Dayton Trip Day 2, and Victor beats Hilton

Yeah I know I’m like a month late. But I have some time on a plane while I’m on my way to yet another Chase site.

So the delay in this post is very indicative of my life recently. The Dayton trip came the week after the regatta trip. Following the Dayton trip was a week at home, a week in Phoenix, a few days in Long Island, and now Chicago. Combine that with Band Boosters duties, more kids’ events, and just being a husband and father and I find I am prioritizing this blog a bit lower.

However Emily has requested that I post an update.

The Dayton trip final was a great event. The kids kicked it up a notch and pulled out a victory. The score was ridiculously high for that time of year. Even though it was midnight, the kids were whooping it up outside the arena.

I learned my first year as a band Dad why I do it. Emily was working real hard learning how to march (apparently more complicated than lift foot, move forward, set foot down, repeat) and starting to feel overwhelmed as school was starting, band rehearsal got more intense, Directors yelled, and it generally wasn’t much fun. Then they went to the first competition. They did well, I think winning or something. I was sitting in the stands that night also learning my part (when to cheer, what to cheer, what not to yell so as no to embarrass the kid). Back at the school I picked up the kid. On the way home I asked her how it was. She said something like “Great! Fabulous! A blast!” The performance was the reward for the hard work. She didn’t get it at the time and probably doesn’t now, but that is a lesson hard to teach. I decided to get more involved.

By State Championships I was chaperoning trips. Now most people think sitting on a bus for a few hours with 40 teenagers is a nightmare. But these kids are great. The parents that drop their kids off and pick them up after they get home are missing it all. The coldest day of the season, November, in Syracuse warming up on the top of a windy and miserable hill, I found myself waiting in the dark outside a portable toilet for my turn. When the door opened one of the Victor color guard kids was in a panic. She dropped a glove. In the dark gross space we searched for the glove. Nothing. Only one option was left. When I looked down into the pooper hole I saw noting but darkness. Reaching in with my cell phone open…yes there it is. No other backup glove, no spare, yes, she needs it, can’t spin without it. So leaning in up to my shoulder with one arm, holding the cell phone with the other hand I grabbed the glove. Use your imagination and make it a bit worse.

Back at the bus we used 6 or 8 bottles of water, hand sanitizer, scrub brushes, anything we could find. But it didn’t help. The “blue” smell wasn’t coming out. The poor girl was crushed. Eventually we found a spare glove with someone. It was a bit large but she performed just fine.

As a chaperone I’m with the kids all night, even during awards. At the end of the night, the kids won the State Championship. They bounced around, hugged, cheered, and celebrated the victory. As they carried the celebration outside to the bus that color guard girl came up to me and thanked me saying something about the “best day of her life.” Tear…well maybe not a whole tear but that welling up kind of feeling. The energy coming from the kids is intoxicating. The only people that got to experience that feeling were the kids, the staff and the few parents there. I keep telling the Director he has the best job ever, my dream job.

Back to the Dayton trip. The win was not just very cool, but really a big deal. This regional competition is in theory one of the big ones, a “Power Regional.” Expectations for Worlds were elevated. Feedback from the judges leads to changes in the program, lots more work by the kids.

Skip forward to last weekend. The local NY State circuit has been dominated by Hilton for years, something like 15 straight championships. They have a different style of show, very precise, well executed, but maybe not quite as difficult. Victor’s show has levels of complication that add difficulty. The WGI circuit rewards difficulty more than the state circuit. So it has been a challenge to beat Hilton. Well Saturday they did. Saturday was also the first time this indoor show has given me a chill, raised the hair on my arms. Of course a lot of that is based on my relationship with the kids. I’m extremely proud.

Now there are some caveats. Hilton had at least three holes (people missing) in the show. But Victor also had one significant hole that was picked up by the judges too. So it is still anyone’s State Championship on the 28th. I get the privilege of helping run that show. So I may not be able to see as much as I hoped. But we’ll see.

Then two weeks later it is back to Dayton for World Championships. What great experiences for the kids. And selfishly, what a great experience to witness and feed from.