Most athletes have a set routine to prepare for games.
God is the center of many pre-game rituals for CHS students.
“While in the locker room before my basketball games, I pray and ask the Lord to give me strength,” Allana Plummer, sophomore, said. “The reason I pray is because my mom always taught me to include God in everything I do. I feel like it’s a habit by now and it always helps. I would feel alone and not as strong as I could be if I had the Lord’s strength if I didn’t have time to pray before every game.”
“I pray, make TikToks, and I also troll before every game,” Cam Tucker, senior, said. “I do those things because God allows me to play the sport I love. I troll and make TikToks to remind myself to have fun. It’s kind of just a habit. I do it for open runs and workouts. If I couldn’t do it, I would just pray during warm-ups until tip-off.”
Others like to shout out their jitters.
“When I ran track, I would get hyped and yell at someone before each run,” Cole Estep, junior, said. “I kind of just picked this up from my teammates. I think it helped me to be less nervous. I would be pretty nervous if I wasn’t able to do it.”
Some turn to music to calm their nerves.
“Before cheer games, I listen to pop music and pray that we win,” Mariana Diez-Nunez, junior, said. “It calms me down, especially before we perform quarter and halftime cheers. I think it’s a habit by now, but it also puts me in a great mood and helps me get through the night. I think I would feel unprepared, as if something would go wrong if I didn’t have my music before a game.”
“Before my softball games, I listen to worship music,” Leah Oakes, junior, said. “I just started doing it to calm my nerves. I think it has helped me so far. If for some reason I couldn’t do it, I think I would be fine but I would feel unprepared.”
