Is Drum Corps a sport?

[HornTeacher]

Sounds like a "Viagra" commercial.

I can just hear the disclaimer now..."If your Corps maintains an ovation for more than 4 hours, don't bother calling your doctor; just pick up your Championship Trophy from DCI at headquarters."

Edited April 6, 2014 by HornTeacher

[BRASSO]

Did drum corps in the 1960s or 70s put those same demands on the performers? No, not really.

No, in my opinion" Drum Corps BITD did not put the SAME demands on the performers " as that of today. The two have DIFFERENT demands, wholly different in the levels of demand. DCI Corps march approx 10 minutes of extremely high velocity drill that is undeniably very demanding. But they also have never stood at attention for 30 minutes on starting lines in wool uniforms undergoing inspections in stadiums BEFORE performance either.... or gotten eaten up by mosquitos standing at attention under the lights during these very lengthy inspections either. How many have pushed a broken down bus on tour ?... or had marchers share in driving the busses themselves on some occasions while on tour ?, or driven in cars 8 hours after getting out of work on Fri to practice and then march in a weekend competition, before then driving home, marchers bunched together in those cars, another 8 hours in these cars late Sunday nite( or early monday morning) in order to get up by 6am for a full days summer work with their employer monday morning ?.... and so many other " different demands " that could be mentioned here as well. Look, I am not denying todays marchers work hard, and their practices and on field performances are indeed intense and all that. But I've heard on here before that " the demands on todays participants in Drum Corps is " more demanding than BITD". I would simply reply that the " demands were different " and leave it at that.

Edited April 6, 2014 by BRASSO

[Tim K]

My first thought was yes, drum corps requires the skill of an athlete, but no it's not a sport, but couldn't the same be said about figure skating, synchronized swimming, and gymnastics? Also it could be argued that there is not a huge difference between color guard and rhythmic gymnastics. However, if I had to vote, I would choose art rather than sport, but like dance, it requires the ability of an athlete.

[fsubone]

But they also have never stood at attention for 30 minutes on starting lines in wool uniforms undergoing inspections in stadiums before performance.... or gotten eaten up by mosquitos standing at attention under the lights during these very lengthy inspections either. How many have pushed a broken down bus on tour ?... or had marchers share in driving the busses themselves on some occasions while on tour ?, or drive in cars 8 hours after getting out of work on Fri to practice and then march in a weekend competition, before then driving home, marchers bunched together in those cars, another 8 hours in these personally driven cars late Sunday nite( or early monday morning) in order to get up by 6am for a full days summer work with their employer monday morning ?

All of those things going away is probably a good thing, in terms of member safety and corps well-being. Not having kids pass out during shows because of dehydration, or injuring themselves pushing buses, or the fear of kids being car accidents driving to and from shows. The demand may be different, but I'm sure anyone involved with the liability of the members is very happy that those demands are now gone.

And yes, they still get eaten by mosquitoes at practices and shows. Swamp tour still exists, and Minnesota and Kansas are still around.

[BRASSO]

My first thought was yes, drum corps requires the skill of an athlete, but no it's not a sport, .

Fundamentally, there is no " sport " that utilizes musical instruments as its primary means of group competition Additionally, if DCI was " a sport " it could have applied for consideration by the Summer Olympic committees. But it has not.... and for the obvious reasons that its not " a sport ", and would never be considered as such. This does not mean however that its participants don't need skills like strong physical strength and endurance,foot speed & quickness,, dexterity, muscle groups flexibility, versatility, strong hand- eye coordination , etc and so forth that many athletes need to possess in order to be successful in their sport.

Edited April 6, 2014 by BRASSO

[fsubone]

Additionally, if DCI was " a sport " it could have applied for consideration by the Summer Olympic committees. But it has not.... and for the obvious reasons that its not " a sport ", and would never be considered as such.

Fun fact, ballooning was in the Olympics at one point. So maybe not everything in those is a sport either.

[Lincoln]

Would classifying Drum Corps as a sport somehow bring greater merit or respect to the activity?

[BRASSO]

All of those things going away is probably a good thing, in terms of member safety and corps well-being. Not having kids pass out during shows because of dehydration, or injuring themselves pushing buses, or the fear of kids being car accidents driving to and from shows. The demand may be different, but I'm sure anyone involved with the liability of the members is very happy that those demands are now gone.

And yes, they still get eaten by mosquitoes at practices and shows. Swamp tour still exists, and Minnesota and Kansas are still around.

Well, here you go again making judgement assessments on what was " good and better " about today, as compared to BITD.. One read of my comments above and its clear that in my pointing out the " differences " I never got into a judgement assessment ( as you just did here " about what was bad about BITD.", and " better about today " You should not have replied to me with an assessment evaluation comparison on what was" bad" and what was" good "in comparison to then and now, as my reply now narturally must reply in what was " good " and what was " bad ", and what should have been left behind, and perhaps what might have been considered for retention.

As such, what was " good " about BITD is that marchers could march.. even in the top corps, very inexpensively compared to today. Today, marchers willlingly pay thousands of dollars that could be utilized elsewhere in the family budgets in order to do 9 weeks of summer DCI. Its a MUCH costlier venture for marchers, and as a result, untold numbers today are financially unable or unwilling to make this large financial innvestment. Is this " good " or is this " bad " compared to BITD ? Well, if you can afford it, the answer is not a difficult one probably for that person... but if one struggles mightily to afford it, it might personally be a " bad thing " for that potential participant. DCA is chock full of marchers that would like to do DCI Drum Corps, but its costs are much too prohibitive to them now. BITD marchers were rarely disqualified from participation in Junior Corps as a result of their personal and/ or family finances. As a result, there was much greater diversity in Junior Corps ranks than today.. for certain. Now... is diversity in participation a " good thing " or a " bad thing " ? Well, in my assessment of things, diversity is a nobler thing than less diversity. I could go on and list a litany of more of things that were " better " BITD than today... as well as a list of things of today that are " better " for marchers than BITD. But that is not worth pursuing in my opinion as it draws us into a discussion on personal assessments and judgement calls, and that rarely ends well once we go down THAT path in the discussion, imo.

Edited April 6, 2014 by BRASSO

[HornTeacher]

Fundamentally, there is no " sport " that utilizes musical instruments as its primary means of group competition Additionally, if DCI was " a sport " it could have applied for consideration by the Summer Olympic committees. But it has not.... and for the obvious reasons that its not " a sport ", and would never be considered as such. This does not mean however that its participants don't need skills like strong physical strength and endurance,foot speed & quickness,, dexterity, muscle groups flexibility, versatility, strong hand- eye coordination , etc and so forth that many athletes need to possess in order to be successful in their sport.

Other than the issue of "foot speed and quickness," the qualities you describe here could also very well be ascribed to high-rise construction workers. And last I knew, nobody was classifying that as a sport, either.

[BRASSO]

Fun fact, ballooning was in the Olympics at one point. So maybe not everything in those is a sport either.

Fun fact, ballooning was in the Olympics at one point. So maybe not everything in those is a sport either.

Well, at least it did not have those big scary rifles, right ?