A Qualitative Study of the Effect of Pre-Race and Pre-Game Rituals on Performance
Advisor: Zach Wekilsky
Internship Location: Small Brooklyn Psychology
Onsite Mentor: Dr. Mandi White-Ajmani
Have you ever noticed how some Olympic runners kiss their necklaces or jump before they get into their blocks? Or how LeBron James throws chalk into the air before the start of a game? These things that might go unnoticed to the audience are called pre-game or pre-race rituals. These rituals are things that athletes do to get into their zone or to be “locked in” before they compete. This project will attempt to measure if pre-game and pre-race rituals have a real effect on an athlete’s performance, and through this qualitative study, will attempt to find the most effective pre-game/pre-race ritual. Conducting this study will include conducting surveys and holding in-person and online interviews with currently active and retired athletes from various sports. The data that comes from these interviews and surveys will be gathered, and the interview clips will be used in an informational video, which will convey the results of the study. This project aims to help many new athletes build their own rituals and could also benefit many sports teams. Understanding how to get out of your head and gain a sense of calmness and clarity before you compete is very important for athletes. Conducting this study and sharing its results will help many athletes clear their heads, focus, and improve performance in their sports.
Project Blog
Week 0: Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Zahra Scott, and I have been a student at BASIS Independent Brooklyn since 9th grade. For my senior project, I will be looking into the effects that pre-game/race rituals have on an athlete’s performance. Additionally, throughout my research, I intend to see if there are certain pre-game/race rituals that are more effective than others. I was drawn to this topic because of my involvement in athletics. I have been running track with Prospect Park Youth Running Club since I was in the fourth grade. I have also been the captain of the BASIS Independent Brooklyn Varsity Track Team since 11th grade. While I’ve been very involved in the athletic side of this sport and gained some pre-race rituals myself, I began to wonder if there was a psychological aspect as to why I did these rituals. Throughout this project, I will be conducting interviews, creating and interpreting surveys, and reading scholarly sources on my topic to better understand the effect of pre-game/race rituals on an athlete’s success. I will be working with Dr. Mandi White Ajamni as my On-Site advisor with her company, Small Brooklyn Psychology. At the end of my research, I will create an informational YouTube video in which I will share the results of my study. By making this video, my study will be able to reach newer athletes and coaches looking for the most effective pre-game/race rituals. For more information on my Senior Project, you can view the details here in my proposal. I am looking forward to my research, and stay tuned for more updates!
Week 1: Surveys and Sit Downs
Hey everyone! This week, I officially started working on my senior project. I started this week by meeting with my on-stie advisor, Dr. Mandi White-Ajmani, the owner of Small Brooklyn Psychology. She gave me a tour of the practice and explained the many services they provide, like neuropsychological analysis and therapy sessions. I was also able to sit in on a group interview they held for a neuropsychologist position. Observing this interview allowed me to see how doctors break down a case, how they diagnose it, and why they believe it is the correct diagnosis. I also looked at webinars from their website that talked about mental health, the different kinds of neuropsychological evaluations, and what evidence-based therapy is. These webinars were very informative and helped me better understand the importance of their work.
In addition to learning about the practice, the services they provide, and the work they conduct, I started working on my senior project. I began drafting my pre- and post-race surveys for the runners I will be interviewing at my CPSAL track meets. I also began to read one of my course texts: Rituals Decrease the Neural Response to Performance Failure by Nicholas M. Hobson. Also, my faculty advisor, Mr. Wekilsky, was able to connect me with a sports psychologist and more non-active/ retired athletes who would be willing to participate in my study!
Later in the week, I helped Dr. Sam with his weekly Communication Skills Group session. These sessions are group therapy sessions where we try to work on social skills through the use of comic books and graphic novels! Before this session, I had a brief meeting with Sam about having me potentially lead one of the sessions and have me write down what methods/ exercises we did, along with doing research on some other exercises out there and how they worked. I would be creating a group therapy manual of some sort that he could use and potentially have others use as well.
In the coming week, I hope to finalize my survey questions for the track athletes, and I hope to finish creating the surveys for the non-active/retired athletes. I will also reach out to Dr. Nick, the sports psychologist, and hopefully be able to talk to him about the science behind rituals!
Week 2: Manuals and Surveys
Hey everyone! This week was very informative for me. I started my week sitting in on another interview they held for a neuropsych position at the practice. While the interviewee was discussing the same case, I saw how he gave a similar yet different diagnosis, showing me how the same case can be interpreted so differently. I also gained more insight into how the interview process works in the workforce. I learned that many things go into having a “good interview”. It’s not only the content on your resume, but how you present yourself and how prepared you really are.
Besides observing the interview process, I started working on the Communication Skills Group Therapy Manual that Dr. Sam had me begin last week. Working on this allowed me to use skills that I had previously learned from my high school classes that I didn’t think I would need in a scientific setting, like writing a basic literature review and being able to properly research a topic. By working on this manual, I am able to see Dr. Sam’s reasons for the activities that we do in group sessions. I would have never guessed that simple activities like making an emotion out of clay or drawing your favorite superhero would be an effective way to get into deeper topics, but they are!
