PreGame Rituals

To all the people gifted enough to have the privelige of playing football, what are your pre game rituals and traditions? I personally eat as much cream of wheat i can stomach 4 hours before then drink about a gallon of water. When it comes close to gametime I kinda hyperventalate, hit some smelling salt and do a back flip under the goal post. I’ve heard of some really out there rituals by other players. Anyone wanna share theres?

i would usually try to get up early (6 or 6:30) and start getting hydrated and get a good meal in early because i couldn’t eat too close to game time and i never ate at the team breakfast because it was usually crap food. i would get in a big egg white omelette with turkey, cheese, and a couple of yolks and some oatmeal and skim milk. then as soon as meetings were over i would start warming up. i was a huge warm up freak. i would usually put my head phones on and go to the weight room and bike for fifteen or twenty minutes real lightly, and then do some bar exercises like bench, squat, hang clean to really get loose and then stretch like crazy for a while. i would usually try to get a gallon of water and a couple liters of gatorade in before the game. i was usually ready to piss my pants during most of the game but being hydrated well always made me play better.

I listen to “Welcome to the Jungle” as loud as possible and on repeat while I’m getting ready. I’ve done this for as long as I’ve played.

i played three years of varsity hoops. here was my routine: get left ankle taped, finish stretches, lace up, untie shoes, relace, take a piss, and wash my hands like i was scrubbing for surgery. no one’s hands were cleaner when we took the court. (mustve been something about respecting the game)

during my junior year, i always met our senior center at the sink. he threw up before every game without fail.

Pre-game for me sucks. We have to get to the stadium like 3 hours before game time. I do not get pumped, I do not get excited. I actually feel the exact opposite. I am very calm, very blah, and it is hard for me to get fired up. People might even confuse my demeanor with a lack of intensity or not giving a damn, which is further from the truth. Once I get on the field I feel great, but all the waiting around sucks.

I play rugby and lacrosse so its a different sport. But before a game I usually listen to bach or mahler or beethoven.
Getting fired up for me isn’t a problem so my coach recommended I listen to some light classical music to calm down.
I also walk around the pitch gently, trying to touch some of the grass seeing if the pitch is level or whatever. Then I go do a proper warmup with the rest of the team, doing drills etc.

When I used to play rugby, I would just do the normal drills an stuff and get warmed up. I do a lot of thinking to try and stop myself doing things, eg mistakes I make & thinkin about what to do with the ball once I’m running with it.

To b honesT I’m fired up inside, but it doesnt really show, I take it quite easy really, making shure I properly stretch out and stuff.

When the game starts (especially if we kick off) everything goes in slow motion for me for a few seconds and everything is really surreal, (yes im weird) lol (I play in the backs and so dont really have to chase the kick, just move up with the line to make the tackles as the ball comes back. When this happens, I focus on the immediate, eg them getting the ball, still moving slowly, and focusing on my first hit of the game, which has to be big. If they stay within the forwards, then our forwards tackle, ball goes to ground, and I wake up because they’re about the get the ball out (eg towards the backs) and you know now is hte time to play. once again, make sure you’re focused in terms of inflicting a big hit straight away. Kinda strange really lol… but worked for me.

Just got done Playing College ball. Start off the night before with a half pint of whiskey to go to sleep. wake up early and start drinking gatorade. Eat breakfast then go to the field house and sit there trying to finish my 2 gallon jug of gatorade with slipknot’s “Only One” on repeat.

About an hour before pregame I’d put on my pants and cleats and walk the field without a shirt on (no matter how cold it was). Then just sit around feeling Yolked until we go out.

I’d sleep all day until pre-game meal. On my way to the meal I had already made a mixed CD of diffrent songs that were just full of violence (ie. never scared- bone crusher; immortaly insane- Pantera). Through the meal I had my head phones on. An hour before the game I would drink a Monster Energy drink(until coach banned them from the locker room). Up until pre game I wolud be totaly quiet until we went out. Then I was a total maniac.

