Marking Sets

[Band-Chica]

We're marking sets, and a few freshmen are having a hard time understanding how to find their spots. I've tried a few things, but it doesn't seem to be helping. It would really help if anybody had a few suggestions on how to help them. Thanks.

[FunkyFlute07]

Oh gosh. I know how you feel. They don't seem to be catching on...

::angry face::

[trumpetman1288]

You could try a few different things...

 

A.) if it is a set where he/she remains between two certain people, tell him/her to remain between the two.

B.) Always remember distances from hashes and remember yardlines

C.) If all else fails, draw or print out a football grid and plot the coordinates. Then connect the dots and number each set. It helps out quite a bit when you get a visual representation of your drill.

 

Hope this helps you!

[Danpod]

  trumpetman1288 said:

You could try a few different things...

 

A.) if it is a set where he/she remains between two certain people, tell him/her to remain between the two.

B.) Always remember distances from hashes and remember yardlines

C.) If all else fails, draw or print out a football grid and plot the coordinates. Then connect the dots and number each set. It helps out quite a bit when you get a visual representation of your drill.

 

Hope this helps you!

Letter C is great!!!! Have them keep a little dot book with them at all times. On each page, they should draw a little diagram of where they are in relation to the field. Individual responsibility is a great thing

[Hawkeye]

Also, you could try some sort of way of marking their spot with chalk, etc.

[Trumpet Master]

Try poker chips on their spot. That always works. Once they are confident take the chips away.

[MartinHorn]

We got sidewalk chalk one year and marked our sets, but the acid rain washes it away.

[whitewing09]

we have these dot thingys theres like all 4 steps apart so we just coordinate around the dots like oh that looks 2 steps away from a dot or that looks right on the dot etc

[gavinrh]

Richland stopped marking individual sets completely... we do the thing WhiteWing09 is talking about.

[whitewing09]

  MartinHorn said:

We got sidewalk chalk one year and marked our sets, but the acid rain washes it away.

LMAO wow i never saw that before

[txsweetheart183]

we use chalk

[whitewing09]

they spray the dots with orange paint

[Lustra.exe]

spray some, chalk others... different color for each movement.

[txsweetheart183]

how do u start with a clean slate the following year if u spray it with paint?

 

and thats a lot of freakin paint

 

and with all this rain our chalk has been gone for a while =[

 

oh well

[hawksnare08]

  txsweetheart183 said:

how do u start with a clean slate the following year if u spray it with paint?

 

and thats a lot of freakin paint

 

and with all this rain our chalk has been gone for a while =[

 

oh well

yeah, we're probably going to have to re-chalk some of those again since we only worked on them for one practice. ugh.

[supermanuel]

we haven't marked our sets since my sophomore year

 

according to our director it's bettr to learn that way becuase you're not trying to look down to find a spot, but you're more concerned about the people around you and keeping good spacing and all that jazz

[whitewing09]

  txsweetheart183 said:

how do u start with a clean slate the following year if u spray it with paint?

 

and thats a lot of freakin paint

 

and with all this rain our chalk has been gone for a while =[

 

oh well

well they usually wear out by then. but anyway we dont mark the sets. how can i say it

hmm

 

 

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it looks kinda like that ^ accept the whole field. say you start on the hash marks theres a dot on a yard line then in the middle of two then on another etch each 4 steps away

 

like i said we work around the dots your 1 step in front of that one 2 diagonal from that one half a step behind that one etc

[txsweetheart183]

yea we have those dots too..

[Skippy]

Give them a sheet with all their coordinates. If they don't know where they are, tell them to read it. 2 in 35, means you're 2 steps inside the 35. 2 in front hash means you're 2 steps inside the front hash. Works for Cavaliers, works for SFA, it can work for you. Giving people a picture of the drill is just going to make them try and dress the form the first few times you run the set, and dressing to people that are making errors, is going to set up the drill way off what it is supposed to be. Forget about the form entirely for a couple of months, I think it does a band good.

[American920]

You know, using chalk is actually very helpful despite the rain. If we still need help after chalk sets wash away, we can chalk them again, and that plants them more firmly in our memory since we have to do it AGAIN.

 

Seeming waste of chalk and time, but it DOES work.

[SaxoAK]

lol - our freshman initiation is involved in this process...the section leaders drive their newbies to a local Office Depot/BestBuy/WalMart to stage a "hostage" for those free AOL cds. So basically, your van pulls up to the front of the store, the kids get out run and grab an armful each, and run back to the van as fast as you can and creating as many akward stares as possible. we use the cds upside down/face up to mark the start/finish set. it's fun and kinda quirky but def. a tradition!

[n3rdu5]

Hahaha this is an old thread but I figured I might as well reply....

 

We use 2 of the methods listed above. We have dots that are 4 steps apart each all across our practice field. So that helps make sure we are accurately in our set. Then we also use chalk to physically mark down our sets on the field....well the band uses chalk...

 

My sophomore year, our drumline used soap to mark sets. It does amazing work. Unlike the chalk that washes away with rain, the soap actually stays! With each rain shower, of course, the marks get fainter and fainter but that makes it better. You can still find your set if you need and don't have to remark it, but it's not really there unless you look hard for it.

 

I can still find most of my sets from our opener which we marked way back in late July haha. Soap does wonders.

 

Drumline dropped the usage of soap, but we cymbals decided to be smart and we still use it. I love it. Very helpful!

[Salesmonkey]

We use spray paint for all our charts. End of the year get the quarter masters and leadership team out on the field during summer with black spray paint. IDK how long this is going to work though. Field was repaved two summers ago so as of now it only has this years show on it and last years painted over. May not be too long before it has to be repaved again.

[whitewing09]

doesnt marking indvidual sets get confusing after a while

[oh_snap44]

Painting sets isn't too confusing...we used paint pens to mark our individual marching number on each dot. Even if you had 2 of your own dots right next to eachother, it was easy to remember which was which...spray paint dots come out different every spray.