We Are the Champions, my friends....

You know the rest.

Yes, our marching band won their 6th State Championship in 8 years. To say that we are proud of the kids would be an understatement. If there was ever an object lesson that hard work produces results, it would be marching band. They have worked so hard, in all kinds of weather, and it has absolutely paid off. William and I went to the competition Sunday night (Rachel had dance and play practice, so I arranged rides for her). We saw all of our group bands play, and JC's band performed last. To be honest, I was really nervous. The kids have been somewhat inconsistent. Some of the other bands in our group seemed really really good, and I haven't been to enough competitions to have a good idea what the judges like. There were dance moves, and scenery, and color guards that seemed much better than ours (at least based on the last time I saw them).

But they came out and they played, and they were crisp and disciplined and looked and sounded good. It was awesome. I took William home right after the performance (late on a school night), so John called me with the scores. I'll admit to a few "woo hoo"s.

I have no pictures from Sunday, not that they would have looked very good. Ants crawling around on the field, really. Here's some pictures of the last competition I went to, which was the one inside after Giants Stadium was cancelled.

Marching in - JC's the third tuba (sousaphone, to be exact) from the front.

This is referred to as a "company front". Inside, they just play in this formation and the color guard is behind them doing their thing in place as well. JC is the third sousaphone from the right. If you squint.

This was when they came back in and were waiting for the scores. Notice our kids are still in neat rows and at parade rest. Other bands were seated in the stands, and a couple of kids started running around the room trying to get people to do the wave while we waited. Our kids never cracked. It was very impressive, actually.

JC playing. His posture has absolutely improved since marching band started.