Pride Sample

One accomplishment that I am extremely proud of is of our drumline getting our

first sweepstake of this season and the first year to continuously sweep at every comp

we've been to except for two. The season for our fall drumline was off to a really rough

start since there was only one returning snare, two returning tenors and only two

returning basses out of six. We barely had one incoming freshman so it was hard to find

others to be dedicated enough to join. Thankfully though we pulled through and got

three snares, three tenors, six basses, four cymbals, and four mallet players, but it didn't

mean that it was going to be easy at all. Since we had so many new people it took a lot

of time for them to learn the basics and how to properly march so it took a lot of our

practice time just doing basics. I was especially nervous since we didn't have our full

show, nor did everyone know the full show for the first competition. So our first

competition comes by and we edned up getting last place, which was very sad but this

didn't mean that we were going to give up. We had two weeks until our next

competition and everyone worked their butt off to get the whole show down and ready to

perform. People were staying up late, taking time out of class, staying after school,

basically doing anything and everything they can to better themselves so we could have

a better drumline. NCBA Elk Grove came around which was our second competition

and we were all extremely nervous since we weren't sure that all of our hard work would

show through. We warmed up and I just felt butterflies in my stomach because I was so

scared that this season would be how the rest of them are, trying our hardest and doing

the best that we could but never really getting recognized. Right before we went on
everyone was excited but nervous as well, you could see it in their faces, but we went

out there and everyone performed their hearts out. Our coaches said that it was an

amazing run but others thought we could've done better. Personally, I thought it was a

pretty solid run for only having four practices together but I honestly just enjoyed it and

had the most fun I could because I know that it was one of the last times that I would

ever perform there.

Awards are just around the corner and I'm standing in my uniform with the guard

captain and drum major talking to all the other drum captains there about their runs and

how they did, then we get called for line up. My heart is seriously pounding by this time,

walking up to the stage as awards start, and I start to get more and more nervous when

they start to hand out all the awards. The time comes where they start announcing

percussion awards and they finally get to first place and Merced doesn't get called up.

At that point, I was not upset nor sad that we didn't get placed, but I was happy because

I knew that we had a really good run and that's all that matters. Then they started calling

the sweepstakes awards which are basically the best of the best at that competition and

to everyone's surprise, Merced was called up. I literally was non stop smiling as I

accepted that award because to me, it's not about the place that we got, but the fact that

everyone played their hearts out on that street and pushed themselves every day to get

better in order to show everyone that we, The Merced Marching 100 drumline is serious

about this season and we earned this sweepstake, that's what really made me proud.

The fact that people were trying and actually enjoying the season is the true reason as

to why I couldn't stop smiling that whole day after awards.