Marching Band Camp

The marching band has a week-long camp every year in August, usually within two weeks of the start of classes. It's the time where we introduce new members to the basics of marching as well as learn the new drill and music for the halftime show.

This year, we are playing a selection of songs by Santana, a group I have never listen to before. Not knowing the music makes it more difficult to learn; just last year we had done the Beatles which wasn't hard for me to master because I already knew most of those songs by heart. The drill Dr. Stuber wrote is also quite complex, more so than usual. It was going to take a lot of effort to master.

Doing anything outdoors in Greensboro during August is a grueling task in and of itself, and learning the drill was no exception. Our outdoors sessions were complemented by intensive musical rehearsal inside the band room, which would quickly grow hot and stuffy as well. This was coupled already with my general distaste for marching band. It did not make for a particularly enjoyable week.

By the end of the week, we had pretty much mastered the music and had learned the drill to one of the tunes, though not without considerable effort. I was feeling overall pretty good about the show, especially since I had learned marching techniques that would have previously been unfathomable and mastered difficult music; even if you dislike something, it's hard not to feel proud after you have put a lot of work into something. Hopefully the student body will like it.

Given that this is my last marching band camp, I could not help but reflect on my overall experience. It has not always been enjoyable, and I don't think it's something I'll miss. But you'll have to do many things in life you don't want to, and marching band has taught that if you put in effort, you can at least be proud of what you did, even if the doing wasn't so pleasant or enjoyable.

YMCA Long Course National Championships

The YMCA Long Course National Championships was the culmination of my swimming training for the year. Held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center (site of the 1996 Olympics), the meet features some of the fastest swimmers in the country. This was my third time at the meet, having previously qualified when I was 15 and 16. I had qualified to swim the 100 and 200 back in the meet and I had signed up to do the 200 IM, 100 freestyle, and 50 freestyle as time trial events (as I did not have the actual qualifying times). The entire team went down to Atlanta as a group because for the first time we had enough qualifiers to justify traveling as a group.

As it was the meet I had been in a sense preparing for all year, I was quite anxious in the weeks leading up to it. I wanted to do well and drop time, but I was also worried about psyching myself out. Sometimes if you stress about a meet too much, you'll end up not doing so well.

Things started out well enough. I felt strong and fast in the water during warm-ups the first days, which put me at ease for a while. But I started to get nervous as the 100 back approached. I ended up dropping some time in the event, but not nearly as much as I wanted too - such a small amount that it was practically insignificant. Although disappointed, I tried to keep myself from being discouraged for the rest of the meet.

Overall, the meet turned out to be a mixed bag. Although I dropped time in several events, it was never very much, less than I was hoping. A high point was the 200 free relay, on the last day of competition. Our team placed in the top 16, a major improvement on our entry time and we got a ribbon (and the y-nats ribbons are pretty fancy). Although I was disappointed with my performance, I realize that I can't expect to perform phenomenally at every single meet. Going through periods of little or no improvement is just part of being an athlete, and I still have a year of training left to put in some more hard work.

The Georgia Tech Aquatic Center