Haka :slight_smile:

Rugby fans should know what I am talking about.

Gek boy

[quote]geekboy wrote:
Haka :slight_smile:

Rugby fans should know what I am talking about.

Gek boy[/quote]

Especially the new All Black Haka done for the New Zealand vs South Africa test the other week

LastRep

bump, this shit is fascinating.

When I played football I was always quiet with my headphones on before the game, then before we left the lockerrom I’d put on my eye black then get a helmet butt from a teammate and go to war.

I’m also wondering who on this board is currently or was a college football player, what level and where you played, position, size and goals, in addition to your pregame rituals… and anything else you wanna throw in.

I played NAIA ball at a small school in OK. I played LT on the OL. I played at 298 but right now i’m weighing 266 and trying to just lose at much fat as I can. My Maxes when I was playing were Bench 510 Squat 625 Hang Clean 420. After my senior season I had knee surgery and now I’m trying to get back to where I was. Right now I’m benching 470 Squatting 550 and Hang Cleaning 330. Hope to hear from some people

I’ll give you a list:

  • Put my stuff in my locker.
  • Put on my head phones and listen to I’m True - Southern Boy on repeat.
  • Takes off my clothes and puts on my jock strap and gurdle on.
  • Put my athletic shorts on.
  • Go eat Pre-game meal.
  • Sit there and fix my pants and shoulder pads.
  • I then take a power nap.
  • Get up and go to the bathroom.
  • Put on my pants.
  • Have the trainer (which is my g/f) tape me up.
  • Have her oil me up and loosen up my lower back.
  • Put on my cleats.
  • Get spatted up (taped around the ankles on the outside of the shoe).
  • Put on my shoulder pads and put on my forearm pads and gloves.
  • Hit my head on the locker door a few times.

Then I don’t usually remember to much from then on because I just get in a trance and all I know is go on ball movement or Offensive movement and crush anything that is in line from me to the ball and anything behind it.

[quote]Hill Top Man wrote:

  • Put on my shoulder pads and put on my forearm pads and gloves.
    [/quote]

Forearm pads?! Are you in college or HS? If you’re in HS do you plan on trying to play at a higher level?

bench 340 squat 500
high school ball and not sure what division ill play for college

i dont get pumped up in the locker i actually avoid bc when u go to stretch out on the field you lose it all.

i ussually bring some food in saturday games bc i cant eat in the morning

i tape my cleats then my socks up then i tape my left hand middle finger bc i broke it last season and couldnt go to the doctors bc i had 5 games to go.then i roll my sleeves up to show off the arms lol. ingame though its my goal to even go for the ball first play but to smack the guy in front of him then tell him thats whats its going to be like all day long.

I’m not that religious, but I always used to say a couple Hail Marys before the game, and just hope that no one got injured…and that we won.

And it was never a bad thing to go out on field with “Thunderstruck” playing over and over in your head…no better football song around.

my junior year in high school … every thursday night after practice and thus before friday’s game, we would go to my friend’s house and smoke clove cigarettes. well, almost every thursday … one time we did not … and THAT one time … we LOST … 10-1 that year and did not even go to the playoffs ;( sad, amazingly dumb, but oh-so incredibly true

my senior year … no smoking of anything … we won state :wink:

Bastard

It’s been a few years, but I’ll share what my typical game day was.

Review our opponents game tapes for one last time and know who I was going up against man to man.

Show up in the locker room about an hour before anyone else (except one or two other guys) and meditate in front of my locker with heavy metal playing on the boombox (heavy metal is diverse and can relax me and pump me at the same time). Eat a Snickers and have a cup of coffee. Inspect gear and get dressed for the game. No talking to anyone, unless we are going over strategy. The mind must be completely on the game and nothing else.

Go to field. Win.

In my last two years, we played 26 games, were 25-1 (lost the first game of my final season), and in 22 of those games we beat our opponents by 45 points or more.

I think it was the Snickers bar.