Tampa Bay Thunder moving back to DCI

[Nicholas Villane]

Florida is so up and down....

DCI to DCA to DCI

Active....Not Active

Money One Month...No Money

The Florida kids want to march with the top corps and that's why they recruit down here and have camps down here BUT...Florida won't support drum corps. This is the same story in NY.

I wish TBT the very best but realistically,will this work? Can they have a large Open Class corps next seasn? What were numbers like for them this year?

30 horn 12 guard 13 drumline 6 pit

[N.E. Brigand]

I wish TBT the very best, but, realistically: will this work? Can they have a large Open Class corps next season? What were numbers like for them this year?

63 -- 30 horn, 12 guard, 13 drumline, 6 pit, 2 DM

By comparison, these are the approximate numbers for DCI Open Class corps this year:

137 -- Blue Devils B: 66 brass, 25 battery (9/5/5/6), 16 pit, 27 guard, 3 DMs (2nd)

133 -- Vanguard Cadets: 50 brass, 22 battery (9/4/5/4), 13 pit, 46 guard, 2 DM (1st)

127 -- Gold: 44 brass, 23 battery (8/4/5/6), 14 pit, 33 guard (incl. acrobats), 2 DM (6th)

125 -- Music City: 62 brass, 17 battery (8/4/5/0), 11 pit, 32 guard, 3 DM (5th)

121 -- Genesis: 58 brass, 22 battery (8/5/5/4), 16 pit, 23 guard, 2 DM (3rd)

103 -- Spartans: 40 brass, 20 battery (7/4/5/4), 13 pit, 28 guard, 2 DM (4th)

85 -- 7th Regiment: 39 brass, 16 battery (8/3/5/0), 11 pit, 17 guard, 2 DM (7th)

78 -- Legends: 36 brass, 13 battery (6/3/4/0), 13 pit, 13 guard, 3 DM (8th)

75 -- Raiders: 30 brass, 14 battery (6/3/5/0), 12 pit, 18 guard, 1 DM (9th)

71 -- Impulse: 24 brass, 24 battery (9/5/5/5), 12 pit, 10 guard, 1 DM (n/a)

65 -- Colt Cadets: 25 brass, 18 battery (6/3/5/4), 10 pit, 12 guard, 2 DM (10th)

63 -- Thunder: 27 brass, 15 battery (7/3/5/0), 8 pit, 11 guard, 2 DM (n/a)

55 -- Taipei Yuehfu: 23 brass, 10 battery (4/2/4/0), 6 pit, 14 guard, 2 DM (11th)

54 -- Coastal Surge: 25 brass, 12 battery (5/3/4/0), 7 pit, 8 guard, 2 DM (n/a)

53 -- Blue Devils C: 15 brass, 17 battery (7/4/6/0), 8 pit, 11 guard, 2 DM (n/a)

52 -- Columbians: 26 brass, 15 battery (7/3/5/0), 8 pit, 12 guard, 1 DM (n/a)

47 -- City Sound: 17 brass, 16 battery (6/3/4/3), 9 pit, 4 guard, 1 DM (n/a)

41 -- Les Stentors: 15 brass, 12 battery (4/3/5/0), 5 pit, 8 guard, 1 DM (12th)

34 -- Racine Scouts: 15 brass, 8 battery (3/1/4/0), 5 pit, 4 guard, 2 DM (13th)

33 -- Blue Saints: 10 brass, 12 battery (4/2/4/2), 5 pit, 4 guard, 1 color pre, 1 DM (14th)

(Numbers in parentheses are Championship placements, if any.)

[Gary Matczak]

Some DCA corps (CV, Kilties, Govs, MBI, etc) appear in a DCA division of a DCI show on the weekends.

TBT may be in a unique position to do that as a limited tour 7-days per week for 2, 4 or the full 6 weeks leading up to Indy, before focusing on DCA (and not have to drop any members at all)..........

[Sayre Kulp]

I know time will tell and my 2 cents mean nothing, but if you take a look at the drum corps situation here in Florida, you'd realize that there are ZERO junior corps anywhere even remotely close to here and not one single show to speak of. Meanwhile, on the all-age side we had two field corps, a mini corps, and an alumni corps. There was also a very successful DCA show held this past season. To be honest, my money would be on growing the all-age activity here into a viable region. Realize that TBT and Sun Devils are only 100 miles apart and are both located on the west side of the state. Not for nothing, there is a lot of fertile ground here to support another corps or two. Miami, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando? If Thunder stayed and just one more all-age corps were to get started, there would be enough corps to have relatively local shows whenever they wanted IN FLORIDA!

I understand that there are some aspects of the DCA experience that make it difficult for Florida members, but DCI Open Class is probably the WORST place to operate a drum corps in terms of finances, support from the circuit, etc.

I don't get it, but then again, I don't have to. And I still wish them success.

