Per the California Attorney General Vanguard is operating illegally as a non profit

[LabMaster]

And all this commentary has the Attorneys General how interested in illegal non profit management injury and rehearsal time? Not following the connection. 
Maybe a thread on all that would be good.

[Lance]

I'll try to get it back on topic by asking people to help with my ignorance. 

People who have experience with nonprofits/503 status or whatever, is this situation salvageable for SCV in the next 4-5 months or so?  Wouldn't they need to be able to make a decision about fielding a corps in 2024 by mid-late Sep?

[scheherazadesghost]

43 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

And all this commentary has the Attorneys General how interested in illegal non profit management injury and rehearsal time? Not following the connection. 

Because mismanagement on the organizational level has been known to filter down to member experience issues. I personally argue that they aren't separate at all, having gained plenty of experience with both.

43 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

Maybe a thread on all that would be good.

Good thinking.

39 minutes ago, Lance said:

People who have experience with nonprofits/503 status or whatever, is this situation salvageable for SCV in the next 4-5 months or so?  Wouldn't they need to be able to make a decision about fielding a corps in 2024 by mid-late Sep?

Point of clarification, as I've seen this wrong on reddit: they never lost 501c3 status federally or with the state. They lost a "good standing" status with the CA DOJ's charity registry for not filing required yearly paperwork, audits, and fees. The registry is a requiered transparency safeguard intended to enhance public trust. According to the DOJ, the status means they shouldn't be soliciting or operating. Apparently, my interpretation of what's on the DOJ website isn't the same as VMAPA's. Perhaps they've already started ironing it out with government entities... which is ideal before the status turns from delinquent to suspended.

Delinquencies happen, and in cases with other delinquent CA orgs, donors have been the first to bring it to the attention of the orgs. There is a subtle but crucial differentiation btw over arching np status and the CA DOJ status, about which nuance begs for additional clarification. I probably shouldn't say more since my DCP presence is being watched like a hawk.

If that's the only hiccup, and pending the DOJ's processing timeline, sure, all they have to do is provide the required audits, pay fees, and update their paperwork. Leadership and the alumni association are certainly trucking along at full speed for that 24 season, for sure. 

VMAPA will be providing a go/no go status to DCI long before September.

I strongly believe that their whistleblowing/safeguarding game needs a reset before they consider fielding another season but what do I know?

[fighterkit]

1 hour ago, jwillis35 said:

I agree. In many ways designers have pulled back on traditional run-n-gun drill due to more variety in dance, body movement, play acting, props, etc. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. But no doubt the activity is incredibly physical. The rehearsal schedules are often the issue and it comes down to how the corps use their time.

I don't have any real facts but have always heard that Blue Devils are very good about adjusting their rehearsals. Everything from when brass players need to rest the chops, to the visual side of things, to just doing appropriate stretches on some days and then allowing the body to recover and not crushing major rehearsal time. They will adjust their sleep / wake-up time as needed. 

I wonder if someone who marched BD recently could shed light on that? But yes, every corps has their routine. 

Cant speak for BD. But I can speak for Boston. Sleep/wake up time was always adjusted as needed and the staff was very good about making sure that everyone was allowed to rest their body and recover. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

5 hours ago, MGCpimpOtimp said:

The vast majority of injuries in the activity are from overuse because of the insane rehearsal schedules. It's not that the shows are too demanding, it's that (almost all) drum corps still insist on rehearsing 6 days + in a row for 12 hours a day...No other collegiate or professional level sport does that.
 

I believe NCAA limits the number of hours football teams can practice during spring, training camp, fall season & for bowl games.   Doesn’t include things like weight room, film/playbook work, informal QB tossing ball around w/ receivers and maybe other stuff.   But it does limit impacts where guys are most likely to get injured.  Perhaps Drum Corps needs something like this.  

[ZTWright]

15 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

I believe NCAA limits the number of hours football teams can practice during spring, training camp, fall season & for bowl games.   Doesn’t include things like weight room, film/playbook work, informal QB tossing ball around w/ receivers and maybe other stuff.   But it does limit impacts where guys are most likely to get injured.  Perhaps Drum Corps needs something like this.  

