Who Has the Game Winning Pregame?
October 1, 2021
All athletes know just how important the hours leading up to a game is, but who at Norwalk High has the best pregame to lead themselves and their team to endless success?
What to eat? What to listen to? What to stretch? The ultimate pregame can make or break a game performance, and ultimately predict the outcome. At Norwalk High, we see it all from skittles before games, to putting a dollar in your sock to play with. This year, Girls Soccer has a new warm up in hopes of changing the dynamic. Varsity Sophomore, Ashley DiLauro said, “Our warm up is inspired by the UConn women’s soccer team, that helps us keep our mindsets determined. It involves being loud, lots of talking, random singing, and incorporating a lot of cheering and claps.” Let’s see if the new Girls Soccer warm up will lead them to success this season.
The Varsity Field Hockey team has many superstitions and traditions about pregame that have been ongoing for countless years now. Varsity Sophomore Ava Salvati described her pregame saying, “I warm up for a game by doing our whole pre game ritual, including listening to ‘Hall of Fame’ as we leave the school, doing our chant when we get to the rival, and then I stretch A LOT in the final minutes.” Many of the rituals date back to 29 years ago when Coach Seaburg, and his pregame Mr. Bubble shirt first hit the varsity coaching field.
Now, for the most important part of pregame, how do some of our football players get in the zone? When asked their favorite pregame snack, Varsity Senior Justin Oliver said, “I eat candy, skittles or airheads for energy.” Some athletes turn to carbs, but the Norwalk football players turn to sugar! As for music, Oliver said the bus rides to the rivals are silent. Every player gets in the zone listening to music with headphones in. “I like to listen to rap music to hype me up before a big game.”
We have a variety of pregame traditions at Norwalk High School. Whether it be a silent bus ride, belting out Taylor Swift, pasta parties, or clapping to the beat of the warm up playlist, all the teams at Norwalk High value these few intense hours leading up to a game, and use it to fuel them to a win.