[BennyBassDrum]

I know time will tell and my 2 cents mean nothing, but if you take a look at the drum corps situation here in Florida, you'd realize that there are ZERO junior corps anywhere even remotely close to here and not one single show to speak of. Meanwhile, on the all-age side we had two field corps, a mini corps, and an alumni corps. There was also a very successful DCA show held this past season. To be honest, my money would be on growing the all-age activity here into a viable region. Realize that TBT and Sun Devils are only 100 miles apart and are both located on the west side of the state. Not for nothing, there is a lot of fertile ground here to support another corps or two. Miami, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando? If Thunder stayed and just one more all-age corps were to get started, there would be enough corps to have relatively local shows whenever they wanted IN FLORIDA!

I understand that there are some aspects of the DCA experience that make it difficult for Florida members, but DCI Open Class is probably the WORST place to operate a drum corps in terms of finances, support from the circuit, etc.

I don't get it, but then again, I don't have to. And I still wish them success.

You're on the money my friend. We've watched how many DCI Corps in Florida fail? Florida is a state which is difficult to do Drum Corps period. Financial support is shaky, the kids are skeptical, travel costs prohibitive etc. The biggest problem is financial. Touring costs, equipment, staff etc. Finding sponsors is VERY difficult (believe me, I know). Something like this needs planning and preparation way ahead of time, as well as commitments from sponsors. Again, I wish them well & hope it works.

[KeithHall]

Another question for TBT.....if you take away the members who would be overage, what do yo have then? I liked seeing TBT and SD here in FL, made for a good healthy rivalry. TBT is really away from the DCI action too...yea the closest is probably Spirit and in Open Class they will have to travel to compete against those Open corps. I hope all works out for TBT and wish them the best BUT verry sorry to see them leave DCA.

[BrassClef]

My good friend from college, who never had the money or time to march DCI, who is now a elementary music teacher in Florida was really excited to march Thunder this past season. She enjoyed it so much she was excited to continue, until they came out with this news.

Hopefully they can be successful in DCI. Cautiously optimistic here.

Edited September 17, 2013 by BrassClef

[cixelsyd]

Another question for TBT.....if you take away the members who would be overage, what do yo have then?

And if you add the kids whose school commitments conflict with corps season continuing until Labor Day weekend, what do you have then?

Honestly, we have already seen TBT recruit successfully in both DCI (a dozen years ago) and DCA, so either could work.

[magicdirect]

The Tampa Bay Thunder had a great time during the past three seasons doing the DCA route and it has helped us in many ways becoming organized and financially stable during this period. The fact of the matter is 97% of our membership during the past two years are made up of those band students that could not afford to participate in a World Class group, didn't make a World Class group, are over 21 or simply didn't have the time to dedicate to a full touring schedule.

That being said, we also face the major issue of going until Labor Day weekend while school has already been in session for nearly three weeks!

Lets talk cost. The corps during the past three seasons had winter camps every month and a spring training period. They traveled in 2011 over 8,000 miles for three shows! In 2012 they traveled only 2,500 miles due to the hurricane and missing championships, one show. This past summer the corps again traveled over 6,000 mile for three contests including championships!

We feed our members, transport our members and outfit our members much like a DCI Open Class corps. The past three years with staff, travel, equipment and all other expenses we spent over 100k each year to compete in less then 4 shows each summer. This is NOT a DCA problem, this is simply geography.

DCI Open Class - Our members and others that want to become members are still those that cannot participate in the World arena but want to participate in DCI. The Open class model gives the Thunder that opportunity with going in the road for about 20 days start to finish competing in about 7 or 8 shows before finals. That's the same amount during a three season period and we are done by mid August with zero school conflict! Is the cost greater? Yes,but its not like competing in DCA was cheap on a per show basis...

We have maintained a low tuition for our members during the past three seasons and that will increase but still be significantly cheaper then world class and rightfully so. It is our desire to grow into the DCI thing over time and remain as a Open Class corps long term as the BOD has voted and passed that this would be the model and no other.

In the end, we wish our DCA Florida friends the very best of luck but if you look at the history it is very difficult to be a DCA corps in Florida that is Open Class competitive (over 65 members). The time, money and members just can't buy into going from June until September with three to four weeks between shows. This is not because good people haven't tried, its just never been able to sustain over time. Look at the history.

We have our hands full but have received great feedback thus far and will be announcing some changes within the next week or so including 2014 program and staff. Wish us luck and please continue to support all drum corps!!

JVN

[Florida Sun]

Where did all the kids go from Teal Sound ? They seemed fairly in good shape until the change in management that took them out on the road with no money to pay for the buses.They where at there frisit show of the season up in Fort Edward ,New York.Thier season got cancelled half way thur.and they headed home to Florida .Since then they had a name change to just TEAL but have heard nothing more about them?