dustyboo Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 So, This won't be a popular subject and I'm sure it will come accross more harsh in a post than I mean it to be but here goes. With the news about TBT not attending championshiops (for whatever reasons) it makes me wonder what the future of the DCA championship weekend will be in a few years. It sounds like the age of their corps is a problem for DCA. No matter what those kids will miss school if they plan on attending championships, no matter what the year or weather. I just wonder how DCA can expect us, the paying fans to keep forking out good money for tickets in advance when we really don't know how many corps will show up, even a week before the event. How many mini-corps did it look like were going to attend just a few weeks ago and now it is down to 7. Frankly I'm worried about buying tickets too far in advance becuase it might not be enough corps to justify the travel and expense, it might be worth it to just sit home and watch it online. Now, again, I fully support a corps decision and DCA and will keep supporting it as long as I can as I think it is a great weekend. Just a little rant and again it probably comes off more harsh than I want it to be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 um....perchance you need to read closer. there's this little thing flodding and I believe I saw on the news like 80,000 people in Florida don't have power. DCA corps have had HS kids in them for years that attended finals weekend with few issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNCGQ Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 um....perchance you need to read closer. there's this little thing flodding and I believe I saw on the news like 80,000 people in Florida don't have power. DCA corps have had HS kids in them for years that attended finals weekend with few issues. It's not just HS kids, its college kids as well. Those enrolled in schools where football is big (and/or the band is big, such as JMU, WCU, etc.) and for whom Labor Day Saturday happens to be the first football game, this is also an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustyboo Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 um....perchance you need to read closer. there's this little thing flodding and I believe I saw on the news like 80,000 people in Florida don't have power. DCA corps have had HS kids in them for years that attended finals weekend with few issues. Um...perchance you should read closer. I wasn't only talking about TBT. I was also talking about the 4-5 mini corps who pulled out in the last few weeks. What did the flooding have to do with them? As far as I know the corps from Orlando is still going to make it. It sounds like it is more of a school issue now rather than weather. Florida is a big state with most of the heavy damage not in the Tampa area. Sure, they may have some kids from other parts of the state but it is highly unlikely (especially if they are as young of a corps as they are) that many of the school age kids are very far from the Tampa area. I'm sure the storm did affect the corps, however I would bet that the storm also gave some of those parents an excuse to keep their kids from not going or missing school when they really weren't for the idea in the first place or even realized DCA would result in them missing school. And the fact that HS kids have marched DCA for years means nothing. Where I live school typically doesn't start until after Labor Day so it isn't an issue. You can't make a blanket statement and expect it to cover the entire activity. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler C. Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 It's not just HS kids, its college kids as well. Those enrolled in schools where football is big (and/or the band is big, such as JMU, WCU, etc.) and for whom Labor Day Saturday happens to be the first football game, this is also an issue. My sister, who marches with CV, plays piccolo in a marching band at an SEC school, and her director was MORE than encouraging of her participating in DCA, which will mean missing their first game. CV has other students from this school as well as other big-name college marching bands in the region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contra94 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) A lot of HS/College Band Directors are Pro-Drum Corps, if you give them notice about missing class, it shouldn't be a problem. That's what I did last year. Edit: Also for high school, you need to give your teachers and the school notice of the days you'd be missing. Edited August 29, 2012 by Contra94 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 It's not just HS kids, its college kids as well. Those enrolled in schools where football is big (and/or the band is big, such as JMU, WCU, etc.) and for whom Labor Day Saturday happens to be the first football game, this is also an issue. odd. I marched with many WCU kids, and taught a few...no issues for finals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Um...perchance you should read closer. I wasn't only talking about TBT. I was also talking about the 4-5 mini corps who pulled out in the last few weeks. What did the flooding have to do with them? As far as I know the corps from Orlando is still going to make it. It sounds like it is more of a school issue now rather than weather. Florida is a big state with most of the heavy damage not in the Tampa area. Sure, they may have some kids from other parts of the state but it is highly unlikely (especially if they are as young of a corps as they are) that many of the school age kids are very far from the Tampa area. I'm sure the storm did affect the corps, however I would bet that the storm also gave some of those parents an excuse to keep their kids from not going or missing school when they really weren't for the idea in the first place or even realized DCA would result in them missing school. And the fact that HS kids have marched DCA for years means nothing. Where I live school typically doesn't start until after Labor Day so it isn't an issue. You can't make a blanket statement and expect it to cover the entire activity. I'll be honest, I don't follow mini corps anymore. the drama wore me out. There is no perfect solution, but I will tell you this: you take away Monday, a holiday, which helps MANY corps out with travel/schedule issues, and go to a different weekend, and DCA has 10 corps showing up, not 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Ellis Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) I believe that the fundamental issues are geography and the scale of the DCA Championship - not weather or the age of the participants. Back in the day when DCA was started, the corps were (virtually) all concentrated in the Northeast and prelims and finals were both held on the same day - Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It was no problem for corps to travel on Friday night or Saturday, perform Sunday, and get home in time to go to work or school on Tuesday. Mini-corps did not exist. There was no Alumni Spectacular. The championship was a one-day event. As an example, in 1972 I marched with the Hamburg Kingsmen. We left Hamburg early on Saturday morning on two buses traveling to Jersey City NJ for DCA. After arriving we practiced that evening until 9 PM and then hit the sack at the Holiday Inn. Sunday was prelims and finals. We got on the buses after finals and were back in Buffalo for breakfast on Monday morning. The weekend was a little more than 48 hours door-to-door and one night in a hotel. Today, much is different. This year there are events scheduled beginning on Thursday evening. There is an I&E/Mini corps show on Friday, prelims on Saturday, and an Alumni show and Championships on Sunday. There are corps traveling from California and Florida and everywhere in between to attend the DCA Championship. The problems that Tampa Bay Thunder faced this year are a function of their geographic location and the demands of the Championship weekend schedule as it now exists. In my opinion, it is not realistic to think that we now have a weekend-only activity if it involves busing people from Minnesota and Florida to a place like Annapolis for a multi-day event. Edit: An issue that I did not mention in my original post is the fact that schools today start much sooner than they used to, i.e. around mid-August here in Florida as an example. Back in the day when DCA got its start, the school year typically did not start until after Labor Day. Edited August 30, 2012 by Roger Ellis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friceox Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 For TBT, the high school students missing the Friday of school before Championships isn't our issue, but this year was an anomaly because of the storm. School was cancelled for 2 days in most parts of the state (we draw members from the entire state, not just Tampa), so many of our members couldn't get out of school for ANOTHER day after the cancellations. We are very outright at the beginning of the season to our members about reaching out to their respected high school/college band directors about having to miss their first high school/college football game. Fortunately most band directors are pro-drum corps and allow the members to miss their game, however there's a handful that don't (sometimes it just happens to be a small band program that can't afford to miss kids). I don't foresee DCA changing anything anytime soon, however I would like to see the regional circuit "championships" become more of a bigger event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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