Drill Team Accomplishments

In the fall semester of my freshman year in high school I had decided to try out for my school’s drill team, the Crimson Cadettes. This organization has a reputation of very classy, well put together young women and by being on the team, one automatically has extremely high standards that they are expected to meet. Being a Cadette is a big deal because it requires an abundance of hard work and is very time consuming. My teammates and I are often spending our extra time at school whether it be for practice, pep rallies, contests or even more. There are on average about sixty dancers on the team each year and because we spend so much time together, it is expected that sometimes we’ll disagree on some things.

In third grade I began my first official Sheridan sports team. I was now officially making my way to becoming a general; before that I didn’t have any idea of what being a “general” meant. At the time I was attending Thornville elementary and the majority of my friends at my school were just as pumped as I, for our first practice on the field beside the infamous Sheridan Middle school. The first few weeks of practice taught me nothing I wanted was going to be easily attainable, these coaches expected more out of me than I had ever been accustomed to. The bar they set for us each day pushed us to new heights we had only dreamed of.

Drill and Step teams date back to the early decades of the twentieth century but the roots of the music and dancing go much deeper. Many of the characteristics have been traced back to West African cultural practices and through historical experiences of African Americans in the United States including slavery, resistance, community, and military service. Scholars have identified many West African roots – such as call and response, polyrhythm, use of percussion, improvisation, and the incorporation of pageantry as both ceremonially significant and for entertainment. Many of these elements survived the Middle Passage and were incorporated into rituals and dances performed by slaves. The bodily percussion so integral to drill and step performances

Summer, a season where many are free to do whatever they please and not have a worry in the world. This is not the case, however, for a high school football player such as myself; for classes being released marks the start of another season, not summer, but football season. It was a hot day on Mount Diablo High’s football field; I could already feel sweat dripping down as I stood there in my armor. Players were separated between two categories: Skills players and the Linemen. The coaches came and said we had to do hitting drills to start of practice. So the linemen, Erik, D’antae, Xavier, Charlie, Jarreck, Anthony, Josh, and I, created a circle and waited to see who the coaches would call out first. To my surprise, there was someone in the

Being in such a competitive sport comes with a lot of practice. My team practices close to sixteen hours a week. Attendance and commitment to these are huge. Since it is

Yes. At my high school, I’ve participated in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) course as well as been a part of the CyberPatriot and Academic Bowl teams offered by the organization. Unfortunately, I could only spend two years of my high school career in that organization due to the lack of schedule space. I’ve also been a part of the International and National Honor Society clubs. The International Club was a club of students that helped to promote and express the different cultures at my school. As for the National Honor Society, we’ve helped the community by completing service projects, such as the Ronald McDonald House t-shirt sale and the Relay for Life event. In terms of school teams, I was a member of the Scholastic Competition

The next six months consisted of me reluctantly training junior varsity color guard. The first drill meet came and I, single handedly, lost our team 20 points (a big deal since we are scored out of 100). Needless to say, we didn’t win. I decided to keep at it and give it one more try, but, I wasn’t feeling too good about continuing as the commander. By the time we were on the bus back from the second drill meet I had led my team to two losses. I was done, I was frustrated and tired. It didn’t help that Russell, the kid in charge of the JV military drill team had secured two first place wins, with perfect scores.

Marching is the most difficult part you forget to land on the right foot and forget to snap to parade rest, forget to snap to attention. Other sports players wouldn’t last a whole week in band camp or practice they would’ve tried to quit like I almost did being a huge crybaby about little bitty exercise but I enjoy it now.

Sometimes obstacles occur and seem to mismanage important goals that we strive for. Correspondingly, as a high school student, there are plenty of opportunities up for grabs that only push me harder to work towards achievement. Being on a drill team contained great leadership roles that I was highly interested in. At the end of sophomore year, I decided to try out for drill team officer, as there were only 7 spots open and 14 candidates trying out. Unfortunately, I was not one of those 7 candidates who received a spot on the officer line. Feeling frustrated with myself, I considered that perhaps I just wasn’t a good enough dancer. This reflected my performance at practice, and I felt even more defeated.

The first day of tryouts came around and I woke up that morning shaking with excitment and shear nervousness. I ate my bagel and chocolate milk, (a pregame ritual of mine) laced up my cleats, and was on my way. The second I got to the field I knew I was in for a long day. Most of the guys were double my size and looked like they were professionals. After a few days of the long, hard, and grueling tryout process the coaches posted the team on their website. When I saw my name wasn't on the list I felt spiteful, angry, even a little ashamed with myself. I knew I deserved a spot on that team and I was determined to claim it.

I set my goals for the year and tried my hardest to stick to it. Not to mention, I did exceptional in my previous season in baseball. I was named the Jv batting champ and was all league. I was a little disappointed in myself though because i did not perform as well during the summer. I got a few hits and there but i wasn't satisfied at all because I know competition is always around. It can get stressful at times because then all you start to think about is who is going to take over your spot and who's going to overcome you. I tried to ignore that feeling but it kept getting back to me. In addition, try outs were the second week of school so i knew i had to step up my game. After tryouts, i thought i did really good. I Only miss through about 2 throws and I was throwing harder than I ever had. It was until the next day, my point of view towards this whole program

Eventually my team became my second family having sleepovers and playdates every week. Everyday my passion grew, pushing me to want to be the best I could be for my team and myself. When i was old enough to be on B-Squad I was thrilled to finally be able to tryout.

I've always wanted to be an overrated and the best ranked player to play the game of football in high school. I dream of going to a division 1 school. One particular is University of Alabama or University of Georgia. I know what i have to do to get to the thing i really want, and that is doing my best and work hard than anyone in the room, which requires determination. I thought too hard about wanting to be successful so bad. It something I really want it and I've got to earn it. I sometimes get sidetracked, when I'm at the combine but still focusing on my drills. We were doing some individual testing drills to test on our abilities. When it was my turn, I was doing the drill as it being followed but after I was done , I felt

As if I had unconsciously alienated myself from the squad. But no matter what I did I couldn’t shake the quasi -mental abuse that I had endured from cheer phi earlier on. No one likes to feel like the black sheep. But being a rebel was embedded in my DNA since birth. After all the separation, stress, and burdens of my financial obligations. I had contemplated quitting the team. I figured that if I didn’t want to be a part of cheer phi and if I couldn’t afford being on the team then why bother. One of the cheer phi members overheard me discussing my plan to the coach .I immediately got defensive and was silent the whole practice thinking that they were happy that I was leaving.

It was during a soccer practice where the team had to condition (a new requirement the coach had incorporated into the practice) where countless sprints, changes in directions, push-ups, and crunches would quickly tire the team. Not surprisingly, after a few sets of sprinted “zig-zags,” pushups, and crunches we looked extremely drained almost as if we had run out of energy to even give the least bit of effort. Some were already lying to the side gasping for breath while others felt sick to their stomach. Some were at the point of vomiting while only half of us attempted to persevere. It seemed endless. Even I, considered the most conditioned, was having such a hard time keeping on. It came to the final stretch when my coach started encouraging