I wouldn’t exactly call myself a sports fanatic, but I do know that professional athletes have superstitions they follow religiously and without fail. In my experience, baseball is the most superstitious. They do crazy things like wear the same underwear for days at a time, or they don’t shave during a winning streak. I heard about a player who wears a gold thong anytime he’s struggling. Another player is rumored to pee on his hands (on purpose!) WHAT?
While I’ve never heard of a cheerleader purposely peeing on his or her hands, I think that they would give those professional athletes a run for their money when it comes to superstitions.
Cheerleaders are the most superstitious people I know. They will eat the same food, go to the same places, and wear the same socks as they did in the last competition where they “hit.” My daughter orders the same exact Starbucks drink before every competition…which is very convenient. Now we can’t leave the house on competition day without a stop at Starbucks. Add it to the cheer budget.
Other superstitions I’ve seen at competitions:
- Eating the same color pixie stick before competing.
- Doing a secret handshake with the same person 5 seconds before the music starts on the mat.
- Wearing the same “lucky hair tie” on the same wrist.
- Cheer moms who wear coordinating outfits (if they don’t match, it’s bad luck).
- Cheer moms standing in the same place to watch (in the front, in the back, to the right of the stage, etc.)
- Cheer moms are wearing the same jewelry.
- Refusing to pee before the routine.
- Always peeing before the routine.
- Not allowing certain family members to competitions if they weren’t there when the team hit or won before.
- Eating at the same chain restaurant and making everyone in the family order the same food at every competition.
I would love to end this post right here and act like I’m too good for superstitions, but it just wouldn’t be true. In the words of Michael Scott, “I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”
I’ve been known to wear the same hairstyle, stand in the same spot in the viewing area, and tell my daughter the exact same thing on day two as I did on day one.
Abby was on a team once where red roses were considered a very good omen. Every time they saw a red rose on competition day, they did well. That whole season we would literally notice red roses everywhere. At Cheersport that year, the moms went for a drink while the girls were warming up, and our server’s name was Rose. We about lost our minds.
