. I certainly never did when I used to play so what would make someone possibly think this was a good idea?

 

There are thousands of other cases I could mention but the thing here is why do we do it? I have a strange superstition, before I play badminton I untie and the re tie my shoe laces. I don’t believe it makes a difference, I only did it the first time because I had to wait for someone to knock up with and I wanted to keep myself occupied but that was months ago and I’m still doing it. Does it make a difference? No. Do I win more games now? Unfortunately no. So why the superstition.

 

A big thing is that sports men and women for obvious reason are competitive types. The mind is a powerful thing, it can easily trick us into thinking something will give us an edge. Even something as strange as taping a bat to the ceiling can seem like a good idea if it made a difference last time even if logically we know it has nothing to do with what’s happening. Maybe we also think that it appeared to do well and it certainly isn’t harming our chances. Perhaps it is a placebo effect here, the mind tricks us into thinking doing a strange action gives us the edge.

 

The issue with this is most of us would obviously view these actions as silly afterwards. Why then do we continue doing it? Why do I continue re tying my shoes? For me personally I’m not really sure. It’s sort of like a routine, as in I tie my laces then knock up then warm up. It’s not that it improves my game, it helps me feel secure and in my own little zone before playing. I play in a bubble, I don’t say much, I keep focussed. My routine helps me get into that and the strange superstition is part of that.

 

Obviously some people do believe in superstition and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, for all we know some of these superstition could exist for a reason. For the rest I think it’s a routine thing to feel comfortable and ready for the intense battle ahead. It’ll help us be ready to win and as we all know winning is the most important thing.