First BYBA marching boot camp great success
Trinity High School in Nottingham was the venue for the first ever marching boot camp, an event designed to promote and encourage the principals of marching movement. 36 marching members and staff took part in the pilot event on December 2nd.
The participants of the BYBA boot camp were led through a series of workshops, group challenges and games by a team of four experienced staff members, who were on hand to share experiences and encourage a more rounded approach to marching movement. The Marching Boot Camp was put together by Phil Martin (Cadence, Boston Crusaders, 37 th Kingswood, NOVO), who was keen to help the Association's member units develop more ideas for marching and movement.
First up was a thorough warm-up session led by John Westron (Pegasus, The Senators). "The warm-up session sets the tone for the rest of the day, and should be planned like any other aspect of rehearsal", John commented.
From here the two teams took part in balance tests on wobble boards, posture exercises, marching basics and were taken through a theory session on the basis of movement followed by a group 'exam' where teams were given a series of questions to answer as a group.
The visiting staff members present were given the opportunity to ask questions and gain some ideas for exercises to take back to their groups from the Boot Camp team of instructors. This was one of the main goals of the day as Boot Camp instructor Jon Bilby (Black Knights, The Cadets, The Senators) explained: "The aim isn't to tell people exactly what they should be doing, it's more about giving others the tools to approach their own marching basics programme with some new ideas and maybe look things a little differently. We're trying to make it more fun but beneficial at the same time."
The first event of its kind in the UK was received well by the groups attended which included Atherstone Youth Band, Distant Thunder, Donisthorpe Scouts, Revolution Show Corps and Trinity School Show Band.
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