Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Bands of America Nationals Competition

Last Wednesday - Sunday, my husband and I were chaperones for my son's high school marching band on our trip to Indianapolis for the Bands of America (BOA) Nationals Competition. It was the first time the band had performed in ANY BOA event, and they made it into the semifinals round, ultimately coming in 27th place out of the 92 bands there. On Wednesday, we took school buses to the Denver airport, flew to Chicago, and rode charter buses to Indianapolis, then did the reverse on the way home Sunday. The kids practiced and performed on Thursday, toured the Speedway and NCAA Hall of Champions on Friday, performed Saturday morning and watched the finals competition that night.

Besides the 154 students, 18 chaperones, 11 staff members and the principal, there were around 100 parents plus brothers & sisters, grandparents and friends cheering on the band. It was an enormous logistical undertaking, but we didn't lose any kids or have any disasters--just a misplaced cell phone and a stolen backpack. We were SO grateful no one got sick or hurt. The group went 5 nights with 5-7 hours sleep each, so everyone was exhausted by the end, but also very happy with the outcome. Inbetween laundry loads, I'm trying to catch up on my writing work now.

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