Drill Team Practice Length

[yoman]

Recently at my unit there has been a little bit of complaining about the length of our drill team practice's. The moral last practice was very low due to the drill team commander changing the closing part of our routine when we only have 3 practices left before competition. Because of this change, they are thinking of increasing the number of practices in one week so that we can get the routine down. Currently we have practice every Saturday between 1200 and 1430 (so 2 and a half hours). They are thinking of adding an extra half hour to hour of extra practice time before our regular parade nights.

So my question is. How long is your units drill team practices and how often are they?

 

[Franko]

When I was a cadet the team practiced as much as it was required....sometimes for an entire weekend if needed.

Even if it was just one cadet that was screwing up from time to time the entire team was there.

Sounds to me that there is a bit more to this than just people getting a bit miffed at the changes.

That being said....there really shouldn't be a huge rush to practice. A team should be built up over the course of a year and improved upon every year after.

I would say that on average there should be no more than 2 hours a week.

Regards

 

[Springroll]

When I was in cadets, our drill team practices were 3 hours every Saturday until the last month, then it was both Saturday and Sunday. That was on top of our regular Tuesday(parade day) and Friday(pt day) cadet nights.

Our "sacrifices" were rewarded by winning Best Drill Team in BC in 1991.

 

[yoman]

This year the a lot of the cadets on the team are new.

There seems to be a lack of motivation. People don`t stop talking, people are goofing off all the time (even the seniors on the team).

When we were choosing the drill team commander there was a lot of suspicion on what went on. The votes we casted seemed to be worth nothing. The drill team commander ended up being a WO2. Soon after, the WO1 quit the team because of ''personal reason's ''.

 

[Springroll]

See, with the cadets being new or not, it really doesn't matter.
The majority of the cadets that I was on drill team with were all new too...I had only been in since September.

It is up to the seniors to motivate the youngin's, and if they aren't willing to motivate, then there is nothing you can do abou the quality of the drill team. With that said, ask these kids if they want to embarrass themselves and the squadron with their slack drill and deportment. Most will say no, and that is when you make it very known to them that being the best at drill really is a big honour in cadets.

You only get out of it what you are willing to put into it.

 

[Burrows]

I don't see the point of voting people team leader.  Chains of command are there for a reason, not so you can vote on who you want your CO to be.

 

[$@rge]

In our corps, the practice lasts as long as the designated IC desires it to be. If the Cadets dont like it, tuff. Sure you are sacrificing morale but is it better to win a competition or have a bunch of hyper teens. your call. Personally im 50/50.(mainly because I am not the IC)

 

[Zedic_1913]

I don't see the point of voting people team leader.  Chains of command are there for a reason, not so you can vote on who you want your CO to be.

I believe in a position such as Drill Team Commander it should be the best candidate for the job and not necessarily the most senior in rank.  I don't agree with cadets voting their team commander though .... in my opinion a nomination from the CO and officer staff seems appropriate, or possibly a try out.

 

[Burrows]

I believe in a position such as Drill Team Commander it should be the best candidate for the job and not necessarily the most senior in rank.  I don't agree with cadets voting their team commander though .... in my opinion a nomination from the CO and officer staff seems appropriate, or possibly a try out.

Agreed.  The officer staff should either appoint one, or hold try outs and pick the best.

 

[yoman]

There where tryouts for the drill team commander.

It was up to the cadets to pick the person who they thought was best. The drill team officer did have a say however, and I think in this case, he had a very strong say.

In our corps, the practice lasts as long as the designated IC desires it to be. If the Cadets dont like it, tuff. Sure you are sacrificing morale but is it better to win a competition or have a bunch of hyper teens. your call. Personally im 50/50.(mainly because I am not the IC)

In my unit, everything has a designated time allocated to each activity Saturday's. Drill team is 2 and a half hours. I was just wondering how long other units practices are.

And the moral is low because of a few things. Such as a part of the routine changing so soon to competition.

 

[PViddy]

I am the DT Officer at my unit, guess i will just share my experience.  Our team has a two hour practice every Sunday, with a 15 min. break in between.  We start practice in September and don't stop till after phase 1 (or Regionals, if we progress).  Definately a good idea to have try out's for Commander, this should be down within the first two months of the team meeting, in my opinion and experience.  our Commander is chosen by applying in writing (like a job) to do so, conducting a drill class, and on prade square prescence (3d's and drill voice)

2.5 hr. practice does sound a tad long ? but we also have longer practices if we need to nail down the silent routine etc.

Anyways looking forward to phase 1 in two weeks.

cheers,

PV

 

[mavericknm]

I can't speak for others but this is how we've been doing it annd it seems to work (we won top drill team winthout arms 3 years running hopefully four). We do two hours and 45 minutes of practice each week. Occasionaly there are all day practices which last about five hours. While it does seem quite little, our drill team does start amost immediately in the training year. The team is usualy selected early october. Furthermore our drill team is usualy senior with about half compromising senior NCOs. If practices seem so long I recomend adding breaks, giving free pizza or giving free cup cakes. Cup cakes is definitely a recuring theme that goes well with drill.

 

[Kid_Recruit]

  I just wanted to congratulate all of you on keeping a strict drill team, unfortunately my corp was unable to conceive a drill team due to lack of interest and time available for practise.

Keep up the good work 

 

[bbbb]

It is my opinion that drill team is the elite team of an air cadet sqn. To be on the senior drill team is an honour. Times are changing however and what worked in 1990 dosen't neccessarily work now.

