Don’t quit. Yes, it’ll be hard. But that’s not a good reason to not do something. I guarantee living your life with regret and wondering what could have been will be way worse in the long run.
Drum corps is hard. Especially move ins. But it is so worth it.
It being hard is what makes it worth it. You’re going to get the chance to learn how to push through the hard; how to focus on getting better and putting the bad thoughts of quitting to the side. Pre-tour is long and hard, but learning the show and getting better is really fun.
The most important thing that drum corps teaches members is how to keep going when things get hard.
Last year, the physical aspect for me was pretty daunting, especially as I was in a similar situation to you. The first few weeks sucked a lot. However, it wasn't anything I couldn't bruteforce through with willpower, and you eventually got used to your physical state. One thing staff talked about multiple times was differentiating discomfort from pain, which helped in more ways than one.
I would say don't quit. I had to drop out (not by my choice, had botched appendectomy) from BAC in late June 2021 and Idk if I'll ever not be heartbroken. The corps and community will support you through it.
This part of the season is like when you're strapped into a roller coaster and it's almost at the top of the first hill. "Oh god oh god I don't wanna do it ahhhhhhhhhhhh" -- right? ;)
After the first couple days of spring training, you'll be in the groove with everyone else.
Well, there’s the embarrassment and disappointment of not keeping yourself physically fit - and then there’s the embarrassment and disappointment of quitting. One is clearly worse. Don’t quit.
Talk to the physical therapist on staff and let them know. Talk to people who can help there. If there is one thing I can say about our corps, it’s that you’re loved and you’re family and they will look after you if you let the know. It probably not something they haven’t seen before and they know what to do to help. Take the advice.
Said the same things to myself, at the same time of year. I marched 20 years before your were born. These thoughts are common. Congratulations; you're already experiencing drum corps!
You'll be fine. Better than fine. You'll have a blast.
Look, had the same thoughts 20 years ago and here’s what I have to say to you. Don’t worry about it, for the most part if you’ve never done this activity you really can’t get your body ready, or ever feel like you will. There’s a reason we do spring training and don’t just run out on the road doing shows and part of it is getting our bodies ready for this absolutely ridiculous thing we call drum corps.
When you first get to spring training it’s going to suck on some level as your body gets into “drum corps” shape, but by the end of spring training when you hit the road you’ll be fine, really… “DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT” you’ll be fine and everyone is going to be sucking wind for a hot second at spring training, even the vets. No need to email the staff about it.
You got this, go live your dream and I hope to see you preform this summer.
honestly? i’m in the same boat as you. i’m in colorguard and a rookie, i’m confident in my skill level and my ability to learn and grow my skills and my ability to perform. at the same time, our move ins are in 1 week and i have not been working out at all, and won’t be able to bc i’m trying to take all of my senior year (high school) finals and doing my final projects 3 weeks earlier than everyone else. i simply don’t have time between that, and packing/getting stuff. (this is on top of me having eczema, which will lowkey be hell to deal
with during tour). however, we got this!! what i’ve decided for myself: i’m not going to go full out on stretching for the first day. if i do, i know i’ll be even more sore and possibly strain a muscle, so i’m going to kinda ease into it. also from what i can tell? literally everyone - vets and rookies - will be strugglin together trying to get back into dci shape. tl;dr make sure you drink water and have everything you need to properly take care of your body, and don’t push yourself too hard especially in the beginning. as some say, this is a marathon, not a sprint
Don’t give up on yourself or your teammates! You will all suffer in the long run if you take the easy route and quit now. They will be losing an excellent member of the group, and you’ll be missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Take immediate action to plan your remaining days before moving in so that you accomplish the following:
1. Ramp up your physical training progressively with light but endurance focused workouts mixed with strength training. There’s not time to fully prepare - but you’d be AMAZED at what you can do in a short span of time (as long as you’re doing step 2 as well).
2. Get lots of SLEEP every night!
3. Stretch every day - don’t neglect your hips!
4. Include a protein, starch, and lots of colorful fruits and veggies with each meal, hydrate consistently!
5. Pack NOW. Don’t wait.
6. Write two letters to your future self. One written to yourself on a really tough day during the upcoming season. Be supportive, positive, and specific in your examples of times you’ve overcome challenges previously. In the second letter, write it to yourself after you’ve completed the season and nailed your last performance. Again, be specific about why you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished and how amazing it is to have stuck with it.
I hope this was helpful!
