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Average Corps Age


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So i just looked up your post history, and whata surprise... 80% of your post are either negitive, and insulting.

This is a mere discussion about age, and the ability to perform.

Im not discrediting any 30 year old who marches. Yes there are many older people who do marathons and such, great.

you win.

And dont assume you know where I have been or my talent level. you dont.

And please dont insult my corps.

I have been noticing that too he's a troll :feednotroll:

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Stop the madness!

The pluses and minuses of old vs. new make the "worth" of that member just about equal.

Young Guy: Good/bad

Can probably move more/better play longer/better endurance

Flakey, young guy inexperienced

College kid no money

Lives at home - mom and dad pays for everything including corps dues

Just came out of Jr. corps has chip on shoulder

Just came out of Jr. Corps, has fresh and strong chops

Old Guy:

Probably can't run as much or have as good breath control

Mature, responsible, has played his horn for alot of years

Has a career, can pay his own way

Has three ex wives and 12 kids. Lots of alimony/child support

Marched drum corps alot of years - misses it appreciates his time in this corps

Marched drum corps alot of years.....ago. ;-)

I mean....really.....what about fat people? People with 20/100 vision? Smokers? Commitment-phobes? Albinoes who sunburn easily? Folks with Asthma? Crazy old guy w/ metal plate in his head from the war?

I mean, with as much park and blow as I've seen in the top 3 corps over the last few years, I'm not sure that age matters.

And really....only a poor carpenter blames his tools.

Edited by LisaLisaMoMeesa
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I mean....really.....what about fat people? People with 20/100 vision? Smokers? Commitment-phobes? Albinoes who sunburn easily? Folks with Asthma? Crazy old guy w/ metal plate in his head from the war?

34, skinny, 20/20 vision, smoker, fear of heights, sunburn easily (but not Albino)... and still going like the Energizer bunny. B)

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Okay, first off let me state that this is my first year with an all-age corps, so I'm not too experienced in the activity, however I have some observations of my own.

The three things that seem to make the biggest difference to me in our ability to perform at Dream is not really age, but actually individual work schedules/requirements, performance schedules and members' physical distance from the corps.

I'm sure the first and second ones affect pretty much all corps in some way or another, but in Dream this year we just seem to have quite a few people including staff that are "on call" for their jobs or happen to work swing or overnight shifts or get sent on unexpected trips or just can't get the day off and therefore really limit when they can rehearse. Plus I'd estimate at least a third of the corps members and almost all of the staff participate in teaching or performing in some sort of high school/college/community/WGI performance group through the spring season and because of this we essentially get a "late start" for the season.

Everybody does their best to make sure they are available for all scheduled rehearsals and performances, but I think the work thing is a more prominent obstacle than we're willing to admit.

Lastly is the location of the members in relation to the corps. This is the huge one in my eyes. Because we are so spread out throughout Southern California, it's really not possible to hold sectionals or mid-week rehearsals of any type for the corps. I know the majority of our battery members have managed to get in Friday night sectionals this year, because, thank goodness, they live close enough to pull it off, but this is the exception, not the rule. Whenever I hear other corps talk about their sectionals or weekday rehearsals, I'll be honest, I get a little jealous. It would be nice, but the membership of our corps is what it is, and what it is is people spread all over the place.

Do I truly think these three things affect performance ability? In the long run, I do. Now having said all of this, I freely admit this is the "nature of the business" and how all-age tends to work from what I can gather. It's accepted and it's just stuff we all work around. Hell, at Dream we're much more efficient in our rehearsals than I ever saw during my years in junior corps. My point to all of this is that these three things seem to affect us MUCH MORE than the age of our members.

Hypothetically, if you were to give Dream, or any all-age corps for that matter, a significantly younger corps, let's say average age around 24 or 25, and this corps had drill and guard work written for them that was much faster, much more dynamic, essentially much "younger" yet they still had to deal with the same three issues listed above I just can't see the result as a better performing, higher-scoring corps. IMO, that wouldn't happen.

However, if you left the average age of the corps in the "old-fogey" range and you took away just one of the above issues such as all the staff and members' spring teaching and performance commitments, I think that would provide an increase in performance ability and therefore a better performing, higher-scoring corps.

I'm not here to say age isn't a factor in the physical ability of a corps, because biologically it has to be, injuries or not. Playing quality and performance ability is a whole other issue though. What I'm saying is age doesn't appear to be nearly as huge of a factor compared to some of the other things the all-age corps seem to be dealing with right now.

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Is the term "underage members" really accurate? I have never seen any rule about the age requirements for a DCA corps. Yes we all (on the west coast anyway) refer DCI elligible people to DCI corps if they can, but really there is no limiting rule for a DCA corps other than a self imposed age limit.

Perhaps the the correct term is "younger aged members" rather than underage. Underage makes it sound illegal.

i don't know about to day but way back in the 40's, 50's 60's to mrch in the american legion and vfw you had to be at least 18 years old. you also had to have a certain percent of vets. if you look at the senior drum corps wesite you can see corps being dq'd for under age and vet precentage. not that any of this from the past matters.......just thought it was interesting

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The average age of our snareline is 15-16 years old. B)

the average age of our drumline (not including the only two adults on top) is about 16-17 years old.

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Keith - it looks like you're calling Trevor a troll. Did you mean curmudgeon?

Meant Curm

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