most of us have some sort of
superstition that makes us behave in
weird ways
maybe it's avoiding walking on cracks on
the pavement or making sure we don't
break a mirror to avoid
seven years of bad luck or maybe it's
believing that specific objects and
lucky charms actually give us good luck
and the world of sports is no exception
superstitions in sports turn up all over
the place
from superstitious fans wearing lucky
caps all the way to the individual
athletes themselves
in fact athletes are considered one of
the most superstitious groups of people
in the world
on par with people like sailors soldiers
miners and gamblers and i want to find
out why
there are a whole heap of examples some
are famous like michael jordan always
wearing his old unc
shorts under his game day kit or wade
boggs
also known as chicken man who would only
eat chicken and would field
exactly 117 ground balls before
every single game and you see these
superstitions turn up across a massive
range of sports
both in the past and in today's top
athletes
like world number three tennis player
dominic team who just won the us open in
2020
olympic and x games gold medalist
snowboarder anna gasser
and the style master cliff diver
jonathan perez
i have quite a lot of superstitions
actually
yes i do i am very superstitious i do
have some
especially when it comes to competitions
the the way i drink
have the same order how i drink i leave
the bed on the right foot
every day every morning i slept on the
right side of the bed i like to like
eat some of my favorite foods the night
before normally i lean on my knees
before my diet my competition died
i pray two times if i went into the
podium the last competition
with that speedo i'm gonna take that
speedo with me for the next competition
i don't usually step on the lines in
between the exchanges
if i did good in one jacket i like i
would like to write and check it and out
of where the whole season flow
this was the good luck jacket but if i
get hurt in a chicken wouldn't touch it
anymore
i do this it has to be done four times i
had
good luck socks too but i have heated
socks now so
i'm always like holding these
on my left hand lots of athletes swear
by sticking to these superstitious
behaviors as a way to make sure they
perform their best and make sure they
have the best chance of winning
these two things in the morning are like
obligated it has to be done on that way
if i wouldn't do it i would have the
feeling that
somehow something is not right in my
match
so the question is why why do they have
these behaviors
where did they come from and do they
actually have a single effect on the
outcome of their sports
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and to answer these questions we've
gotta get a little bit nerdy and look at
our own evolution
human brains are obsessed with finding
patterns we've got this desire to
understand what is happening around us
and explain
why it's happening which is a really
good thing to have
seeing as it helps us survive you pick
out some small details maybe like a twig
has snapped in a certain way or some
animal footprints are pointed in a
particular direction
maybe on a previous hunt these signs led
to what you were hunting for
and your brain can recognize the idea
that snap twig
plus footprint in that direction means
pray
over there which you can then remember
and you can use it again
in the future to increase your chances
of getting that next meal
our brains love to join dots like that
okay
now imagine that you also completely by
chance fiddled with some jewelry or
something you were wearing
just before you found that prey maybe
your brain notices it and decides to add
it to the pattern of events that led up
to
finding that prey accidentally joining
the wrong dots
mistaking it for cause and effect whilst
trying to figure out a pattern that you
can use
in the future so then every time you go
on a hunt you make sure that you wear
that specific jewelry and fiddle with it
in some specific way because you think
it might help
prey to magically appear in front of you
now sometimes joining these wrong dots
can be bad but
sometimes it just doesn't matter at all
because the potential reward for doing
that behavior could be
so much greater than just doing
something as simple as
wearing some jewelry for instance and
most athletes
actually understand that i don't think
it's directly affected i just
think it's a feeling that gives you you
kind of connect
those things to like your win or your
like good runs
if it's just these little things that
make the difference why not
stay with these little superstitions the
idea that a superstitious behavior
doesn't cost them much
and maybe does something in some way
gives us a sense of control over a
situation where
maybe there is none just look at the
main categories of people with
superstitions you know
sailors soldiers gamblers they all share
the fact that there is a lot of risk or
chance involved and the same goes for
sport
obviously the outcome of a sport comes
down to skill to
tactics and methods and teamwork and to
a lifetime of practice and learning
but games or competitions are also
unpredictable
athletes can't look into some crystal
ball and look into the future to know
how they
or their teammates are gonna perform
they don't have complete control
over the outcome there are so many
factors that can have an impact and
in adventure sports and sports played at
top tier levels it can sometimes come
down to the smallest things that'll make
the difference between winning or losing
or just getting through it safely and
studies have found that when sports have
a greater lack of control or have an
increased risk to the athlete
or in competitions that hold greater
importance you tend to see more
superstitious behaviors show up and
gain traction amongst the athletes i
think i'm superstitious in both
like also in trainings i have my rituals
because sometimes we try these new
tricks or like
you want to film something cool but then
also i i see like in big competition
i'm extra focused on keeping having my
my good luck jacket and back to eating
the things i like the night before so
for sure and competition
it comes out more so does it actually do
anything
directly especially in those high-stakes
situations
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at first it might seem like a bit of a
stupid question seeing as superstitions
are based around relying on luck or
some magical force to do what they
supposedly do
but even though there's usually no clear
direct link between those behaviors and
an actual sports outcome
it turns out they can actually work
superstitious behaviors have
a massive mental impact on athletes that
perform them
time and time again studies have
confirmed that anxiety levels and stress
levels are reduced
and self-confidence and just the belief
that they can do it are increased
after athletes do their superstitious
rituals and this
real world impact on their state of mind
has a direct impact
on real world performance if i follow
those superstitions i have the feeling
that i'm
fully focused 100 and then i'm
completely
in the match somehow it relaxes me a
little bit if i do those because then i
know that
well i'm ready to give it all and on top
of this some superstitious behaviors
could actually directly
increase performance like in the case of
wade boggs that i mentioned earlier
his superstitions might seem strange but
there is no doubt that his body and his
mind would have been warmed up by
fielding so many ground balls before
each game
even if it was the ridiculously specific
number of 117
and eating a standardized meal of
chicken each time would have given him
consistent
energy levels other rituals like wearing
specific clothes or entering a stadium
the same exact way each time
could do similar things for
standardizing performance and just
getting your mind
to focus up which is where the line
between a superstitious belief
and an actual functioning
pre-performance routine
gets a little bit blurry if it helps and
it doesn't
impact an athlete in any bad way is it
really just some weird belief
or is it an integral part of what makes
them the incredible athlete
that they are either way just like a
placebo drug that could fix some medical
conditions without having any medicinal
properties itself
it all still relies on the athlete
actually believing
even in just some small way that their
superstitious behavior
could affect the outcome so both the
belief
and the actual performing of the
behavior has to be their choice
and come from their mind so i guess the
question is
after knowing all of this will you
continue with your superstitions two
three years ago i had
some others now i have those maybe in
two years i'll have some
some new superstitions but i think in in
sports it's
it's good to have them it it relaxes you
and obviously in tennis we are
alone out there for five hours sometimes
so it's good
to hang to something i think it's not
going to change
at all because as i said at the
beginning is like a daily routine
it became something so normal to me that
i think it's going to be
even more difficult to not do it then
continue doing it for
for the rest of my life maybe so what
superstitions
do you have maybe you've got some of
them that you heard about in this
episode or maybe you've got some
that are just a little bit weirder
either way let us know
down in the comments below and thanks
for watching
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you