A/N: This is my new ongoing debate for whether or not Marching Band is a sport. Review your arguments for or against, and I will post them if I find them worthy. In other words, if I haven't already posted something like it, it will be posted eventually. If you want a faster argument, PM me. I will start:

Disclaimer: I will try to state all of my sources when arguing. Please do the same if you want to add to it.


Yes, it is a sport.

I might be somewhat biased as I am in my school's marching band (Go Liberty!), but check out the definition of a sport.

According to Oxford-

Sport: noun: An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

I highly doubt that anyone would deny that marching band requires a lot of skill- if not, then imagine having to remember three plus pieces of music- every note, rhythm, crescendo and decrescendo, fermata, accent, and accelerandos and ritardandos -combined to last over seven minutes, along with drill charts for each piece of music, then march on a field- which can be extremely dangerous if you're not paying attention or mess up (imagine a 40 pound sousaphone tripping over you. If that doesn't phase you, imagine 5th base landing on you. If you still, somehow, think it's not dangerous, imagine one of the guard members' flags hitting you on it's way down. Yeah, might hurt a bit.) -but you also have to have perfect posture, great marching technique, and, along with all of this, you still have to be musical with your playing. We are a team, in fact one of the only teams where we have to have every member, good or bad, to do our best (the others being indoor drumline and drum corps. (Tell me if there are more!)) We compete against other competition bands, with judges watching our every move, ready to mark us down with every little mistake. And there are people who absolutely love watching marching bands.

The only part that's hard to convince others on is physical exertion. We do conditioning, we run before we march, we pretty much run as we march (average top tempo for a marching show is 180bpm. Go to an online metronome to see how fast that is.) We also have to go from one speed to double or half that speed or even a completely unrelated tempo within the space of one beat. Not even a second. Also, a common saying in my band is "If it hurts, you're doing it right." This applies for slides, straight legged marching, etc. It's so physically exerting we get a PE waiver for it. Two seasons of marching band, you don't need to take gym. We use up at least twice as much oxygen as any other athlete as we have to put a lot of air into our instruments but we also move around as we're doing so, so our muscles use the oxygen too. And we literally bust our chops. Playing any instrument as loud as we have to on that field for seven minutes, much less the three and a half hours we practice for (three days a week), will do that. Taking that information in, do you still think it's not as physically exhausting as listed sports like bowling, where you have to move two steps forwards and let go of a ball, then you get to rest? NO BREAKS IN MARCHING BAND! If you need a break in the middle of a run, practice or not, you tough it out. If you start slacking because you need a break, you'll have the entire rest of your band mad at you. Not to mention the techs, the director, and the field commander(s)/drum major(s).

According to Merriam-Webster (in case one definition wasn't enough for you)-

Sport: noun: A contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other; a physical activity that is done for enjoyment.

Only difference here is the specific set of rules part. We have rules. You can only be on the field for so long. You have to be on the field for at least so long (I think it's seven minutes). NEVER play at a competition unless your band is given permission to warm up or it's your turn to compete. And so on. These are only some of the major rules that could get you disqualified or knock you down quite a few points if you don't follow them. And then there's the in-band rules. Always knock on the bathroom door before, during, and after practice in case someone is changing. Be open minded to criticism. It's only there to make you better. MOTIVATION! (the most important rule.) Always do the most you can if you're sitting out. Go over your music in your head as you follow your dot, march your dot without playing. Whatever you have to do to stay caught up.

And that is my argument as for why marching band is MOST DEFINITELY a sport.


A/N: Any arguments? Agreements reinforcing why marching band is a sport? Comment them. Yours might show up in a later chapter.