Interesting post.
I am the parent of a third year corps member. He is out for the rest of the season due to injuries, compounded by philosophy of a rising World Class Drum Corp, that the more you practice, the better the corps will perform at competition. Lately, it seems that his corps has killer practices, & then less stellar performances. Basically, seems like they focus on practice, practice, practice & then when it is time for performance, the kids are exhausted from doing three blocks & have lost energy & focus for competition.I do know of corps that place higher, that do seem to practice smarter, & less. I don't know if the age & experience level is a consideration in a corps philosophy regarding doing one block really well vs. doing three blocks. I've also noticed some corps let the kids take advantage of a day in Orlando to do the Mickey thing, while others don't. Somehow, some of the corps that do the Mickey thing, are top notch corps & their members are able to refocus after a day at Disney. Again, don't know if the refocusing can be taught, is dependent on maturity or whatever.