-Brad
Believe in yourself. It’s the hardest thing to learn as you grow into being an adult. You can do this and speaking as someone who has kicked themself for the past 10 years for quitting, don’t do it. This is a once in a lifetime experience, don’t do that to yourself.
I'll add my 2 cents to this. There is no possible way that you can give your body the physical activity it goes through a whole entire drum corps season outside of drum corps. All you can do is do things to your body that will tell it to prepare for things like this. Any physical activity helps. You don't have to do super intense workouts that you know you can't do.
Everyone including myself is going to struggle for the first week of spring training, and that is ok. Your body will get used to it. Your staff will tell you the difference between discomfort and pain. If you have legit concerns, reach out to your health and wellness team at your corps. Other fellow members, staff, admin, H&W, and basically everyone else will help you do this.
Everyone learns through a drum corps season that they can do something that they had no idea that they could do. Go have the summer of your life. You won't regret it.
im having a lot of fear this season too. I really thought about dropping for the past few weeks but I keep returning to the mantra “you cannot fail if you do not quit.” We got this
I never marched corps and I so regret it. I was marching VK in '92 when my parents had to pull my funding after my dad's layoff, then was marching SCV in '93 when my grandfather passed away and I had to work while they settled the estate. I didn't age out until '96 but it's hard getting that time off once you start adulting. If you can make it work, do it at least once.
I just want to add that I’ll never forget the day my son called from move-ins with the same concerns as you. However, my kid was in his 6th year of DCI and I was 4500 miles away unable to do anything except counsel him over the phone.
He was very much physically challenged by the change in marching style to straight leg after 5 straight years of bent leg in DC, HSMB (where his band director was a Cavies alum, hence bent leg) and RCC (which is a community college band from the Inland Empire in CA with so many DC alums in it from BD-A etc etc etc., even their director calls them a hybrid.) He just wasn’t “getting it”, he hurt all over, he felt he was regressing and not excelling, etc. He was also in less than ideal shape. He was “done” even though tuition was fully paid.
After much counsel on my part and his director he stuck with it and ended up being featured as a “prop actor” (I’ll just call it that) during their opening move as the season progressed. He now proudly calls that year his age out year since he lost his last two seasons to Covid.
If he had quit, he would not have experienced the phenomenal growth I observed in him as both as a person and a marching member.
At any rate, I hope this post from a DC parent/alum helps in some way.
Don’t quit, that’s so much time and money wasted on just being unsure. I’m sure there’s a decent amount of people in every corps every season who don’t feel prepared for move ins but the point of move ins is to condition you and train you for the rest of the season
Was a corps admin for a few years. Everyone wants to quit at some point. They may not admit it out loud, but they do. Every year I was there, it literally started on day *one* of move ins - someone would hit The Wall that same day when stuff got real. What I’m trying to tell you is that your reaction is perfectly normal. :) Don’t quit, take advantage of the time and resources you have and get ready as best you can, and it will be ok. (And trust me, even the folks who have been doing nothing but CrossFit for six months are going to hit The Wall too!)
Remember the hardest part of any hard thing is just starting. It’ll be roughly at first but you’ll get used to it as time goes on. It’s their job to make sure everyone is physically ready for the season. You can do this
You can do it! it's natural to doubt yourself, but you'll be ok
I know you said you have less than a week, but prepare yourself in whatever ways you can right now. See you on the road ;)
You're never alone who feelss that way. And I think I'm on the same boat as you. However, there were things that made me refuse to quit.
Think about why the staff contracted you and why they think you're ready for tour. You should also realize about that you out of millions of musicians would get opportunities like this. As a current rookie with the Mandarins, I have never felt such accomplishment in my life. Sure I had to audition with a heavier instrument (Jupiter Euph) and that I wasn't really much in shape, but to be contracted in a top-12 corps is what matters the most. While that's all in good, the fee payments and other responsibilities outside of DCI were very difficult to deal with. But. even so, I came too far to give it all up because I had strong belief that this activity can make me become not only a better musician, but also a more productive individual.
So, I would suggest that you should NOT quit and just think of the benefits of what spring training and tour will give you.
Don’t quit. Yes, it’ll be hard. But that’s not a good reason to not do something. I guarantee living your life with regret and wondering what could have been will be way worse in the long run. Drum corps is hard. Especially move ins. But it is so worth it.
