PUBLISHED ON October 6, 2026
Ashleigh Stemke '29
All over the world, many sports fans and athletes perform tasks or rituals that they swear will help their team win. Logically, there should be no reason why these habits work, as they do not correlate with the actual game. However, these superstitions might benefit the games, depending on who is performing them.
It is a well-known fact that humans love control and can become anxious without it. Sports game fans are no exception to this fact by any means. These people often root for a team in games and cheer them on. However, a lot of fans, especially if they are extremely emotionally invested in the game or in the team, often feel tense because they do not have any influence on the game’s result. These feelings of anxiety make these fans more likely to partake in superstitious behaviors to seek reassurance. This is supported by the National Library of Medicine, as this organization has researched the reason behind fans feeling better when resorting to these tendencies, stating, “It is argued that superstitious behavior serves fans in two ways. First, making them feel their actions influence the match outcomes and helping their favorite team beyond simply cheering in the stands. Second, reducing the level of uncertainty and subsequent stress level characteristic of being a sports fan.” This shows that superstitions are often a coping mechanism that people believe benefits the team they root for.
Athletes are also highly inclined to perform superstitious rituals as well, but the results are quite different from fan rituals. An article from the UK College of Arts and Sciences written by Meg Mills and Lindsey Peirce says the reasoning for this: “In the competitive world of sports, where every move matters, athletes often turn to rituals and superstitions to find comfort and boost confidence.” This tested fact shows that, like fans, athletes feel that they need superstitions to relieve them of their stress as well, but the outcome is more likely to have an effect on their performance in these competitions than fan superstitions. This is because athletes are often more composed after completing their routines. In addition, these habits are proven to enhance athletes’ self-assurance and confidence levels. Both of these reasons have been confirmed to improve athletic performance during games and competitions. One of these articles is written by the Scandinavian Psychological Association and John Wiley and Sons, which directly states, “Elite athletes are clearly more superstitious than non-elite athletes. An interaction between athletic skill and task-difficulty emerges to be another strong predictor of superstition in sport. It is evident that a set of complex personal and situational factors interact in the manifestation of superstitious behavior in sport that is used for the regulation of emotions in a quest for optimal performance.”
In conclusion, superstitions may have varying effects and consequences on sports matches, as it all depends on the figure who is performing and believing in them. And since athletic performance is directly tied to the outcome of the competitions, athletes are more likely to impact the outcomes than fans watching from the sidelines.
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