Watsonville High senior Itzel Martinez has been a terror on the field as of late, scoring each and every way possible to help the Wildcatz girls flag football team improve during the program’s inaugural season.
The standout quarterback tossed three touchdown passes in a 25-8 win over Harbor High on Wednesday night.
The reason for her recent success is simple: take long naps or watch Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” before each game.
“[It’s] usually on the van on the way to any games,” Martinez said. “If I’m tired, I take a nap and I have energy for the game. If not, I just watch one of my favorite movies.”
It’s not uncommon for athletes to have some type of ritual, routine or charm such as the playoff beard or maybe a lucky pair of socks—even those that haven’t been washed since Week 1 of football season.
“I do believe in that,” Martinez said. “I feel like when they have one of those things that they always do, sometimes if they don’t do it they have a bad game or it just feels wrong to them.”
Friday the 13th happens to land in October. There isn’t any hard evidence that day brings actual bad luck, but some people truly believe so just like crossing paths with a black cat or walking under a ladder.
There are even those who fear the number 13 and are referred to by the psychological term: triskaidekaphobia.
On top of trying to get in some extra rest, Martinez has a pair of necklaces that her sister and grandpa gifted her.
“If I don’t wear it I feel weird without it,” she said.
Whatever she’s doing, it must be working. Martinez had a pair of TDs—one rushing and one passing—in a 40-0 rout over host Alvarez High during a Super Saturday Jamboree event Oct. 7.
Watsonville girls flag football coach Zach Cook said assistant coach Henry Ramirez always has to get himself and one other person a pregame Starbucks drink or it’s bad luck.
“Now, it’s like a tradition for all of us to go get Starbucks before the games because it’s just better luck,” Cook said.
Cook, who also coaches the girls basketball squad, said he can’t wear the same attire combo in the same month.
“Especially if I lost in a tie, I put that tie away until the next year,” he said.
Baseball players are known to have some of the most bizarre rituals and superstitions within the clubhouse.
The ‘80s flick “Major League” depicted it the best when the character Eddie Harris took a bat to the head after stealing Jobu’s rum from a shrine set up by the character Pedro Cerrano.
“Is very bad to steal Jobu’s rum. Is very bad,” Cerrano warned Harris.
Other peculiar traditions include not talking to the pitcher if a no-hitter is on the line, or going through some type of pre-swing routine such as former Major League Baseball shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.
Watsonville athletic director Marcus Northcutt said Wildcatz baseball players won’t step on the lines when they run on the field.
Northcutt, the former boys hoops head coach, added that basketball players during practice had to make their final shot before heading back to the locker room. Otherwise they’d have to keep shooting.
As for lucky apparel, Northcutt said he used to wear the same shirt under his pads for every football game when he played at Santa Cruz High in the late ‘80s.
Cook said he wore a pair of red Chicago Bulls basketball shorts under his North Monterey County High uniform. He discarded the shorts five years ago.
Monte Vista Christian athletic director Matt Coleman said in an email that baseball manager Johnny Ramirez might know a few superstition stories.
Ramirez always drinks an 8 ounce can of Coke and needs to have three pieces of gum at all times—Mentos only. He also wears the same black cutoff sleeves under his jersey and a different hat for each game.
“If I don’t wear the cutoffs, it’s a bad day,” Ramirez said.
But for Coleman, who also coaches the girls lacrosse team, he must have a blue Powerade with him on the sideline along with a pack of Mentos Sugar Free Fresh Mint gum.
“I’m out of sorts if I don’t have those two things with me,” he said.
Ice hockey goalies are particularly superstitious including the legendary Patrick Roy who used to have full-on conversations with the goalpost, while Ed Belfour wouldn’t allow his teammates to touch any of his gear, especially if it was hours leading up to a game.
Aptos High currently uses an old set of chains and down markers for football games. Athletic Director Travis Fox said one marker currently has a wooden splint on it with medical tape.
“We have a budget for supplies like that if we need it, and have had several parents offer to buy a new one, but we are superstitious about this set,” Fox said.
Additionally, the Mariners girls’ soccer team meets in the locker room at the top of campus before each home game before marching down to the stadium. Prior to walking through the gates, the players touch a sign hanging in front of the stadium that displays the program’s all-time records.
“One time two years ago we updated the signs from wood to a metal material,” Fox said. “There was a game where no sign was there and the team had a panic attack.”
I used to wear two different socks in my early years to the gig for good luck. I figured that if that was the worst thing of the night everything else would be okay 😂