For baseball player Warner Lenahan, junior, there’s one piece of clothing he never forgets on game day.

“I always make sure to have some funky socks on when I play,” Lenahan said. “The other weekend when I played in Arizona, I played in cookie monster socks.”      

Lenahan, pitcher, has a tradition where he pitches every game with crazy socks. Lenahan plays for the Rawlings Tigers as well as MHS, but at different times during the year.

Unique socks have only become a tradition for him over the past few years, but Lenahan said wearing these socks has helped him to add more fun to his game. He has a collection of socks that he rotates through, consisting of cookie monster socks, taco socks, toilet paper socks and others. 

Though his team members all wear normal socks, Lenahan said he isn’t embarrassed by his socks but rather thinks they are funny. 

“These socks seem to help me play better,” Lenahan said. “The confidence is what really helps.”

Lenahan is not alone in having a good luck tradition. Histeammate, junior Sam Shackelford, has his own tradition. Before the season starts each year, he grows out his facial hair so he has a beard. 

“The team loves it, but the chicks hate it,” Shackelford said. 

After playing well with a beard one time, Shackelford said now he feels like if he doesn’t have it, his performance will lack. Despite the mixed reactions, Shackelford said his beard has become a huge part of his game and he needs it to play to his full potential. 

Peyton Cusick, junior, went to State last year for golf and kept her  tradition where she uses the same ball marker every time she plays.

“I got the ball marker from winning a tournament,” Cusick said. “I have to use that or I’m not going to play well.”

Cusick said she also listens to music all day before her tee time from the second she wakes up till the time she tee’s off. 

“Sometimes I’ll just listen to the same song over and over again, but I don’t have a certain song I play,” Cusick said. “It’s just any song I like at the time.”

Cusick said her music and marker have become a part of her golf routine and that her performance will suffer without completing them.

She is not alone in her reliance on music, as Maya Esparza, senior, also finds herself listening to music before every swim race. Instead of listening to a variety of songs, however, Esparza listens to the same song, “No Control” by One Direction, before each race. 

“I’ve listened to it since I was like 8,” Esparza said. “My friend showed me the song and I had a really good race.”