“The margin for error”: Ritual coping with cultural pressures

Abstract

Meritocratic sport cultures, media attention, coaches' ambitions, and "enthused" parents create stress and make coping pivotal for athletes' performance. A transdisciplinary dialogue between a sports-sociologist and a sport-psychologist manifests ritual practices in athletes' lived sport experiences as coping strategies. Based on two empirical strands, field observations of boy's handball and interviews with elite male wrestlers', analysis of pregame routines scrutinize psychosocial dimensions of athletes' ritual practice. The implications of ritual meaning making are investigated as a means to cope with sport specific sociocultural anxieties. Rituals are interpreted as psychosocial processes applied to construct perceived order and comfort in stressful sport milieus. We contend that it is reasonable to believe that successful coping is not solely because of athletes' psychological competencies and experiences, but also their ability to ritually use culture in meaningful ways. To manifest important contextual aspects of athletes' lived sport experiences, to nurture task-oriented sport milieus, and to create change in sport and physical cultural contexts, we consequently suggest that the cultural meanings applied in ritual should be an important aspect to address.

The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review

“…Sleep, caffeine and even small rituals, which put the athlete in the right headspace can improve performance ( Broch and Kristiansen, 2014 ; Spriet, 2014 ). But blue light is not something that is usually considered when preparing for a competition.…”

Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Addressing Mental Health Problems Among Elite Athletes

“…These symptoms have two different causes and therefore require different treatments to resolve symptoms. Athletes may also perform ritualistic behavior in order to relieve anxiety during athletic performance [21]. This could include behaviors such as unique free-throw warm-ups in basketball, avoiding stepping on the foul line while taking the field in baseball, or eating Skittles™ before every football game.…”

Régulation des menaces inhérentes aux activités physiques et sportives et construction des attitudes interpersonnelles et intergroupes : revue théorique et perspectives

“…Par exemple, les différences de perceptions de menace pour un même événement en fonction de la culture (e.g., Hoedaya & Anshel, 2003) pourraient s'expliquer par une adhésion plus forte aux valeurs collectives (religieuses, d'équipes par exemple) compensant les effets de la menace sur le stress en accord avec le système de sécurité. D'ailleurs, les rituels et la centration sur les valeurs sont des éléments souvent révélés par l'analyse de l'activité des sportifs (e.g., Broch & Kristiansen, 2013 ;Watson & Czech, 2005). Les sociologues ont depuis longtemps mis en avant l'importance de la religion et de la spiritualité dans la vie des athlètes (Hoffman, 1992 ;Stevenson, 1991).…”