Every athlete has a go-to playlist that they listen to before they take the field, step on the court, or dive into the pool. In Pregame Playlist we bring Stanford student-athletes' playlists to you! Hear from senior goalkeper Maya Avital of women's water polo, who shares her pregame playlist in advance of her squad's NCAA title defense in Stockton this weekend.
GoStanford.com: We're loving the range of genres here! Tell us about your music taste in general, and how that may or may not differ from what's represented here.
Maya Avital: "I always struggle with this question and it's super cliche but I will confidently say that my normal music taste has a pretty wide range and I keep it pretty diverse. I would say though that my everyday listening leans toward some more chilled-out, easy-listening-type music which is not in the rotation for a pregame listening session. I had a pretty solid music listening education growing up. Starting with Paul McCartney being my first concert at 10, I grew up with my dad and brother showing me a lot of the classic oldies, my mom showing me the dance music and then from there I explored more artists and found a huge passion for music history. Music plays a prominent role in a lot of my close relationships. Sharing songs, artists, playlists, etc. is the norm."
GS: Walk us through your gameday mindset and how this playlist plays a role.
MA: "Throughout a pregame routine I have some different vibes that I switch through, which is kind of how the playlist is organized. When I'm first walking on deck I like to listen to some cool mysterious music to strut around with. Then when we start our dry land stretching routine I lean towards my upbeat disco/techno/rap/pop music, and my stretching usually includes a lot of semi-embarrassing dancing. Once I get to the locker room to change into my suit it's headphones off and time to connect with my team and the venue. In general, I want my music to keep me lighthearted and fun. I never like to let things get too serious because that's just not my personality and I definitely find more success when I'm able to be silly and dance around before games."
GS: What are your favorite songs and artist from this playlist?
MA: "My favorite artist on the playlist would have to be Kaytranada. I absolutely love his eclectic style and funky beats. He's a genius artist that makes the perfect upbeat, hype up music. My favorite song on the playlist is definitely "The Big Big Beat" by Azealia Banks. I heard this song first while watching Valentina Luz's Boiler room set in Sao Paulo and her mix made the entire club bounce. It has such an awesome beat and Azealia's lyrics/flow are unmatched - I think I've listened to it before pretty much every game this year."
GS: Ok, we ask everyone this: who's got control of the aux in the locker room?
MA: "My locker is one of the closer ones to the speaker so most times I end up playing music for everyone and I like to mix it up a lot, but you've also got Alissa Pascual there sharing her Brazilian techno music or Tina Hicks playing the 2010s classics. Unfortunately the locker room speaker has been broken for a lot of the past quarter so we mostly just get Maggie Hawkins singing (belting) Disney songs to us. The more important aux role is the one on the Avery speaker system during practice, JT is very particular about the kind of music he wants played during practice and during our game situations, his highest priority is that songs must be over 130 beats per minute. Tina usually creates the playlists and Bella or Kate are in charge of making sure the songs that are playing at the moment are over 130 beats per minute and LOUD."
GS: Does your team have a go-to song in the locker room during pregame?
MA: "If "I Just Wanna Rock" by Lil Uzi Vert plays in any setting, not just the locker room, it usually gets the whole team hyped. We go crazy in the locker room especially because a lot of our freshmen are very talented dancers (as displayed during the "Dancing with the Card" competition) and they get into it. On the other hand some of our juniors think they are as talented as the freshmen and try to play along with them which makes everything 10x more hilarious."
GS: Are there any unique stories behind any of these songs?
MA: "The Hebrew songs, specifically "Habibi Albi" by Static and "Ben El" which has been dubbed "the Tel Aviv song" by my teammates. On travel trips where we are in vans, I'm usually on aux in whatever van I'm in and will basically force the whole car to listen to my cheesy Hebrew/Israeli music and this is one of them that everyone in the car ended up liking and putting on their own playlists. Which is super funny cause it's just such a cheesy pop song but it also makes me super happy to share songs from my culture with them and have them enjoy it!"
Check out Maya's full playlist below.