1999 BOA Louisville Regional
Awards: Finals - 7th Place Overall - Score: 75.00 |
A Band Parents Observations for the Weekend:
The first Bands of America regional competition was held in Louisville Kentucky on Saturday, September 25th, 1999. The weather was perfect, though a little warm for this time of the year.
The band left the school around 7:15 am and made the trip to Louisville in good time, arriving around 10:30. A little nervousness as the busses made it to the site before the truck. But the Pit Dads pulled in about 10 minutes later and everyone had plenty of time to dress and make it to the warm-up area (preliminaries performance time was 12:15).
There was some foul-up with the BOA chaperone - the band wound up on their own trying to find the field entrance. If you've ever seen the movie "Animal House", the band wound up in a dead-end alley just like in the movie. Couldn't turn around. Mike Terranova saved the day with quick thinking - he just called the band to attention and marched them backwards out of the tunnel! Eventually the group found its way to the stadium entrance and made it on time.
Preliminaries went well, although the electronics didn't work. Made for a rather quiet flute solo but in the tradition of the Bellbrook band, the soloist just played a little louder! Crowd seemed to respond to the show, rising to their feet in the closer. Didn't see any falls or other major foul-ups. Packed up and made a quick trip to the Ponderosa for lunch/dinner then back to the stadium for class award announcements.
Announcement of the divisional awards was scary - 8 bands received division I ratings with a number of others receiving a division II (including Bellbrook). Excitement as the Class A awards were announced - Bellbrook swept Music, Visual and General Effect. Big smiles when the class champion was announced!! Mr. Henson didn't make the parents wait till the end this year.. Bellbrook was the third finalist band announced.
Finally broke the Bellbrook curse and got a good draw for the evening - 4th band on just after Westerville South. Marty took the band aside and found a shady spot for quiet time and a good mindset session. Must have worked.. everyone came back to the truck refreshed and ready to go for the evening.
Finals performance went smoothly except for the electronics again. Luckily, this time the Pit Dads had a backup plan and Lindsay (the portable PA system) came to the rescue. Not the cleanest sound in the world but at least we could hear Lindsey (Gray - the flute solo)! Great performance, much better poise and marching. Must have worked.. 7th place overall in finals and a division I rating!!
Band received their class champion medals on field. As usual, a little difficulty getting back ON the field during the full retreat. Guess it takes a few practices to feel comfortable out there at Finals! Then it was back to the truck, change and head for the school for pizza and sleep (the band stayed overnight in Indiana). Except, no one remembered where the school was!! The band finally arrived around 1:30 am Sunday morning and got some sleep before heading back to Bellbrook. Everyone got home safely about 1:30 pm.