So yesterday was my first official football game working with the equipment for the marching band. I quickly discovered it's a lot more work than you would think. To start out we- me, Sydney, *Bianca, and 2 other people- had to write out jobs. I was in charge of the long ranger- it's kind of like a bull horn and a stereo that has a microphone attached to it for the solos, Bianca and another girl were in charge of setting up the yard markers and bottle head bands for "The Bottle Dance" number, and Sydney and the other guy had to set up the 5'5", 50 pound podium for the drum majors to conduct on. That only took about 10 minutes.
Before the game I learned how much goes into the band uniforms. To start they usually wear shorts, the band T- shirt, and black knee high socks. Then they have these snow pant type pants that go over the shorts- they're black with built in suspenders.Over that goes a jacket that hooks in the back with a zipper, 3 snaps, and hook on the neck. To top it off there are the hats with feathers on top, marching shoes, and gloves. I was in Mr. Band- Director's office when a girl cam in with the side of her pants broken. Mr. Band- Director said she should try to find someone to pin them back together, but since I was in the room I offered to fix them for her. I then got to fix 2 other people's pants XD. I went back in the band room to discover a lot of people were having trouble with their jackets, since I was already changed in my color guard uniform- even though I'm not technically in color guard yet I still do dances in the stands with them- I decided to go around and zip, hook, and snap people's uniform for them. As a joke the band kids say, "I need a hooker" to get someone to hook their uniform. I also braided 3 girls' hair- the unwritten band hairstyle.
Before we lined up I needed to get all the equipment set up on the cart to wheel it over to the field which took a few minutes. When there were 6 minutes left on the scoreboard till halftime, we remembered we still had to fix the yard markers- the yard lines weren't correct for the band so we had to use pieces of paper and a Sharpee marker and most of the papers had ripped. I got to sit on the ground a scribble out all the numbers really quickly. We lined them all up when there was a minute and 30 seconds left like we were supposed to, but our football team was like a certain football player from the NFL....
So every 2 seconds there was a time out or they just had to set the ball back up. Eventually the football players got bored and started stepping on the yard markers, so of course I had to go out and move them. I don't think I told you this, but although I'm about 5'7" I'm the tiniest thing. It was quite terrifying to go up to the 6'5", 200 pound, fully padded football player and say "Excuse me" to move a yard marker back. Lucky me had to move 3 yard markers. It wasn't that bad though, because most of them moved without even looking up at me. Then I had to set up the long ranger.
These are the pieces needed for setting up the long ranger:
(Objects from left to right) Sound piece, stand, and microphone
So to set this up, by yourself, you need to start by setting up the 10 pound stand that likes to open easily until you stand in front of all the cheerleaders and the football team. After much struggle, you can finally get it open. Next, you have to put the- despite looks- 25 pound sound piece on top the set. Then you need to carry the 15 pound microphone stand over the benches and out to the 45 yard line. Once you think it's perfect, you discover the long ranger needs to be put on the track, so when you think you can just pick it up and move it the stand closes up. The lucky person then gets to twist the sound piece off and start back at square one- minus carrying the microphone out. After struggling to do this in a minute and a half, you get to sit back and watch the show.
Luckily all my hard work paid off. No we didn't win the game. We actually lost 0- 35. I got complimented for all my hard work by Mr. Band- Director. Since I had to go through his office to go from the supply closet to leave out the band room door, I said good- bye to him and said I had a lot of fun, which I did. Then he said, "Kailyn you were great today. You just came out of no where then helped with the equipment, the pinning, and the uniforms. I can tell we're going to have a good year." I calmly thanked him, but in my head I was thinking:
Although I had to do a lot, I can't wait for the next game! It's going to be the day before my birthday (October 15th is the game day)! The captain of color guard is going to teach me some flag basics on Tuesday so I'm so excited! I'm also going on my trip to Europe this summer!!!! I can't wait for that. It's going to be my first time over the ocean and away from my family for more than a week (2 weeks to be exact). Hopefully this good streak will last. Till then,
Bless ya! Love ya!
Kailyn Wolffe
*All of the names marked with a "*" are NOT real. I made them up myself.