We had problems in my last two years of cadets (after I left Ottawa and the illustrious 632 sqn) with regards to drill team. It was very taxing on those who were on the team, resulting in low sqn interest in the drill team. Our practices were on a weeknight and lasted 2.5 hours (or longer) every practice from sept to annual. Any practice that runs over 1.5 hours is too long. A 15 min break for a 2.5 hour practice just won't cut it. Your people will be tired and unable to perform at their max performance. One hour and a half should be the max time for a practice, that's it no longer. Any longer and that particular practice will be too much of a commitment for many. You may notice that I never said what sqn I transferred to, that is for a reason.

Everyone gets tired and even frustrated in the weeks just before a competition. Don't let it get you down as I know you'll all pull together and have great drill come competition day. I'd go cheer you on myself but work makes that impossible.

632 rocks!

 

[NavalGent]

When I was a cadet, our weekly drill team practices were normally 1.5 hours each. We would have drill w/ arms for 1.5 hrs and then drill w/o arms for 1.5 hours (not to mention a 4 hour band practice afterwards). There were many people on both drill teams and the band, and there was usually a short break between the practices, as well as frequent opportunities between run-through's of the routines to stretch, bend etc. as recommendations/corrections were being made. This relaxation of the enforcement of rules was appropriate as we all knew to shut up and not to move etc. when it counted, and because we were there on our own initiative, demonstrating our willingness to work hard (as opposed to someone forming up for extra duties, for example). I remember being tired after these practices, but the knowledge that this kind of dedication might (and often did) lead to victory at competitions kept the enthusiasm fairly high.

That being said, I do believe there are limits, for example, the 9 am - 9 pm band practice that I saw happen the week before comps one year in my navy league corps (back in the mid 90s) was too much, especially for 10-12 year olds.

The recipe for success, from my experience is:
- the team starts practicing early in the year,
- practices are long enough to be effective (which depends on the team's experience, attitude etc.),
- practices occur frequently enough for continuity (weekly is good),
- the team is treated and coached well (freestyle routines not changed etc.)

 

[yoman]

When I was a cadet, our weekly drill team practices were normally 1.5 hours each. We would have drill w/ arms for 1.5 hrs and then drill w/o arms for 1.5 hours (not to mention a 4 hour band practice afterwards). There were many people on both drill teams and the band, and there was usually a short break between the practices, as well as frequent opportunities between run-through's of the routines to stretch, bend etc. as recommendations/corrections were being made. This relaxation of the enforcement of rules was appropriate as we all knew to shut up and not to move etc. when it counted, and because we were there on our own initiative, demonstrating our willingness to work hard (as opposed to someone forming up for extra duties, for example). I remember being tired after these practices, but the knowledge that this kind of dedication might (and often did) lead to victory at competitions kept the enthusiasm fairly high.

Problem with this is that if you start relaxing the rules, your team will become unfocused with leads to a lot of time trying to get people to shut up (as in my case). There has to be an equal balance, breaks are very good for the moral and should happen at regular intervals.

Now an other problem is that some of the people are at cadets from 8 am to 5 pm on a Saturday. In that time some of them have very little time to eat to relax. So when it's drill team time, some could be pretty tired. An example of that was last weekend I had about 5 hours of drill almost straight. One and a half hours with the junior drill team, two and a half hours with the senior team and 1 hour getting band ready for a drill competition.

 

[NavalGent]

Problem with this is that if you start relaxing the rules, your team will become unfocused with leads to a lot of time trying to get people to shut up (as in my case). There has to be an equal balance, breaks are very good for the moral and should happen at regular intervals.

My mistake, I was unclear. What I meant to say was a good ol' "stand easy; relax" between run throughs is better than a "DON'T MOVE, HEAD AND EYES DIRECTLY FORWARD, CHINS UP SHOULDERS BACK, EVEN THOUGH YOU ALREADY FINISHED THE ROUTINE BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA!" between run throughs, because THAT would create morale problems. I know all about the importance of discipline on parade, but its far better to have them get a bit of respite while still formed up so as not to waste time sending everyone on an actual break.

That being clarified, I maintain that the rules of drill should be adhered to and enforced more strictly while running through the routine than when waiting between routines, as anyone on a drill team should know when it's time to shut his/her hole and stop moving.

As far as the long practices... it should be one of the things considered at the beginning of the year by individuals wanting to do everything. If you get tired and cranky, better stick to only one or two teams.

 

[lovinghockey2]

My core... we started practising back in October. We were working on our silent routine, and now we have that perfect. Then when we got the silent routine down pat, we worked on the mandatory one. We practise on fridays at our armouries, from 7-9. We are currently practising durning our band nights on mondays, from 6:30-9, and now we've been working on our normal cadet nights (thursday) aswell. Drill comp is on SUNDAY, and we're just trying to get top cadet... especially top ARMY cadet.


Each core is different then each other. My core might pracitse 2 hours a week, and yours might practise 5 hours a week. My core might win comp because we get a lot accomplished durning our 2 hours. We have all cadets who have been in cadets for atlease a year for the most part, and we never had to cut any cadets. We currently have 14 cadets on our team... and the drill commander is falling in with us to do the silent routine.

Hope that answers your question.

 

[Burrows]

CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS CORPS !!!!!

 

[condor888000]

Core?