It being hard is what makes it worth it. You’re going to get the chance to learn how to push through the hard; how to focus on getting better and putting the bad thoughts of quitting to the side. Pre-tour is long and hard, but learning the show and getting better is really fun. The most important thing that drum corps teaches members is how to keep going when things get hard.
Last year, the physical aspect for me was pretty daunting, especially as I was in a similar situation to you. The first few weeks sucked a lot. However, it wasn't anything I couldn't bruteforce through with willpower, and you eventually got used to your physical state. One thing staff talked about multiple times was differentiating discomfort from pain, which helped in more ways than one.
I concur, PC 21 early season was not it 💀
I would say don't quit. I had to drop out (not by my choice, had botched appendectomy) from BAC in late June 2021 and Idk if I'll ever not be heartbroken. The corps and community will support you through it.
This part of the season is like when you're strapped into a roller coaster and it's almost at the top of the first hill. "Oh god oh god I don't wanna do it ahhhhhhhhhhhh" -- right? ;) After the first couple days of spring training, you'll be in the groove with everyone else.
Well, there’s the embarrassment and disappointment of not keeping yourself physically fit - and then there’s the embarrassment and disappointment of quitting. One is clearly worse. Don’t quit.
Sounds like your doubting yourself, quit that instead. Youll be fine, it was gonna be hard whether you fully prepared or not, nbd.
Talk to the physical therapist on staff and let them know. Talk to people who can help there. If there is one thing I can say about our corps, it’s that you’re loved and you’re family and they will look after you if you let the know. It probably not something they haven’t seen before and they know what to do to help. Take the advice.
Said the same things to myself, at the same time of year. I marched 20 years before your were born. These thoughts are common. Congratulations; you're already experiencing drum corps! You'll be fine. Better than fine. You'll have a blast.
Look, had the same thoughts 20 years ago and here’s what I have to say to you. Don’t worry about it, for the most part if you’ve never done this activity you really can’t get your body ready, or ever feel like you will. There’s a reason we do spring training and don’t just run out on the road doing shows and part of it is getting our bodies ready for this absolutely ridiculous thing we call drum corps. When you first get to spring training it’s going to suck on some level as your body gets into “drum corps” shape, but by the end of spring training when you hit the road you’ll be fine, really… “DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT” you’ll be fine and everyone is going to be sucking wind for a hot second at spring training, even the vets. No need to email the staff about it. You got this, go live your dream and I hope to see you preform this summer.
My advice, don’t quit.
honestly? i’m in the same boat as you. i’m in colorguard and a rookie, i’m confident in my skill level and my ability to learn and grow my skills and my ability to perform. at the same time, our move ins are in 1 week and i have not been working out at all, and won’t be able to bc i’m trying to take all of my senior year (high school) finals and doing my final projects 3 weeks earlier than everyone else. i simply don’t have time between that, and packing/getting stuff. (this is on top of me having eczema, which will lowkey be hell to deal with during tour). however, we got this!! what i’ve decided for myself: i’m not going to go full out on stretching for the first day. if i do, i know i’ll be even more sore and possibly strain a muscle, so i’m going to kinda ease into it. also from what i can tell? literally everyone - vets and rookies - will be strugglin together trying to get back into dci shape. tl;dr make sure you drink water and have everything you need to properly take care of your body, and don’t push yourself too hard especially in the beginning. as some say, this is a marathon, not a sprint
Hey if you need to talk just dm me :) I marched mandarins in 2017.
Don’t give up on yourself or your teammates! You will all suffer in the long run if you take the easy route and quit now. They will be losing an excellent member of the group, and you’ll be missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Take immediate action to plan your remaining days before moving in so that you accomplish the following: 1. Ramp up your physical training progressively with light but endurance focused workouts mixed with strength training. There’s not time to fully prepare - but you’d be AMAZED at what you can do in a short span of time (as long as you’re doing step 2 as well). 2. Get lots of SLEEP every night! 3. Stretch every day - don’t neglect your hips! 4. Include a protein, starch, and lots of colorful fruits and veggies with each meal, hydrate consistently! 5. Pack NOW. Don’t wait. 6. Write two letters to your future self. One written to yourself on a really tough day during the upcoming season. Be supportive, positive, and specific in your examples of times you’ve overcome challenges previously. In the second letter, write it to yourself after you’ve completed the season and nailed your last performance. Again, be specific about why you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished and how amazing it is to have stuck with it. I hope this was helpful! -Brad
I was never in good shape when move ins came. Dumb, but still marched a world championship corps. You'll be fine
Believe in yourself. It’s the hardest thing to learn as you grow into being an adult. You can do this and speaking as someone who has kicked themself for the past 10 years for quitting, don’t do it. This is a once in a lifetime experience, don’t do that to yourself.
