Superstitions are part of our lives, and we all know one ore more, maybe even had them once. The reason is that we give so much power to our mind. Thus, we are letting a random belief based on luck or other forces – either irrational, supernatural or unscientific – let us guide to success or protect us from evil happenings.
You may not believe it, but the tarot reading is very popular these days among superstitious people. In fact, for centuries this has been a very popular and powerful mean of fortune-telling. Nowadays, it is practiced widely in the United States and Canada.
Many athletes are also superstitious. Some perform rituals before the game or during it – either in individual or team sports -, and even have lucky objects. There are countless stories, some of them unbelievable, of rituals and superstitions in sports.
Performing a ritual is part of the athlete’s belief that a behavior or action may influence their performance. And there are a lot of athletes who are convinced that these rituals are improving their performance, so they perpetuate them.
There are different rituals. The most commons are related to an object – wearing certain clothes, or consuming certain foods or drinks. The way they perform in the warm-up or the music they listen in the hours before the game or match are also part of the rituals.
Superstitions are a different thing. Some athletes tend to connect good or bad performance to a cause, so superstitions arise after reviewing the facts in the period before the event. This way, they begin to act following certain patterns which they think influence the performance, and recreate those circumstances.
The most important part of the rituals and superstitions for an athlete is the fact that they impact the belief system. In this way it is improved their psychological state during the games in terms of control and confidence. In fact, sports psychology says that, if you believe that doing a specific action will improve the performance, that is likely to happen.
Bottom line, hard training, raw talent, performing under stress, a balanced life and a balanced diet are a huge part of an athlete success, but some big stars need that extra something to get to the success.
Here are the most superstitious athletes:
1. Turk Wendell
The former American baseball player has many superstitions. He leaps over the baselines when walking to the mound, chews black licorice while pitching, and brushes his teeth between innings. He also wanted to honor his uniform number 99, by asking an offer of $9,999,999.99 from the New York Mets, back in 2000.
2. Lyoto Machida
The Brazilian MMA fighter says that he drinks his own urine every day, after removing the toxins. He has 26 wins and 9 losses, and claims that his father, a karate master, used the same superstition. The Brazilian thinks that the urine is a natural medicine that cleans the body.
3. Sergio Goycochea
The former Argentine soccer goalkeeper claimed that his very good record at saving penalties comes from urinating on the field. Goycochea mentioned that nobody complained about his superstition.
4. Serena Williams
The greatest tennis player in the history of the WTA has many superstitions. Some of them is wearing the same pair of socks while winning in a tournament and wearing the shower sandals to the matches.
5. Michael Jordan
The greatest of all time in basketball also had a superstition during the games. Michael Jordan wore his University of North Carolina uniform under his Chicago Bulls uniform at every game.
