it not a sport...its an extra curricular activity

Band... psh. It is not a sport. Stupid cunts and their PE waivers.

^yah it's definately a sport according to the definitions. Marching band is harder than it looks. I mean they have to learn all these breathing techniques and they have to learn forms and practice after school everyday...

yes-ish and no-ish...maybe?

...thank you, your decisiveness means a lot to me

marching band is like...orchestra and band...except they walk...so...no

what the hell? NO. someone is ignorant.

im joining marching band but i dont think its physical enough to be a sport

hell yeah. your active and you have practices and what not

but the key word there is joining (which you should definitely do yay!) so you dont actually know yet

im not being biased, i dont necessarily think it is a sport, i just like arguing

no, i dont consider it a sport.
band is cool though. i love my flute

There is a nice long thread about this at marchingbandplanet.com. I'd link directly to it, but my comp is being weird about connecting to MBP at the moment. It was eventually decided by nearly everyone that it was indeed a sport. It most definitely fits the definition.

Are in band?
Apparently not.

We are more in shape than many of the football players. During band camp (for example) we are out in the hot sun (or rain, in which case even the football players go inside) for almost 12 hours. We begin the day by doing a warm-up stretching routine. Then we run two or three miles (depending on whether the director is in a good mood or not). Then push-ups, sit-ups, arm circles (good lord, once he made us do 5,000 arm circles without a break. I thought my arms were going to fall off until they went numb), and jumping jacks, just to name a few of our daily exercises.
Then, we march for hours at a time, and depending on your instrument, it can be killer for your arms.

Also, if your instrument droops or you even twitch while at attention you get anything from 50 push-ups to 500 arm circles. It is like a military boot camp (in style).

^im eternally greatful that we dont have to run 2 or 3 miles. i think we had to run laps once and that was it


i go to MBP!!! its not working for me either

Heh, this is the first year we've had to do it. Last year the most he made us do was a mile and a half, because it was the new bd's first year. He just got out of college, and thinks that we should be as fit as a drum corp or a university marching band. XD

the people who were late had to run laps once as a fear mechanism, but it worked and we never had to do it again (i never had to do it at all). that was entirely the assiistant BDs doing as it was, actually. hes generally the nicer one, but hes been implementing scare tactics a lot lately, like the pop playing tests

err...that was dumb. Marching band. Not band. I got a hella workout doing marching band. I mean, I lost like, 20 pounds my first year. theres lot of running, and standing out in the blistering heat. And punishments for being just a minute late for roll call were 20 pushups for every minute!! And you try walking and running around that fast having to blow into something non stop AND having soncentrate on where u are going and what you are playing. Its hella hard and u work up one hell of a sweat doing it! Plus when you learn ur places to go, we always have to run back and forth since we have to memorize EXACTLY where we are going and how many steps we have to get there and do it all in time with the music we play. Plus, u have to hold up that thing for forever, since some of our practices were over 6 hours long. Imagine being a tuba player, and walking around with 50 pounds on ur sholders when its 105 degrees outside!! Believe me, its not what it looks like. takes just as much dedication and focus, if not more, than it takes to be on the football team. And we practice much longer!! Theres so many things you have to worry about. geez. Its more than just walking around in our little uniforms sounding good. I never knew until I joined. After half time all you wanna do it die, but u gotta keep playing thru the rest f the game. Builds up lung capacity too!! Ugh. I could go on forever. grr.

marching band = not a sport; if cheerleading is not considered one.

well.. you can consider it a sport since it's really exhausting...

Sounds like somebody is bitter.

Marching band and cheerleading cannot be compared.

Plus, I think cheerleading (if it it really competitive cheerleading like at my school, where you work out and do lots of really complicated routines) is a sport. But whatever.

good lord no. although, we did find a way to compare marching band to a step team. after pointing it out, we had to slap each other very hard for our ridiculous dorkiness

well for westfield i think it is....we were BOA champs last year...so everyone got there jackets and a ring...so yah its a sport

Oh gosh I have a funny marching band story.

During one practice, it was raining... hard. The football players probably couldn't take the rain and left. Usually, their practice ends around ours, and it was odd that they were able to leave. However, the marching band could not leave and we were supposed to hold our position.
>_>;; Try catching a rifle 8 feet in the air while its spinning and you have a high chance of breaking your finger in the rain. It was veeerrry scary inded.

Also, to the people who don't think of it as a sport. We condition just like any other sport. We compete like other sports. (Cept the cheerleaders because the cheerleaders at my school cannot do anything. [no disrespect whatsoever]) Also, we have practices that take up to 12 hours at most. And our Saturdays are nearly all taken away. (but it was worth it in the end)

But hey, its my opinion.

holy hell wow


yeah, we had 8 at hours of at once of a saturday. only one decently long break (not counting grab and gos for drinks)

Marching band is not a sport. Marching band is fascism. I hear a whistle and I'm pleasantly reminded of football or basketball, I hear a loud metronome and I'm ready to run and hide.

...that doesnt make sense

ummmm i dont know what to think about marching band, i guess it could be a sport?

ummm i dunno if its a sport or not, but this one dude at my school tore his ACL in marching band and everyone kinda got a kick out of it lol......o and this one girl tapes her ankles for marching band, i guess shes hardcore.

definitely not a sport. More of a club or activity.

I think it should be considered a sport. Its really hard our marching band spends weeks out of our summer for pratice. But i dont march i play bassoon. they should march double reeds

Haha i march with a braitone saxaphone nnd it isnt a sport... i ttake alot of endurance when u start marching tought sets with that heavy instrument... but... not a sport... idk what is the actual defintion of sport... there is the answer u r looking for....

