The Bruins get themselves pumped up prior to the game in this Nov. 21, 2009 file photo against Arizona State at the Rose Bowl. Like many other UCLA athletes, the football players rely on their pregame activity to get off to a quick start.
The music blares across the field on a cool Friday evening at Drake Stadium, and as the public address announcer calls out her name, year and hometown, Sydney Leroux darts out to midfield, the first to form a line.
Nine players later, Chante’ Sandiford, the last to be introduced, runs toward the rest of the starting lineup in similar fashion, meeting face-to-face first with Leroux.
And then, with all the gravity of an NCAA women’s soccer match stretched out before them, the two friends, roommates and teammates perform a humor-indulging gesture that’s anything but stern: the stanky leg.
“It kind of just started as an inside joke,” said Sandiford, a redshirt junior goalkeeper.
It’s a nod to the hip-hop song of the same name; both players extend their right legs, and for a fleeting moment, engage in a quivering leg shake before Sandiford proceeds to give the rest of her teammates high fives and stand in her position at the end of the line.
The stanky leg is just one of numerous rituals UCLA athletes from various sports conduct before the start of every game. Indeed, for something that seemingly has such minimal influence on the outcome, these gestures are routinely and meticulously executed, as if reality would warp into the surreal without them.
“I don’t think we can go through a game knowing that we didn’t do it,” said Leroux, a junior forward. “We always have to do it; sometimes, if it’s a different kind of walk-up, we’ll find our own time and place. We still always find a way to get it done.”
The purpose of the rituals varies from team to team. For the players on the men’s soccer team, their pregame huddle does for them what an eight-ounce can of Red Bull does for a student cramming at the break of dawn.
“It definitely gets you pumped up, knowing everyone has got your back and that everyone is getting into it, even the guys that aren’t starting,” redshirt junior goalkeeper Brian Rowe said.
“Everyone’s giving high fives … so it definitely gets you going before the game, gets your adrenaline pumping and gets you focused and ready.”
Ask the UCLA football team, and the game begins the moment the players assemble at the entrance of the tunnel and jump up and down in unison, shouting and hollering up a thunderstorm that distinctly resonates between the walls.
And if the ritual goes awry, so, too, could UCLA’s chances at a victory.
“I feel like if you have a bad pregame ritual or routine, it starts you off slow,” junior wide receiver Taylor Embree said.
“It’s important that you get a fast, explosive start, and I feel like when the routines are clicking and going well, everything just flows that much better, and you don’t have to worry about your teammates not being ready.”
“It makes me feel reborn again, personally,” junior free safety Rahim Moore added. “You look at the faces of everybody, and they’re just in the best mood ever. I love it, and it’s one thing that I’ll never forget, for as long as I live.”
Undoubtedly, these chants and huddles that precede the sounding of the horn or whistle signaling the start of a game can in fact dictate which way the momentum sways.
But for Leroux and Sandiford, the stanky leg is simply a means to ease the tension. After all, in the second half of a heated match against USC or in the midst of the playoffs, where loser quite literally goes home, it’s not uncommon for rookies and veterans alike to tighten up and give in to the pressure.
“For us, it makes for a little less pressure,” Leroux said. “You have something funny that takes your mind off the game just for that one split second, and then you get to relax a little bit.
“That’s why we do it; to get us out of the serious mode and bring smiles to people’s faces.”
Certainly, the routine between goalkeeper and forward has worked season after season, dating back to Leroux’s freshman year.
And as the old adage goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
With reports by Chris Chen, Rei Estrada, Bianca Hock, Jennifer Kutsunai and Kattie Lam, Bruin senior staff.