Music and Rituals

The tip-off is in three hours. It's time to get ready for the game and do my pre-game ritual. Music plays a big role in my pre-game ritual. At first, long before a game, I want something relaxing, something I can listen to that takes away all the bad thoughts and lets me breathe and focus on all the good and fun in life. Something that will let my positive thoughts flow and that will make me perform better. Because at the end of the day, it's a game and this is something I have worked for every day to play. I have and I'm still working a lot on being able to control my mind and thoughts. I think I speak for a lot of athletes, but also non-athletes when I say negative thoughts can really be hard to control and change the way you play or perform. But it can also boost your performance if you can control those thoughts and in some way, I believe music helps me with that. Some artists I listen to for this kind of relaxing music are Steve Lacy, Billie Eilish, and Lana Del Rey. Steve Lacy is an artist who makes such good music, and music that is easy to listen to. With his music, I can imagine myself in the game how I will have fun, and how the ball swishes through the net. One of my favorite songs, since he released his newest album, is "Static". Unfortunately, it has been trending as a TikTok trend and therefore has been quite overplayed, but I still listen to it a lot.

 

Static by Steve Lacy

Closer to game-time when I start warming up on the floor I need something more upbeat. Music that really gets me into focus and gets me hyped. It's definitely rap I listen to when I'm warming up. It's just the flow of the rap and the basketball bouncing that goes together well, and the lyrics are often about "making it" and that's what gets me into that zone. 

A song from my warmup playlist - Headlines by Drake

Okay, away from the court and back to Sweden where I'm from and where I spend all of my summers. One day of the summer that I always look forward to is Midsummer. Midsummer is a traditional Swedish holiday celebrated around the summer solstice, when the sun doesn't go down, typically involving family and friends gathering outdoors to enjoy food, drinks, dancing, and games. It's something all Swedes celebrate and it's almost like Thanksgiving here in the US if I would compare it to how big of a tradition it is. A central part of the celebration is dancing around a decorated "midsommarstång" while singing traditional Swedish folk songs. The dancing might look very stupid and funny, so be prepared;) The music is really what sets the tone for Midsummer and while you eat you have a little sheet with "nubbesvisor" which is basically a fun little song before you take a nubbe (shot of liquor). So with all the dancing, eating, and drinking us Swedes tend to have lots of fun and sometimes even too much fun... I actually found a lovely video describing Midsummer and hopefully, someday you'll be lucky enough to get the chance to experience a Swedish Midsummer.