This week, I was also able to finalize my survey questions for both the track athletes and the former athletes. I also re-read and took notes on the previous course text I read ( Rituals Decrease the Neural Response to Performance Failure by Nicholas M. Hobson), and in addition to that, read another text, Rituals in Sports by Katerina Bartosova. Finally, I reached out to sports psychologist, Dr. Nick, trying to find a time when we can talk about the psychology behind sports rituals.
Week 3: Starting to Progress
Hello everyone! This week was another productive week for me! I started the week sitting in on another interview at my on-site placement. These interviews have really shown me how the little things, like what you are wearing, your presentation, and even the maintenance of your technology, are so important when interviewing.
This week, I started to gather data from the inactive athletes and set a meeting time with one of them. In addition, I was able to set up a meeting time with Dr. Nick. I am looking forward to these meetings, since they will be very informative and play an essential part in my project!
At my on-site placement, my advisor, Mandi, wanted me to set up interviews with each of the neuropsychs and therapists at the practice. I began to have these talks/meetings with some of the people at the practice, and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. Talking with them showed me that there are many different ways to be successful and not everyone needs to take the same path. In addition to these meetings, I also attended another Small Brooklyn Psychology Webinar on ADHD in Girls, hosted by one of the therapists, Dr. Megan Moxey.
As usual, I continued to work on the Communication and Social Skills manual, and I helped out with this week’s group therapy session.
I also started to read one of my course texts: Habits, Rituals, and the Evaluative Brain by Ann M. Graybiel. While I haven’t finished this reading, it is very informative. It talks about how parts of the brain, like the amygdala and the basal ganglia, have a role to play in repetitive behaviors and habit forming.
Next week, I will have my first meeting with one of the inactive athletes and have more meetings with the neuropsychs and therapists at Small Brooklyn. I will also continue to read Habits, Rituals, and the Evaluative Brain.
Week 4: Interviewing
Hey everyone! This week, I feel like I made more progress in my senior project! I had my first meeting with one of the non-active athletes Mr. Wekilsky connected me with, Jack Panagos. A couple of days before our meeting, I came up with a list of questions to ask the non-track interviewees to add to the structure of the interviews. Our meeting was very informative, and I was able to get a clearer understanding of his answers from the survey. By conducting this interview, I can start to gather video clips for my final product, an informational YouTube video.
In addition to conducting my first interview, I finished reading Habits, Rituals, and the Evaluative Brain. This course text was very informative. It taught me about how the brain reacts to different stimuli and how it reacts to stimuli- response patterns compared to action-outcome patterns.
At my on-site placement, I was not able to participate in our weekly group therapy sessions because the kids were off for spring break. But I was still able to add to the Communication and Social Skills manual. In addition to working on the manual, I continued to have interviews/ career talks with the staff at Small Brooklyn Psychology. These interviews have been very interesting and have shown me that there really is no clear path into a certain field of work.
Next week, I will have another interview with another non-track athlete. I will also be able to start giving my survey out to track athletes and conducting the interviews with them.
Week 5: Collecting Stories
Hello everyone! This week has been very productive and informative so far. I met with another non-track/ non-active athlete that Mr. Wekilsky connected me with. Before my last interview with Jack, I ran into a big problem. Since my final product is an informational video, I decided that I was going to have the interviews that I conduct be a part of the video. What I didn’t know was that you need a paid Zoom account to record, so because I didn’t have a paid Zoom account, I had to record on my phone. But with this meeting, I found a way to screen record the meetings, so the quality can be as good as possible!
I also had to follow up with some of the non-active/ non-track athletes I reached out to, since I emailed them during spring break. In addition to following up with non-active athletes, I followed up with Dr. Nick and was able to set up a meeting time. Since Dr. Nick is a sports psychologist, I am sure he will be a valuable resource to my project, and he would have also witnessed more individual/ team sports rituals.
This week, I have my first track meet in the CPSAL league, and I am very excited to interview other track athletes and have them complete my survey! During one of my check-in meetings with Mr. Weklisky, we discussed the value of printing out my surveys, so that I can ensure that the track athletes, not on our team, will complete the survey. I also included a QR code on the printed-out surveys, in case they decide they want to complete it on their phone. At this meet, I will be able to interview and record these athletes, which is another crucial part of my project.
At my on-site placement, we stopped holding interviews for the neuropsych position and started holding regular staff meetings. They were making plans for the summer and how their schedules would be affected by kids not being in school. This was eye-opening to see since I didn’t know that these were things that companies/ child-care services had to think about. I continue to have career path interviews/discussions with the staff. Since my meeting is on Wednesday, I will not be able to participate in the weekly group therapy session, but I will continue to work on the manual.
Next week, I will begin compiling the clips from my various interviews and start editing them. I will also begin to work on my senior project presentation.
