Explain The Ritual Of The Gridiron

Ritual of the Gridiron The snap of the ball, the crack of helmets, the shoulder pads colliding together echoing off the sound of the grunts of men slamming against the turf. An average football play contains a complexity of events in a window of just four to six seconds. Yet, within those few moments of time, the ritual of preparation to guarantee each of those moments are executed perfectly, can be listed on for days. Every athletic team performs a great amount of rituals in preparation for the season to be the best prepared to perform at the highest level for each individual exhibition. But the microcosm of these fleeting moments represents a culmination of the eons of rituals that have changed over the years. The rituals of preparation
Symbolically, these rituals harken back to our previous ancestors in earlier ages, and their meticulous preparations for battles of war. When it comes to athletics, rituals hold an immense importance to a team and everyone within the team, strengthening the bonds of teamwork and brotherhood. Through repetition of training and individual preparation, a comradery and sense of personal responsibility to the group is ignited. Rituals are important to the team because without proper execution prior to a performance, a team can be disorganized because individuals can become obscured from their personal responsibility to the game plan, which could ultimately get them wounded in the battle field. In the relation to the individual athletes, any deviation from their personal ritual prior to a contest can throw an athlete off from performing at their greatest potential, and diminish their ability for optimal performance. From pregame music selections, to meditation, to selection of attire, game day rituals serve as the foreshadowing of the intense competition that will follow. The culture of these rituals is followed year in and year out by athletes and
Making rituals as identical as possible is important within the team, because profound changes to a team on gameday can often throw off the “flow” of a team or even a player. In conjunction with the team, when you talk to an athlete, each of them have created their own pre-game ritual to help get their minds right for the game. A pre-game ritual consists of a more mental preparation for the exhibition. This is a huge deal to all athletes, and without proper execution, one’s mind could be thrown off from optimal performance. Hours before the game, the first aspect to a team’s pre-game ritual is the team meal. These usually consist of excessive amounts of carbohydrates and protein, all to help give the athletes a quick burst of energy for game time. The most important sequence of the pre-game rituals happens in the locker room. Many people like to enjoy calm, and soothing music before a game to clear their minds of any distraction, or to release themselves of any nerves that may be building before a game. On the contrary, some players relish in the playing of loud, high energy music to help hype up the team and get their minds ready for war. These forms of music could be connected to the civil war times, where armies would be followed around by bands of people playing music to keep each of the warriors in sync. These bands would be used to help instruct orders