During tennis matches, dont drink red Gatorade. Also, during breaks, only drink one sip of Gatorade and one sip of water each time, if at all.
As a tennis player with two years of highly competitive Varsity high school tennis under her belt, Charlyne said that she developed these superstitions after personal experiences in a plethora of doubles matches. She explains that early into her high school tennis career, she began to form these beliefs when she and her partner drank nothing but red Gatorade sports drinks during matches and consequently played horribly each time. So horribly, in fact, that she even attributes what she considers the worst match of her entire life to the consuming of red Gatorade. Charlyne even went on to say that red Gatorade was initially an aversion to her because of its bright color and prominence whenever it would accidentally spill onto the teams light-colored uniforms.
In this way, Charlyne demonstrates several practical reasons for not drinking red Gatorade and for only drinking one sip each of water and Gatorade during matches. She reasoned that the sip of water would wash down the Gatorades aftertaste and not leave her mouth sugarcoated and parched as she continued to play. However, her belief that only one sip of each beverage should be allowed is unique to her, but again it derives from personal experience. Charlyne relates that during one match, both she and her doubles partner drank two large gulps of the drinks during their break and afterward would consistently feel cramps and never play to the best of their abilities.
It is interesting that Charlynes personal superstitions are not simply superstitions passed down from family members or picked up from friends, but were formed of her own accord. Personal experiences and bouts of bad luck led to her creation of these rules, proving that the formulation of superstitions and folk beliefs can be entirely dependent on the individual and his or her own identity, without the influence of society and already widely-held beliefs.