![Ashley Sauceda (11) [second from the top] joins her friends for a picture before running at the Gateway Athletic Conference last season.](https://lhstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_9406-1200x800.jpg)
From wearing the same unwashed sock for an entire season to talking to inanimate objects for good luck, athletes will do almost anything to avoid the dreadful feeling of losing a game. The cause of all this is due to the unseen force that compels these athletes to perform some of these pregame rituals – superstitions.
All that training, natural talent, teamwork, logic, it all goes out the window. In the name of good luck, everything comes down to what bathroom stall you use before a game and how many times you double knot your shoelaces. Some people don’t believe in these pregame rituals, but not the students around Liberty.
A lot of fall sports are starting up with their first games, practices, and meets. For Ashley Sauceda (11), it’s cross country. During the season, Sauceda has a few superstitions and pregame rituals that she performs, one of them being a perfect makeup routine.
“I make sure I do my makeup because if you look good, you run good,” Sauceda says.
On top of that, Sauceda triple knots her shoelaces before she runs and wears her rosary as a bracelet so she can feel God with her during her races. When she forgets to wear it, she feels like she can’t run to her full potential.
“I think it was that race specifically that I didn’t run as good as I could have because I didn’t have it on and I was so nervous,” Sauceda said.
Outside of fall sports, however, Drew Pusatera (11), a baseball player, eats the exact same very precise lunch every game day.
“I eat two things of Oikos Triple Zero yogurt, the strawberry one, and then I eat six ounces of chicken breast with two-thirds cup of white rice,” Pusatera said.
Pusatera says when he started eating that exact meal, he was playing good so he’s going to keep eating it so it doesn’t mess with his skills during the game.
In the end, whether athletes believe in superstitions or not, athletic superstitions can become a big part of a student’s athletic journey throughout high school. Even if it’s putting the left sock on before the right, or simply talking to yourself in the mirror before a big event, athletic superstitions symbolize how the mental game of it all is just as crucial as the physical.
