Phan89 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I started marching corps when I was 15. Was I ready? No. Did I work as hard as the people who were up to 7 years older than me? Nope. Was I a completely different person after that first summer? You bet your ### I was. And now, sitting here 7 years later and probably 50 years wiser, I can confidently say that it was completely worth it! :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) I'm not sure how old old you are, but you may want to let your parents off the hook, unless the corps you wanted to join won DCI when you were 14. Then forgiveness might not be an option. I'd also let the father off the hook too. Fourteen is the perfect age for a local corps, but they are few and far between. As far as a corps that tours, fourteen is rather young to let the kid fly the coop. I think it's better to be a "nasty" dad and err on the side of caution than to allow a kid to join and realzie it was a mistake. My parents made me wait until I was 15. I never forgave them. You should have made up your mind before you let him audition. To take it away from him now is just plain nasty. Edited January 6, 2012 by Tim K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emc2 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I have been a devoted fan of the activity for 25 years and honestly my wife has never gotten into it. I took my son to a show last year and loved it. He went to an open house and essentially has a spot for a lower tier world class corps. My wife is VERY nervous about him spending all of this time away being the youngest kid in the corps at 14. What do you guys have to offer? Is she right to be very nervous and am I letting the fan in me get the best or not? I didn't know that I should say what corps it is or not. Yes. I started out when I was 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansasDC Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) I have been a devoted fan of the activity for 25 years and honestly my wife has never gotten into it. I took my son to a show last year and loved it. He went to an open house and essentially has a spot for a lower tier world class corps. My wife is VERY nervous about him spending all of this time away being the youngest kid in the corps at 14. What do you guys have to offer? Is she right to be very nervous and am I letting the fan in me get the best or not? I didn't know that I should say what corps it is or not. My son started with Revolution at 12 and Blue Stars at 13. He's still marching and will age out in 2013. He's learned many valuable lifetime lessons that have made him a leader in everything he does. I say a big "YES!" (BTW, I started when I was 5, but things were different then). Edited January 6, 2012 by kansasDC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterA Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The best thing you should do is take your wife to camp with you, let her help with something like cooking and meet some of the other parents involved in the activity. There's a good chance she might become a fan of the activity as well. And if she is like so many other parents, she will end up making her own friends with the corps as well. 30 plus years later, and my wife and I are still friends with parents of kids in the corps I worked with, and corps my wife and I volunteered with. But definitely talk with the corps director and staff, as they may feel he isn't ready and not make the next cut. But if nothing else, this gives him a lot more experience in future auditions. As for your son, I would say let him march if he makes a spot in the corps. He is obviously really wanting to do it if he switched instruments for the auditions. Jersey Surf is a corps that is probably more likely to take younger members. They have only been World Class a couple of years, and I am pretty sure they had some much younger members when they were Open Class. Your son may possibly be left out of a few conversations, but as long as he is a hard worker, and does his best, more than likely the other kids in the corps will accept him, more as the season progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Mothers are natuturally protective of their offspring. All mammals have that instinct, but he won't be 14 forever. Sooner or later in life you have to meet the elephant. I'll bet he does just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xbones7480 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Make sure the corps travels well. Meaning that they are well fed and have nice transportation and a good tour staff. Your wife could always volunteer on tour to be closer to your son also. Once she experiences tour life, she'll understand why people get hooked on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGuy1288 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I stood next to a 14 year old in the horn arc in 2008 all season. He wasn't the the youngest member of the corps, and actually the youngest members did much better than some of the 19 or 20 year olds. It's funny how that works out sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Is he ready to spend four weeks straight sleeping on gym floors, practicing all day, marching a show the same night, then bussing to the next gym floor? Is he ready to do his own laundry? If his answers are "yes" and "yes", he may very well be ready. If the corps membership was nearly all college kids, social isolation based on age would be a concern....but I believe Jersey Surf will have some HS kids in their ranks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibexpercussion Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 If all sounds good, and you feel good about the group after volunteering, then YES, let your son march! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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