Week 6: Shifting
Hey everyone! This week, the shift in my senior project has begun. I have started conducting more interviews with non-active track athletes and have been receiving more survey responses from them as well. These interviews have been very informative and have shed light on what it’s like playing a team sport. A lot of the rituals that the interviewees had came from things the team would do, like a team prayer or “jumping into the court”. With the interviews and the clips that I have gotten from them, I began to gather them into Canva and lined up the audio to match the video. I currently only have interview clips from the non-track people, but next week I should get some track athlete interviews.
At my on-site placement, it has stayed pretty much the same. This week’s Communication and Social Skills Group Session was a special session because it was the last session of the year. So the group got pizza, we did some reflections, and we did some of the kids' favorite activities. Working with the Communication and Social Skills Group has shown me how to work in therapy/psychology settings. It showed me that when working with children, I have to show a level of professionalism, even as a high school intern. In addition to working with the group, working on the journal has allowed me to see how non-traditional therapy activities that the kids do have a real impact on them, even if the parents or kids can’t see/ understand how.
I also continued to interview more people at Small Brooklyn Psychology. As usual, these interviews have shown me that there is no one path or even a linear path to get where you want to be. In addition to those interviews, I had my interview with Dr. Nick on Friday. This interview was very informative and has shaped and changed the trajectory of my project.
Next week, I will continue to edit the clips from the interviews with the non-active track people and conduct interviews with athletes from my next track meet.
Week 7
This week, I focused on getting my final product and presentation together. I began to plan the outline for my final product, the YouTube video, and I began to write the script as well. Working on my final product and script is not as challenging as I expected it to be. This was probably because my Spanish and Literature Capstone final projects had the same/similar format.
In addition to working on the script and presentation outline, I began to gather my data from the surveys of both the non-track athletes and the track athletes. I had envisioned that my final product and presentation would include both video clips from the interviews and the data from the surveys shown in graphs. So I logged my data into Google Sheets and created graphs for my surveys. I believe that these graphs will help my audience understand my project, while also keeping them engaged throughout my presentation.
During my internship, I continued to meet with the Small Brooklyn Staff. The series of meetings that I have been having with the staff is starting to come to a close. I have interviewed almost everyone, and everyone’s path and story still amazes me because they are all so different from one another.
In addition to meeting with the staff, I got to sit in on a talk that was held at Small Brooklyn Psychology with Thinking Caps, about executive functioning. This talk was about finding ways and methods to help students who are neurodiverse excel in school, specifically in homework. This talk was informative in many ways. I would like to open a psychiatry practice when I’m older, so this talk showed me how companies like “Thinking Caps” partner with practices like Small Brooklyn to help patients succeed in school and in life.
Next week, I hope to conduct interviews with track athletes, edit the non-track athletes’ interview clips, and finish my video script!
Week 8
Hello everyone! This week, I continue working on my final product, an informational YouTube video. After receiving feedback on my script and outline from my faculty advisor, Mr. Wekilsky, I began editing my video’s outline and script. I also had to read through my course texts again to find specific quotes that would be helpful in my video’s script and in my final presentation. This was a little tedious, since a lot of my course texts are fairly long, but nonetheless, I went through them all. Skimming through my course texts again was also helpful because I plan on giving general summaries about what each text was about in my final presentation as well, so in a way, I killed two birds with one stone!
In addition to editing my script and outline, I also continued to edit my video clips. This task proved to be more difficult than I originally thought. Since I tend to talk a lot during interviews, we usually steer away from the interview outline/ general set of questions, causing longer interviews. After this week, I just have two more interviews to edit down.
At my on-site placement, Small Brooklyn Psychology, I continued to have meetings with the staff and work on the communications and social skills journal. I am interested in seeing the final product of this journal, since it is supposed to be like a regular psychology manual.
Going back to my surveys and senior project, I was able to get the remaining post-race surveys from the track athletes. This means that I am now able to have fully completed data! In addition to gaining complete data, I also finished my updated senior project abstract.
Next week, I am hoping to record myself talking for my video, finish editing my video clips, and finish my script.
Week 9: Endings
Hey everyone! This week has had a lot of endings for me. One of the main things that ended for me this week was my time at my internship, Small Brooklyn Psychology. My time at Small Brooklyn was a very informative and fun experience. I am so grateful to have had an opportunity to work in and watch the workings of a psychology practice. One of my goals for my future career is to operate and own my own psychiatric practice, so to be able to see how one is actually run was very useful and interesting.
At Small Brooklyn, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Sam and his Communication and Social Skills Group. These group therapy sessions helped kids gain social skills and learn some useful tactics that will help them communicate to other around them through comic books and comic characters. From these sessions, I wrote a sample manual that Dr. Sam could use to run his future sessions.
Shifting to my project, I have completely finished my script for my final product, which is in the form of an informational video. I have finished editing my interview video clips and have started editing the clips of me speaking. I have also continued to work on my presentation. Filling my slides with more information and working in some video clips that will keep the audience engaged.
In the final weeks of this project, I will be finishing my presentation and my video. I will also be practicing my presentation.