Sporting superstitions come in myriad forms, and it's no surprise a beach volleyballer's can include the colour of bikini one wears in competitions.
Like countless elite athletes all over the world, Australian Olympic hopefuls Nikki Laird and Mariafe Artacho del Solar are governed by a set of rituals and habits that make their game feel just right.
There's the identical manner in which the duo position themselves in relation to one another, and the way they'll avoid resting on one side of a court if they sense "bad energy".
A la Rafael Nadal albeit not nearly as elaborate, Laird has a specific service routine - a spin of the ball followed by another minor shift to ensure the logo is facing in the desired direction.
She's off-kilter without a watch strapped to her left wrist.
And chipping a nail during a big match is most definitely a bad sign.
Amid all that, there's the pertinent and risky consideration of bikini shade.
"We'll always have conversations about what colour bikini we're going to wear, because we might be feeling like one's not so lucky at the moment," Laird told AAP.
Indeed, the pair donned lucky mango for last month's Asian championships final on Manly Beach and came up short against China's Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia.
"It's hard to keep up," Laird said.
"Because we're going to lose games, and we've lost in all of our bikinis now.
"We've got to remember which ones we felt good in at one stage."
The fortunate thing about the colour spectrum is that the possibilities are infinite.
Strawberry is the new hue for April's Asian tour - and it's so far so good.
Laird and Artacho blitzed the Pak Bara Open in Thailand without dropping a set, before also comfortably winning last weekend's Samila Open.
The Manly-raised world under-23 champions will now spend another week or so on the continent ironing out kinks in their game and sussing out their opposition.
In May they'll play world tour events to find their feet on the global stage, before returning to Australia to prepare for June's all-important Asian Olympic qualifiers.
And having gotten a taste of Copacabana at March's Rio Grand Slam, Laird and Artacho have their eyes firmly on the prize.
"It feels like we're definitely trending upwards and improving every game," Laird said.
"We've been leading into this pressure for four years now.
"In elite sport it's rare to have any moment in your career when you don't have some level of external and internal pressure on you.
"That's something we've learnt how to deal with."
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