Tag Archives: volleyball

Pinky’s Up

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April, 2012
Primary Language: English

Pinky’s Up

Type: Athletic Tradition

 

My informant said his school’s volleyball team had a tradition each time the team was about to start the winning point. As a team, they say “Pinky’s up!” Raising, their little fingers, they begin the point. Tyler explained that the players do this so the team “wins with Class.” My informant claims it is not connected with any school lore, and is unsure when or why it started , but that the volleyball team has done this as a tradition for years, and he thinks it is funny because it belittles the other team.

 

Associating the pinky with high-society, the players mock sportsmanship. This also suggests that they predict they will win the point, their confidence illustrating that they find the other team unthreatening. Undermining the seriousness of the game, the players illustrate their dominance over the other team.

Sports Ritual

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: South Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: April 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Volleyball Ritual

Ritual: Pretending to Strap on Rockets to our shoes

Collector’s Analysis: All the middle blockers would be the last to stretch and after stretching, Noah and his teammates would make a gesture as if we were “strapping on rockets” to our shoes so they would be able to jump higher during the match. They hoped that it would bring us good luck.

Again, pre-game rituals are seen as a token of good luck. Ironically, when Noah’s team was not doing as well, they adjusted their pre-game ritual to ensure it followed the “original” variation, if there even was one.