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Atlanta CV Winter Update


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Given the youth pictured in this video, I am wondering.

Georgia and area does produce some great marching bands certainly.

But does the rise and success of CV have an inverse proportional effect on Spirit of Atlanta which lately seems to be struggling?

The experience and depth of CV faculty leads me to ponder as SOA is in transition, again.

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Given the youth pictured in this video, I am wondering.

Georgia and area does produce some great marching bands certainly.

But does the rise and success of CV have an inverse proportional effect on Spirit of Atlanta which lately seems to be struggling?

The experience and depth of CV faculty leads me to ponder as SOA is in transition, again.

I would think not. Keep in mind the DCI World class corps recruit at a nationwide level, CV does not. There's also a fair percentage of over-21s in CV as well from my observation of the corps over the past 3-4 years in contests.

There are also young people who can afford to march CV but not Spirit. Think more of CV as providing an opportunity for young people to participate in a great corps and have a great experience that they might not otherwise be able to have and afford rather than competing with Spirit for the same kids. Some of them might not make it through Spirit's auditions, either.

No, I'm not a shill for CV, though I do think very well of them. :satisfied: Just some food for thought.

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A very high number of our prospective members see CV as a pathway to DCI. It could be their experience level, the financial concerns, or the time constraints while still in school that have led them to us, finding that CV offers a better option for them at this point. By the same token, a very nice number of our 1 and 2 year vets are moving on to very high caliber drum corps in DCI, with the DCA experience helping them kick the door down. This season alone we've had members of last year's corps secure contracts with Cavaliers, Madison, Troopers, Bluecoats and SCV. Others in just the past two seasons have been in Phantom, BD, BK and a few Open Class corps. Our relationship with Spirit is very healthy and mutually respectful and beneficial. Add to the list a dozen or more who have been in both of our corps over the last few seasons. We are also starting to see more and more who leave for DCI, age-out and return home to CV. All in all it's a very good time for drum corps in the South.

As for Spirit, I'm not sure that "struggling" is the right word. They had a huge turnout for the Open House and solid talent everywhere. Yes, last season ended up as a disappointment, placement-wise, but we have nothing but good thoughts and things to say for our Atlanta brothers. Many, many in the CV family have ties to Spirit going back a long way. (Full disclosure: Myself included.) We even have a SoA charter member from '77 who is joining our ranks this season - the first time he's ever marched in DCA.

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The only thing I would add to Scott's post is that people like Scott and others on the board of directors as well as Dave Stollberg, the corps director have worked very hard to change the public perception of CV from the stereotypical "drunken cuss fest" as I have heard it described in the past to one of professionalism and class. Needless to say, their efforts are bearing fruit in the quality of recruits, both young and old, that are being attracted to what CV has to offer. We are even beginning to see potential members coming over from Europe and Asia to audition for the corps.

Like I said on the clip, it is a very very exciting time to be associated with Atlanta CV.

Dan

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Speaking as the father of a returning CV marcher (1st year marched was last year) I can speak to the quality of the organization, staff, and his overall experience. In my son's case he's graduating HS this year and had opportunity to audition for DCI corps if he wanted, but he chose to return to CV for a variety of personal reasons which were all valid/good (and dare I say "mature" as well - must get that from his mother...).

What's interesting to me is with Alliance getting back in the game last year, CV, SOA, and several DCI corps holding audition camps in the Atlanta area it's really neat to see the resurgence, if that's the right word, of the activity in this area of the country. We counted up last summer and, just looking at current students and grads in my son's HS, there were at least 7 of them marching corps at some level. This is from a program that fields, at most, 130 marchers. I think that's phenomenal representation.

If the trajectory for the local corps programs keeps going the way it appears to be they should all benefit from the talent that's around here.

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