Why? Have you ever been in marching band? Have you ever been out practicing at six a.m., gotten half an hour for lunch, then practiced until seven p.m.? Out in the Florida sun all day, with occasional two minute water breaks so that we don't pass out from physical exertion.

...what is an ACL?


it could not be much further from a "club"

A)Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
1)A particular form of this activity.
2)An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

There you have your definition.

^well, it defintitely qualifies from those definitions

NOOOOOO!!!!! Marching band is definitly not a sport. I see it as an 'art.' The main part of it is how good you sound, not the physical part. I don't see band people changing into excercise clothes for practice. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's easy, but think it should stick with the music department, not athletics.

i dont want it to be a sport, i just enjoy arguing, but we definitely have to be wearing athletic clothes for practice

Sure why not.
I know for a fact that the WFR marching band does more work than the football team
So yeah I suppose
I mean w/e it could be considered that.

yes =P

I enjoy argueing(sp?) too.

Also, we have to wear exericse clothes otherwise we would be exhausted from being overheated.

i say no. even though i do band, i don't feel that playing an instrument is a sport.

I was in marching band in highschool...and i agree with winterzflamez88, it is more of an art......cuz i'm also in ballet (which is definitely more physically demanding than marching band), but ballet is still considered an art. You are not training to be physical....you are training to display music in motion, that doesn't make it easier because it is not a sport, just different in terms of purpose.

you dont "compete" in ballet though. compete is in quotes for a reason, so dont start on how people compete, or whatever, because i dont know much about dance anymore

I think.... you are talking about colorguard, its about the whole marching band altogether.

The sole purpose of a marching band is not physical activity. It's to show off your twirly things and play instruments. So I think it's not a sport.

it's to "show off our twirly things and musical instruments?"

OHDEARGOD

Actually there are:

Your division is how many people you have, if you lack people then you can't do the show entirely.

#On uniforms, not a requirement

Parking lot, it has to be marked specifically, you can only practice to the UIL limits and regulations.

You can't have certain instruments,

You can't use certain equipment,

You can't be allowed to march on a certain material (certain astroturf/grass)

The UIL has a CRAP LOAD of rules and regulations. Not to mention the schools that are going into BOA (Bands of America) who actually judge you on UNIFORM as well as skill and form. They have like TRIPLE the rules UIL has.




WARNING: THIS IS A LITTLE HARSH FOR ME



Well, if you want to talk skill, how about learning an instrument. And being so good at it that your playing near expert music in an act of second nature. Because it makes it hard for you to think about music and march to a spot that is NOT MARKED in a field to ther nearest millimeter and belive me YOU HAVE TO DO BOTH.

After you get second nature down, lets see you be able to feel how big your steps are, walking with your toes up, hurt your shins? TOO BAD, you have to do it. Walk backwards on the front of your foot without making yourself move up and down, hurt your calves? TOO BAD.

Once you can feel your step sizes to the nearest millimeter from where your suppose to be, lets see you do it backwards, sideways, fowards, randomly, quickly. Oh and one more thing IN TIME. Can't hear beats? Run a lap, do pushups, and listen to the music until you have it down.

Aww, didn't practice over the summer? Well, you better suck up your time and practice or it will be hell for you.

I would LOVE to see someone hold a 5-10lb instument for seven minutes striaght and move in a powerwalk only taking short breaths ever 10-20 seconds for 7-10 minutes straight.

Then (if you can handle that) I would like to see you stand in the sun for 4hours without sitting down.

Then (If that hadn't taken you out yet) I would like you to spend 4 hours outside in the sun early in the morning doing sets, jazz running, doing visuals (while holding an instrument) and doing the above from 2



I've seen cross country people who can't handle marching,
I've seen football players who can't handle marching,
I've seen blood,
I've heard death (Just a heart attack in the area),
I've seen bruises,
I've felt the sore sholders,
I've felt the sunburns,
I've felt the sun beat down on me,
I've felt a dry mouth that lasted hours,
I've fallen on weak legs,
and...


I've enjoyed every minute of it...

So, yes I belive it qualifies as a sport.


"WE'LL MARCH IN THE RAIN THE SLEET AND THE SNOW....just not the lightning."


Edit: And if you've been in marching band and think this sounds more intense than it is, then come on over to Texas. We have the best music program in the states, music is nearly more important than football here. And they'll be damned if we don't compete like it ^_^'

Double edit: ANd I don't know what it's like for everyone else, but we DO have to change into athletic cloths.

Triple edit: (Sorry guys I just had to say this)



We in Texas did a parade in Disney land in Flordia, and holy crap. (I'm not saying it's worse in Flordia, we had a slight disadvantage)
See, we did our warm ups (takes about 20-30min) IN UNIFORM. We literally had thick cotton jackets and pants in the Flordia humidity. BUT, it was much easier to play cuz humidity just rocks for brass playing (Trumpet here)

Joshua[QUOTE]

Hello? We *DO* work out. You have to be in a pretty good physical condition. Especially your calves. Marching at 160-180 beats per minute (sometimes even faster) is not easy. Especially when you have to also play music in heavy cotton uniforms while knowing exactly where to go to get to your spot, only to move on to another one. Yea, we do work out. The marching band at my high school works harder than all the other sports. Don't tell us we don't work out or work hard. I'd like to see you get out there and do it.

B-B-B-B-B-BAM!

We have a winner.

We do what you "athletic" people don't do regularly.

Isometrics(sp)

In otherwords, we wear down for long periods of time. Sholders burn like a mother, and legs turn to jelly pretty fast.(I'm all leg strength, so this was new to me)

yes it is, trying to march correctly with good posture is very difficult. But i do agree that it is both an art and sport because it takes physical power and the finesse of an artist