How do superstitions and rituals impact performance in the sporting world? Zoe Neal

How do superstitions and rituals affect performance in the sports world? Zoe Neal (Image: Milad Fakurian, Unsplash)

Do superstitions and rituals positively impact athlete performance, or do they do more harm than good?

Many of us have superstitious beliefs, such as thinking that walking under a ladder or smashing a mirror is bad luck, and some of us routinely perform rituals because we believe it will bring us good luck. Athletes are no exception. Many professional and medal-winning athletes, including Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Jonny Wilkinson, and Michael Phelps, perform certain superstitious rituals because they believe it will help take their performance to the next level.

How can superstitious rituals increase performance?

Pre-performance routines and rituals can give athletes comfort and confidence, which in turn leads to reduced anxiety. Additionally, focusing on a pre-game routine helps an athlete prepare for the event and prevents them from being distracted by other thoughts — like the weather, an injury, or other uncertainties.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Michael Phelps said: “I’ve gone to races with headphones on my entire career and listened to music up to the last moment”, particularly artists like Snoop Dog and Young Jeezy, because he says it helps him to relax and immerse yourself in your “own little world”. Various studies have shown that music is a great tool to increase or decrease arousal levels and to help athletes feel confident, focused, relaxed, alert and enter a positive emotional state.

To study how lucky charms can affect performance, Lysann Damisch conducted an experiment in which 28 volunteers attempted to sink 10 golf putts, but half of the volunteers were told that the ball they used was “lucky ball” while the other half was not told. The results showed that the “lucky” group averaged 6.4 putts, while the control group only averaged 4.8 putts. More importantly, the higher-performing group had higher levels of self-efficacy due to superstition activation, resulting in higher self-set goals, higher levels of optimism, self-confidence, and greater persistence on the performance task; This is important, as Damisch illustrated that “the more confidence people have in their ability to do a given task, the better off they are.”

However, the consequences of overly obsessive superstition must be addressed. Tennis icon Serena Williams performs many superstitious rituals that she believes she must complete in order to perform well; although she’s not exactly pleased to have them. Speaking on Friday night with Jonathon Ross, she explained, “I have too many superstitious rituals and it’s annoying because it’s like I have to do it or I lose,” and in particular, Serena blamed her loss at the 2019 French Open for this Not performing pre-game rituals. Furthermore, if a performer is so fixated that he believes he must perform the ritual or something negative will happen, then superstition controls him instead of benefiting him in any way.

As such, certain superstitions and rituals can be key to successful athletic performance, but athletes should be aware that their performance can suffer if followed too strictly.