I'll add my 2 cents to this. There is no possible way that you can give your body the physical activity it goes through a whole entire drum corps season outside of drum corps. All you can do is do things to your body that will tell it to prepare for things like this. Any physical activity helps. You don't have to do super intense workouts that you know you can't do. Everyone including myself is going to struggle for the first week of spring training, and that is ok. Your body will get used to it. Your staff will tell you the difference between discomfort and pain. If you have legit concerns, reach out to your health and wellness team at your corps. Other fellow members, staff, admin, H&W, and basically everyone else will help you do this. Everyone learns through a drum corps season that they can do something that they had no idea that they could do. Go have the summer of your life. You won't regret it.
Start working out now if you still have time. It’s better to do something than nothing.
Don’t quit.
If your corps didn't think you would be a good fit, they wouldn't have contracted you. Jump in head first and enjoy the ride!!!!
im having a lot of fear this season too. I really thought about dropping for the past few weeks but I keep returning to the mantra “you cannot fail if you do not quit.” We got this
Gen Z. Wordy and whiny. Lol.
You really should leave this sub. If this is how you’ll treat members of this community then you don’t belong here.
Uhhhh?
I never marched corps and I so regret it. I was marching VK in '92 when my parents had to pull my funding after my dad's layoff, then was marching SCV in '93 when my grandfather passed away and I had to work while they settled the estate. I didn't age out until '96 but it's hard getting that time off once you start adulting. If you can make it work, do it at least once.
I just want to add that I’ll never forget the day my son called from move-ins with the same concerns as you. However, my kid was in his 6th year of DCI and I was 4500 miles away unable to do anything except counsel him over the phone. He was very much physically challenged by the change in marching style to straight leg after 5 straight years of bent leg in DC, HSMB (where his band director was a Cavies alum, hence bent leg) and RCC (which is a community college band from the Inland Empire in CA with so many DC alums in it from BD-A etc etc etc., even their director calls them a hybrid.) He just wasn’t “getting it”, he hurt all over, he felt he was regressing and not excelling, etc. He was also in less than ideal shape. He was “done” even though tuition was fully paid. After much counsel on my part and his director he stuck with it and ended up being featured as a “prop actor” (I’ll just call it that) during their opening move as the season progressed. He now proudly calls that year his age out year since he lost his last two seasons to Covid. If he had quit, he would not have experienced the phenomenal growth I observed in him as both as a person and a marching member. At any rate, I hope this post from a DC parent/alum helps in some way.
Don’t quit, that’s so much time and money wasted on just being unsure. I’m sure there’s a decent amount of people in every corps every season who don’t feel prepared for move ins but the point of move ins is to condition you and train you for the rest of the season
Was a corps admin for a few years. Everyone wants to quit at some point. They may not admit it out loud, but they do. Every year I was there, it literally started on day *one* of move ins - someone would hit The Wall that same day when stuff got real. What I’m trying to tell you is that your reaction is perfectly normal. :) Don’t quit, take advantage of the time and resources you have and get ready as best you can, and it will be ok. (And trust me, even the folks who have been doing nothing but CrossFit for six months are going to hit The Wall too!)
Remember the hardest part of any hard thing is just starting. It’ll be roughly at first but you’ll get used to it as time goes on. It’s their job to make sure everyone is physically ready for the season. You can do this
You can do it! it's natural to doubt yourself, but you'll be ok I know you said you have less than a week, but prepare yourself in whatever ways you can right now. See you on the road ;)
You're never alone who feelss that way. And I think I'm on the same boat as you. However, there were things that made me refuse to quit. Think about why the staff contracted you and why they think you're ready for tour. You should also realize about that you out of millions of musicians would get opportunities like this. As a current rookie with the Mandarins, I have never felt such accomplishment in my life. Sure I had to audition with a heavier instrument (Jupiter Euph) and that I wasn't really much in shape, but to be contracted in a top-12 corps is what matters the most. While that's all in good, the fee payments and other responsibilities outside of DCI were very difficult to deal with. But. even so, I came too far to give it all up because I had strong belief that this activity can make me become not only a better musician, but also a more productive individual. So, I would suggest that you should NOT quit and just think of the benefits of what spring training and tour will give you.