From: dugan@wpi.WPI.EDU (Robert Francis Dugan)
Newsgroups: alt.colorguard
Subject: Good ole days/complaints/etc
Date: 26 Jan 1993 00:35:03 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu

The good ole days..yeah, people are always saying that in guard and
drum corps.  But history has a funny way of changing in our memories.
I admit that ever since I saw Royal Guardsman in 1983 do Fiddler I've
never been the same.  That was the first Open guard I had ever
seen. The rifle line hit a quad (I believe) with such control and
precision, I can still remember how amazed I was.  But when I went
back and watched the 1983 tape, Some of the luster was missing.  Yeah,
I still loved Quasar, but more for sentimental reasons.
   There are more guards than ever around the country but less on the
East Coast (I think)  why is that?
   Well, rumors abound...Field of View is doing Barber of Seville..
decent rifle tosses I hear.  Sac is supposed to be good, they end with
all rifles?  Should be great!  Horizon has a very long section of
silence.  They hold it together really well, but I missed the
motivation for it.  Granted I only saw them once, but it came across
as "We are going to do silence because it's demanding, not because it
fits in our show".  Maybe later in the season I'll understand why they
do it.  Again, they do it pretty well for this early in the season.  
   I have a gripe I want to air.  A friend of mine finally realized
her dream and made it into a World Class guard. I'm not going to
mention names because things have a way of haunting you later...
 She was so thrilled! Her experience is limited, but she has the best
attitude.  You know the type, loves to spin, loves color guard, is a
nice person, would be happy just to perform 32 counts in the show.  My
friend was having problems picking things up as quickly as she should
have.  But she marched in the first two shows of the season in certain
sections that she could handle.  She had no problems with the dance
segments,so she was in all of those, and in a few flag parts.  Other
than that she hid behind the flat.  This was OK with her.  She still
got to perform a piece.  Well, after two shows, they cut her,
completely.  They said her body wasn't the problem but that she wasn't
picking the flag parts up fast enough, and that she didn't have the physical
strength to move the flag fast enough so they cut her.  That seems
really rude to me.  The girl has the best attitude and could handle
the dance parts, why not let her do those parts and practice with the
guard and give her the chance to get back in.  Why cut her completely
after she attended every rehearsal and paid her dues and made it
through two shows without really sticking out?  What is guard all about?
Is it for the kids or the score?  Would it really have hurt the
guard in any way to let her do the dance parts she could handle and
not the rest until she could?  I think the staff is just plain lazy.
They could have been creative and come up with a way to have this girl
perform in some capacity to benefit the guard and benefit her.  But
they took the easy way and cut her, the easy way which crushed her.
And now what do you think is going to happen?  She is so disillusioned
that we are losing another good kid with a good attitude. Now she doesn't
really want to march again, and next year is her age out. I wish that
all instructors would keep a firm grip on what's really important.
Because in 3 years who will really remember if your guard was in 15th
or 10th place.  But you do have the opportunity to give kids a chance
to furfill their dreams, and that will last them a life time. And if
your kids have a positive experience it will only help build your
program.  I wish intructors would remember this...

...Enough said...

  I'll be in Boston, and my guard will be too.  If you are there,
cheer for us.  My kids are young and inexperienced.  They need
everyone's support to make it through this season.		
Thanks!!!

Mary C. Krembs
Director Q.E.D 
Admiral '86-89
Onteora HS '83-85

DISCLAIMER:  The owner of this account just lets me borrow it to post.
Don't hold him responsible for my views!  You can respond to me
directly at mkrembs@kgnvmy.vnet.ibm.com.   My opinions are also not to
be connected with IBM in any way either...Can you imagine IBM having
an opinion on color guard?