Our Road Warrior has Returned

Thursday, July 28th Derek set off on an adventure of a lifetime. As I’ve said in past posts he joined the Spartan Drum and Bugle Corps out of Nashua, NH for the summer. They compete in the open class arena.

On the 28th they left around 7 p.m. and drove all night, sleeping on the buses. They did a stop over in Ripley, NY to practice and rest. Their next stop was Michigan. Over the course of the 2.5 weeks Derek traveled to Michigan, PA, Indiana and Ohio. He said he saw a lot of corn fields.

Sleeping was done either on the bus or in a gym. There was no personnel space. The kids formed a new tight family unit over the course of the tour.

It was always about practicing and improving their craft.

Kids learned to sleep whenever and wherever they could. Check out the shirt on the kid in this photo. Yes, he came all the way from Oswego, NY to be a Spartan.

Every morning they were woken up to some form of playing which became progressively louder so that everyone was assured to be up an moving bright and early.

The best parts were yet to come. As they traveled and competed the corps continued to improved. The Open Class big competition was in Michigan City, Indiana. It was a two day event with the Open Class competing on the 8th and the World Class groups competing on the 9th. Unfortunately a huge rain stormed cancelled the event on the 8th for the first time since 2003. The kids were very disappointed. On the 9th they had a mega show with both Open and World classes competing.

Jaimie, the drum major anxiously awaits their turn. Everyone was anxious, even to the nail biting point.

Good luck was looked for wherever they could find it.

Above are the members of the pit, Derek is 4th from the left. They take their job very seriously. But… they also know how to have fun.

The kids and staff shared close spaces for 2.5 weeks. Life long friendships and memories were formed.

Although, the Spartans did not place in the top 3 they did place #4 in the Open Class for the entire country. Derek obviously was very happy with their performance. He said they knew right away that they had given the performance of their lives. They broke 91 for a final score, their best all season. One of the main staff members had a death in the family and was flying back and forth trying to juggle corps and family responsibilities. In a very emotional talk he told the kids how proud he was and how their performance helped to ease his pain.

One of the kids in the corps came all the way from Great Britain and had an emergency appendectomy while they were on tour. He was very disappointed that with all his hard work he had to watch from a wheel chair.

The Spartan Color guard took first place in their division. The kids earned a standing ovation from the crowd when they finished their piece.

The guys in street clothes are the pit instructors. The staff was extremely tough and would only except excellence and nothing less from the kids.

Derek with his new friend from Oswego and one of the color guard. Gary, I thought of you with this picture. You’re both VERY special.

Medals were awarded to the Spartans for being Open Class Finalists.

 

The last big event was in Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium. This was the first year that Open and International Classes were allowed to compete with the World Class Corps. On the first day 41 corps competed for a top 25 spot. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they just missed it coming in at #26. Now that the pressure was off they could relax and enjoy the show.

The second day of competition was to whittle the numbers from 25 to 12 and the 3rd would crown the winner.

Derek was blown away by the size of the stadium and sat in different seats to try out the best vantage points. He liked it up higher so that the competing corps formations could be viewed.

Derek came home last night. We picked him up a little after 10:15 and arrived home around 11:30. He’s had the time of his life so far, expanded his resume and made many new friends and great memories. (CLICK on photos for a larger view.)