UIL already does this for Texas marching bands, limiting after school rehearsals to 8 hours per week beginning the Tuesday after Labor Day.

[Tenoris4Jazz]

4 minutes ago, ZTWright said:

UIL already does this for Texas marching bands, limiting after school rehearsals to 8 hours per week beginning the Tuesday after Labor Day.

This was our regular schedule when I was in high school 35 years ago.  M-W 3 to 5, Th 7 to 9

I live not far from a large high school that used to finish in the top 5 of BOA grand nationals every year.  No way they were keeping to an 8 hr/wk schedule... I could hear it.  They were marching on asphalt too.

[scheherazadesghost]

33 minutes ago, fighterkit said:

I can speak for Boston. Sleep/wake up time was always adjusted as needed and the staff was very good about making sure that everyone was allowed to rest their body and recover. 

Good for them. Glad to hear it, and wishing them an excellent season ahead. I intentionally don't speak to my opinion of other corps' safeguarding practices because it's been oh so fun doing so with just Vanguard. But I've found red flags or gaps at every corps I've reviewed so far. 🤷🏽‍♀️

But Boston's competitors may not be so fortunate regarding rest/recovery... and how fun is to beat a competitor who isn't working at their peak performance? Yawn from me, since I'm the furthest from being competitively-minded one could possibly be anyway. The power and beauty of the shows are enough for me, flaws very much included.

Buuut, drum corps shouldn't be given the luxury of using anecdotes anymore when its decades' long legacy is firmly planted in overtraining. Staff who exacerbated or turned a blind eye to clear signs over overtraining syndrome in me and others are still working in DCI/WGI right now.

So, respectfully... show me the data. 🤓 Members and their loved ones deserve it. Arts education nonprofits collect and share this kind of data all day every day.

[Richard Lesher]

2 hours ago, jwillis35 said:

I don't have any real facts but have always heard that Blue Devils are very good about adjusting their rehearsals. Everything from when brass players need to rest the chops, to the visual side of things, to just doing appropriate stretches on some days and then allowing the body to recover and not crushing major rehearsal time. They will adjust their sleep / wake-up time as needed. 

I wonder if someone who marched BD recently could shed light on that? But yes, every corps has their routine. 

I can tell you personally, as I've gone forward in life I'm still very competitive in my hobbies and continue to compete. I have found that I perform better when things line up for me personally, and that includes starting the day perfect, having no stresses from prepping the night before, and having my mind right. Then when I apply my self in practicing I stop once I cross the threshold of catching myself making little mistakes. I quit while I'm ahead. 

Don't run myself into the ground

Don't practice for the sake of practice without positive repetitions

Line up my ducks for the day of competition so it's not a stressful day (for example, when I raced motorcycles, all my machines and equipment were ready the weekend before the next race. I wasn't trying to rebuild a motor the night before). That way, I come home from work on Friday, hook up the trailer and head to the track worry free. 

I can imagine it's only 150X's more complex with a drum corps trying to balance the optimal fatigue and pursuit of excellence without crossing the line of degradation. 

[Slingerland]

2 hours ago, Lance said:

I'll try to get it back on topic by asking people to help with my ignorance. 

People who have experience with nonprofits/503 status or whatever, is this situation salvageable for SCV in the next 4-5 months or so?  Wouldn't they need to be able to make a decision about fielding a corps in 2024 by mid-late Sep?

Several years in non-profit management. Yes, it's salvageable, if they have outside accountants who can get the state their audits for the last several years and an attorney who can calm the waters until they have everything pulled into compliance.

But planning for next year means having a battle plan for managing their expenses proactively and making some adjustments down in their program budget so that they leave themselves margin for overruns. That's where having experienced management who's comfortable holding others to account will become crucial, and unless and until they hire and empower their management team as seriously as they do their design team, that will never happen.