Marching is Sport?

[Doctordien]

Marching is Sport?

 

Just curious to see what others think. I truly believe it is. It is an athletic activity. We compete against others. We get scores.

 

Dictionary.com cites sport as : 

 

"�noun    1.) an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature..."

 

But as the football players say, "Band isn't a sport...because it's band."

 

Im wondering ways that we can change this. Im thinkin of making a letter writing campaign to have scores of competitions in the score 

 

section of the sports section of the Newspaper. 

[SamuelCulper]

If gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming are sports, so is marching band.

[Bandwoww]

I like to classify marching band as a very physically intensive art.

 

I don’t really know the definition of a sport but marching band is much more physically demanding than any sport I’ve played.

[abtwitch]

The best argument I've heard for marching band (as well as dance, cheerleading, etc.) NOT being a sport is how it is highly subjective, simply because it is art. I put it in it's own category, much like competitive cheerleading or dance (what did I write before lol?), but I like to call it competitive active arts.

[herbaflerb]

The best argument I've heard for marching band (as well as dance, cheerleading, etc.) NOT being a sport is how it is highly subjective, simply because it is art. I put it in it's own category, much like Bandwoww, but I like to call it competitive active arts.

 

That's a fair point. Baseball and football are super quantitative (sans ref calls and whatnot) with innings/quarters and how the games are actually scored.

 

Marching band being super subjective is probably the biggest roadblock in seeing it as a sport. There's also a culture present in the US that STEM is super important and the fine arts are seen as not really that important. These are all things that contribute to marching band's reputation here. 

[Dog885]

Marching is like figure skating. You perform then get scored in different categories.

[Jeffrey L. Gorman]

Marching is like figure skating. You perform then get scored in different categories

The biggest difference is that Marching Band is entirely subjective with many different organizations having different standards for style and type of Band. There is no set standards that can apply equally to Corps style Bands, Military Style of Bands, Show style Bands, and Big Ten Style of Bands. All are different. This is why Band is an art but not a competitive sport because there is not one standard to judge all competing Bands with. 

[Band_dad_of_2]

It is absolutely a sport...in fact, if you look at the actual "action time", football and marching band are not that far apart.  On average, there is a total of 11 minutes of game action in a NFL game.

[MadisonBandMan1]

It is absolutely a sport...in fact, if you look at the actual "action time", football and marching band are not that far apart. On average, there is a total of 11 minutes of game action in a NFL game.

Dude that was awesome!

[MadisonBandMan1]

It is absolutely a sport...in fact, if you look at the actual "action time", football and marching band are not that far apart. On average, there is a total of 11 minutes of game action in a NFL game.

Dude that was awesome!

[Dog885]

Just gonna leave this pie chart I made here.

[abtwitch]

Just gonna leave this pie chart I made here.

Glad someone else feels the same way about Multicam as me xD. I hate how it's the "norm".

[LeanderMomma]

Just gonna leave this pie chart I made here.

[Band_dad_of_2]

Dude that was awesome!

 

Want to break it down further?  If you assume a 50/50 split in time of possession and that the players are only playing offense or defense, that means the average full-time player only sees 5.5 minutes of action time in a given game.

 

And I didn't even include special teams which would water it down even more......

 

So if you want to look at it from a time standpoint, the marching band actually has more "action time" than football players.

 

But who's counting, huh?

[LeanderMomma]

Want to break it down further?  If you assume a 50/50 split in time of possession and that the players are only playing offense or defense, that means the average full-time player only sees 5.5 minutes of action time in a given game.

 

And I didn't even include special teams which would water it down even more......

 

So if you want to look at it from a time standpoint, the marching band actually has more "action time" than football players.

 

But who's counting, huh?

 

Ha, I remember a friend of mine had a child in both the Leander band and one on the Leander football team, and the football player told his mom that the band worked harder and practiced more than the football team.  (Don't say it...I know Leander does NOT have the greatest football team, but still!).  He said to his mom, "when we go to practice, the band is there practicing.  When we leave practice, the band is still there.  And we go back for our second practice in the afternoon, the band is there, and when we leave at night, the band is still there..."  

 

Band is NO JOKE!  

[SamuelCulper]

Ha, I remember a friend of mine had a child in both the Leander band and one on the Leander football team, and the football player told his mom that the band worked harder and practiced more than the football team. (Don't say it...I know Leander does NOT have the greatest football team, but still!). He said to his mom, "when we go to practice, the band is there practicing. When we leave practice, the band is still there. And we go back for our second practice in the afternoon, the band is there, and when we leave at night, the band is still there..."

 

Band is NO JOKE!

I has this conversation with a football parent once. I made the claim and he called B.S. So I started walking him through my kids' summer band schedule and after a minute or so he raised his hands and said "I give. I had no idea."

[Mash]

I has this conversation with a football parent once. I made the claim and he called B.S. So I started walking him through my kids' summer band schedule and after a minute or so he raised his hands and said "I give. I had no idea."

 

And.....  When we had the same conversation, they were shocked at how much money we had to pay for the kids to play in the band.  I can't remember the number but it was high based on instrument cost, repairs, private lessons, uniform costs, fair share costs for practice/travel ....  We didn't add in the cost of band trips because personally I don't think much of those other than they are fun for the kids.