Drill Design 101

So what exactly are all of those little dots on a drill sheet?  Could you put a dot on an exact coordinate on the drill sheet and then find the exact spot on the football field?  How do you know how far to move each member between each chart?  Do you have ways of cheating?

So many questions...........here come some answers!

If you look at a drill chart you will see a complete football field that is marked off in squares and yardlines.  We also use the front and back hash marks.  We use an "8 to 5" step which just means that it takes exactly 8 steps (at exactly 22.5 inches each) to march exactly 5 yards.  When we practice basics you will often hear an instructor saying, "1, 2, 3, HIT, 5, 6, 7, HIT".  What the instructor is pointing out when they are saying "hit" is that the members should be between a yard line on count four and back on a yard line by count eight.  We march basics over and over again so that our members can learn what the 8 to 5 step size feels like and so that it can become second nature for them to do.

Ok, back to the drill chart and the boxes.  Each box in the drill sheet grid represents 4 steps.  I can draw a dot anywhere on the paper and then find out on a real football field exactly where that dot should be by simply counting off steps.  A typical drill spot might look like this: Side one, two steps outside of the 40 and 4 steps in front of the back hash.  This may sound Greek to you or to rookie members - but they become experts in no time.  Once the members remember which side of the field is side one or side two all they have to do is figure out where the hash marks and yard lines are and use a 22.5 inch step size to find their spots.

As far as cheating - I do it all of the time!  Even when a form is a curve - I have set points in the form that end up on yard lines and hash marks.  The audience will only see a curve - but the members know where the cheater spots are located when they set up the form each time.  Anything that I can do to make the drill easier to learn and march......I'm gonna do it and the audience will never be the wiser!  I will answer the question about how I know how far to move each member between each drill set next week in the next installment of "Drill Design 101".

Today's marching member "shout-out" goes out to: Jamie (flute)