marching band, is it a sport? Options

[*tweeak*]

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

[CRAZEDindian40]

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

[CRAZEDindian40]

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.

[learninghowtofal...]

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

[*inkeepingsecret...]

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

[the_pale_surfer]

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....

[Ballpointpencil]

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

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.

[*tweeak*]

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.

...what is an ACL?

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

it could not be much further from a "club"

[FoOd]

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....

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.

[*tweeak*]

^well, it defintitely qualifies from those definitions

[winterzflamez88]

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.

[*tweeak*]

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

[*StanleyThePanda*]

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.

[ItzOnlySydney]

yes =P

[FoOd]

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

I enjoy argueing(sp?) too.

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

[misoshiru]

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

[XoJennaoX]

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.

[*tweeak*]

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

[FoOd]

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.

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

[Paradox of Life]

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.

[*tweeak*]

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

OHDEARGOD

[CrazayChristian]

No. it's not a sport. it is physically demanding tho.

it's not a sport becuase there is not a unfied handbook. there aren't requirements that marching bands must have X number of people, have numbers on thier uniforms, and the marching band parking lot (that's where my school's marching band practices) must be made of say concrete and be X long and Y wide.

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

LOL



umm..................... NO.


haha... cause it's instrument. You guys don't even run around during marching bands. you guys march. I call it "MUSICIAL BAND" not sport

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)

QUOTE(learninghowtofall @ Mar 29 2005, 6:15 PM)
definitely not a sport. More of a club or activity.
*


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.

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]

[SillyCourtney]

I don't consider it a sport....to me, a sport is like tennis or softball or something where you're actually running and working out and stuff..in marching band you don't work out...so no it's not a sport.

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.

[CrazayChristian]

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)

[*RiC3xBoy*]

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