Individual Pregame Rituals and Their Interpretation by Athletes Themselves

This thesis examines ritualized behavior, further more widen on the issue of ritualized behavior in sport. After describing the theoretical framework of this problem, the research, which is a part of the thesis, focuses on the rituals more specifically. Attention is paid to ritual behavior that athletes practice in relation to their sport and especially to performance they bring. Research is concerned about behavior which is individual. The main aim of the research is to create a classification of ritualized behavior based on individual reasoning of this behavior by its participants and at the same time based on Max Webers theory of behavior. Other findings show what are the functions of this specific behavior of athletes or how the ritualized behavior varies across different groups like gender and if the sport is individual or collective. Research has showed up that classification of the ritualized behavior is dual because the reasonings of athletes are dual, too. In the first case athletes do rituals because 1) they saw someone to do that or someone told them to do it, or 2) they did it once and it proved to them so they started to do it every time. The second way of reasoning says that athletes behave this way to 1) win or do the best, or/and 2) optimalized their psychological state. The function of..