Across all sports, being able to get in the right mindset ahead of a big game is something that every team tries to master. A big way that this mindset is achieved is through listening to the right music. These pregame mixtapes allow the athletes to loosen up before they have to go out and perform.
The creation of the playlist that hypes a team up before a game could seem like it is a challenging task. In the case of the Oliver Ames Girl’s Basketball team however, it hasn’t been met with any hardships in a long while. Senior captain of the team Avery Gamble relayed the inner workings of how they crafted the playlists and how it impacts the team overall.
“We have actually had this mixtape for all the four years that I have been on varsity, and it has been that way for as long as I can remember. The girls in the class of 2016 made it and nothing has changed since! We all love the songs and how they seamlessly blend together. Many of the songs are nostalgic and older, but they get us just as ready for the game as new ones” Gamble explained.
Even across different sports, the pregame philosophies stay the same. With the pregame mixtapes seemingly deep rooted in team traditions, little change is ever made. Lindsey Solomon, a senior captain for the Oliver Ames Volleyball team, described what the playlist means to the team as a unit.
“For the volleyball mixtape we have been using the same one since 2017. We have been using the same mixtape and doing the same runout for so long that it has basically become a tradition. It is super fun and gets the team hype because we get into a routine so everyone is in game mode. People even become superstitious about our pre-game routine” Solomon elated. “People like Eminem, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, DJ Khaled, and many more make appearances on our playlist. Drake and Lil Uzi Vert are the two most frequent.”
While some playlists have been described as being main stays for a team over many years and seasons, that isn’t the case for all the teams here at Oliver Ames. When talking to senior captain of the boys basketball team Justin Grimaldi, he described the boys’ process of crafting their mixtape.
“We let the team decide what music they want. We pick upbeat music and also what people like to listen to and who knows the songs. We pick new music every year to get us ready during warmups” Grimaldi said.
