Is Marching Band a Sport?

no, it is certainly not a sport, because for something to be a sport there has to be a definite winner or loser and marching band doesn't have one. competetive marching like in battle of the bands where there is a winner, that's a different story just like cheerleading isn't a sport until competetition time. just because you get hot and sweaty doesn't mean it's a sport. i get hot and sweaty when there's no air conditioning does that make me a fucking athlete?

 

I'd say it's a sport. It's certainly treated as such. Blimey, they even cheer in the audience rather than appreciating the music from what I've seen. It's certainly physically demanding and it's not there for people to listen to it - it's there for people to watch. As far as winning and losing goes well bollocks to that. It's about taking part, innit (or the sense of futile despair depending on which country you're from).

 

BAND IS SO A SPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. MAN I GAVE UP 3 WEEKS OF MY SUMMR VACTION FOR BAND CAMP. its deffintly a sport. 3 weeks! from 730- 400. honestly its one of the most demanding things ive ever done. i also play the sousaphone ( tuba) which weighs like 30 lbs. us band people are probly tougher than the football team. and theres so many things to think about. keeping the bell forward, technique, memorings drill sets and music, playing well. in my own opion it should be a olympic sport.

 

cough cough. What do you mean sousaphone (tuba) - can I therefore say I play the saxophone (oboe) ?

 

Here we don't get PE credit for marching band. We get $700 a year to run a $30,000 program.

 

Oh man, I used to have so many crushes on band dorks.

 

We don't get PE credits for marching band at my school either, but I know at some they do.

I would consider it a sport, personally. It's athletic. We compete. We are a team in our own right. We just don't really get the respect we deserve. I don't think a lot of people realize how hard a serious band works. I didn't until my first year.

I'm on drumline. I would like to invite all of these "it's playing an instrument while walking" folks to come to camp with us. Put a 40+ pound drum on your shoulders, march around on your toes from 8 am to 8 pm on the blacktop during the hottest part of the summer (in the South, no less) with sweat in your eyes and blisters on your feet, while trying to stay in step and play at the same time, doing all your drill and music from memory, and when you piss off the drum major, you go run laps (in step). Then tell me we're just walking around with instruments.

To those who get it, no explanation is needed. To those who don't, no explanation is possible.

I guess I just think people should try it themselves before they dismiss it so quickly.

 

you're an idiot...that's like me saying...i spent 3 weeks of my summer smoking weed...put me in the olympics motherfucker. i spend hours practicing my guitar.i use technique and have to memorize thing...does that make me and athlete or olympic material? hell no. the lady above me hit the nail on the head. it's an art not a sport.

 

I think that marching band could be considered a sport, since it's different than the non-sport concert band. Either way, I wish I would have participated in high school. I went the chorus route, which was cool, but the band folk always seemed to have more fun.

 

are you talking about a parade band or a competitive band?.....because trust me anybody in a competitive band will tell you that it's fucking hard.....parade bands are easy, all it is is walking in a straight line

 

our band doesnt do any competive stuff, and i did say it is hard. i dont know what i would do if we had to compete, probly die.

 

yeah, competition band is fucking hard....i'm about to go to a 4 hour rehearsal where i'm going to march drill over and over again with a 50 pound drum on..... hard stuff..... especially when you have diagonals or when you have to crabwalk which is usually always for drummers

 

I would say, yes. At my school, marching band is brutal. Even the athletes in the band get exhausted every morning.

 

i did marching band for five years from 8th grade on through high school. now in those five years i also played sports....mostly lacrosse. marching was physically demanding yes.....but there is no sport it in....competition yes, sport no. i never got tired during the whole shabang. wasnt tough stuff....

 

gee, did you happen to play flute.......a little 2 pound instument......

i'm telling you try lugging around a fifty pound set of drums on your shoulders while doing marching band, definitely a tiring task

 

i was captain of the pit.....i had over 2,000lbs of equipment to haul out to the field every day. 45 minutes to get everything out....another 45 to get back in....ive also had to march long ass parades with cymbals. our band was poor and we didnt have marching cymbals, so i had to use the 20" concert crash cymbals....not much heavier than that to be held up by your arms....no harness.....and no set of drums you march with are 50lbs.

oh and yes, it is a physically demanding task....but its NOT a sport.