Sunday Morning

Yesterday went by pretty fast. The kids were busy and all the volunteers we were busy getting food made and served. Breakfast was pancakes, sausage and fruit. Also the ever-present cereal, oatmeal and fruit, etc. We did have a bit of an emergency as the coffee pot was found to not be working. We had some instant coffee so that was available, but Neil volunteered to hit the Dunkin Donuts and pick up a box of coffee for the food volunteers, which was awesome.

The refer on the truck was not working so we were using coolers and ice and all that jazz. The repair guy came, found the leak, fixed it and the unit started cooling right away. Darren (the souvies man) went out and came back with a 100 cup coffee maker, and we ran a pot to test it out and the coffee was good, so we were set for Sunday morning!

Registration

We arrived in Northern New Jersey and got to The Cadets registration with 15 minutes to spare. I checked in with some old friends while the boys registered, dropped their gear and attended a welcome Hop talk. I put my stuff away and inflated my mattress and headed down to see what needed doing. Snack was to be hot dogs and fixings, and Kevin and I were on to get it done. We had some great new volunteer faces and many of the tried and true, so the work was easy and fun. We are just still up late because snack started a 1. So goodnight!
Matt

Cadets 2012 Begins...

Hello All,

Today we drive up to New Jersey for the first winter camp of the 2012 season. Liam and I are headed up with an additional 3 fellows who are auditioning for The Cadets. The ride is a bit longer today due to a change in venue, and the car is a little more full, but it should be a great trip and a fun camp. I will be making Light Tomato Bisque soup for lunch tomorrow, so that is awesome. I will write another post from camp!

Matt

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off To Finals We Go!

Through the magic of modern communications, I am writing this entry as we drive to West Virginia, where we will overnight with my little sister and her family. Tomorrow we will head off with them to complete the remainder of our 12 plus hour drive to Indianapolis, IN to see our son and The Cadet perform in the DCI World Class Finals in Lucas Oil Stadium. If you had told me one year ago that I would spend my entire vacation volunteering and then driving 700+ miles each way to see them again, I would have laughed in your face. What a difference a year can make! I wondered how this incredible year started; it was our son, Liam who started it all for us. Last November, he asked that his birthday gift be to tryout for The Cadets. But I think that the core values of The Cadets and the people involved with them has drawn me like a moth to a flame. My fellow volunteers are some of the best people with which I have ever worked. That goes for the volunteers who showed up on weekends over the winter as well as those incredible people who joined the tour. These people are amazing, each and every one, but most especially the ones that stayed with the tour for long periods of time (Patti, Kevin and Bob). They have my utmost respect and gratitude; and remember, they were taking care of my son too!

Though I had less direct interaction with the staff and admin team, I was able to observe how they interacted with the members, and it is clear that they are doing this to help them become the best they can be. As I have followed George's posts on both facebook and his blog, it is apparent that he is, and has always been, in this for the members. I have enjoyed his posts and I have attended a few "Hop" talks and that core belief has always shone through.

I can speak from my experience, and I bet that it is the same for the other volunteers, staff and admin; it is the members who draw us in and ignite in us a desire to help. I have said this before, but it bears repeating: these kids are the best, they are tributes to the families and friends who helped make them who they are. As a parent of a rookie member and a person of a certain age, interacting and supporting these young people gives me hope for a bright future for this country. They are some of our best and brightest and I am glad to have been able to help them in my own small way.

Right now, they are the verge of giving the 3 most important performances of this year and I know they are contemplating them with all seriousness and gravity, but I would like them to know that I already consider them champions in every way. They have given me and my family an undeniable gift, and for that, I will ever be grateful to The Cadets.

So that is why we are making this long trek across several states, picking up family and some friends on the way, and heading to Indy. We want to support this organization and most especially the members, because they have worked so hard and given of themselves so much to become The Cadets 2011!

Matt

Best Field and Facility

After the Georgia Dome, we headed North to our next housing site: York Comprehensive High School in York, SC. This facility is hard to explain without over-using superlatives. The field was so nice, the turf soft and easy to walk on; the buildings clean, new and roomy. The showers were excellent and they even had an industrial sized washer and dryer that was free to use. A real benefit when you find that only certain clothes that you brought on tour do not chafe and feel good in the heat. Getting those clothes clean means you can wear them again and be comfortable.

The Field at York Comprehensive High School

We spent a nice day at this facility and then headed to the show site in Rock Hill, SC. Sadly, the show was cancelled due to thunderstorms, so we packed up and headed on to Buena Vista, VA, our housing site for the Salem, VA show.

Here is a shot of my bed on the RV. I had been able to get a egg-shell pad from wal-mart so it was much more comfortable than it had been. I also got a fan and some additional hooks that made life on my bunk a little easier.

The Georgia Dome

After the Murfeesboro show, we headed down to Atlanta for a show in the Georgia dome. Our housing site was a High School south of Atlanta, later we headed up to the show site, The Georgia Dome. Here are a couple of shots and a movie of The Cadets in the Dome:

BBQ Spice Rubbed Whole Pork Loins

Liam and the other Brass Members lining up.

So many people in the Georgia Dome

George Hopkins and the Time Machine

I started this post on July 29th, so I thought I would use it to begin my wrap-up.

This world that I have stepped into, the world of drum corps, travelling, performing and and rehearsing has been quite an experience for me. I have only been with this organization for a short period of time; but in that time it has been wonderful, stressful, hard, hot and sad and joyous. It is a world of million dollar travel budgets and fleets of motor coaches and gangs of young adults striving, practicing and performing almost every night to crowds of people who know not only what it takes to do this thing, but what it takes to create and perform a great show. I have witnessed all this firsthand because I have been so very fortunate to be travelling with one of the best shows in the Drum Corps International Tour, The Cadets.

I and my fellow volunteers are constantly amazed at the young people who make up the members of this organization. As my fellow volunteers and I say "We do it for the Kids". I will expand on that, however, because these kids are an inspiration to me. I am sure that they sometimes complain and are down, but I have never heard one complain. They come through the food line, with a cheerful "Thanks!", even though I am sure that sometimes they may not be so happy about the food selection. We do our best to prepare food that will keep them healthy and performing at their peak. We truly care that we make them food that they enjoy and is healthful. Here is a picture of the dry-rubbed pork loins that we prepared in Atlanta before their performance in the Georgia Dome. We sliced them and served them with a gravy made from drippings. They were quite good and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Spice Rubbed Whole Pork Loins

I am also impressed with the Admin Team, they have hundreds of things going on each day, people to pick up and drop off, shopping, and many other things. Time is always on their minds, when to start ensemble, when to eat-pack-load, when to leave for the show and how long it will take to get there.

A interesting example of this is when the corps was practicing in Chattanooga, TN. The show, on the second day there, was in Murfeesboro, TN about 2 hours away. The interesting thing is that the show site is in Central time, while Chattanooga, where we were, was in Eastern time. Since we were travelling from Eastern to Central, we gained an extra hour because we would be to setting our clocks back an hour on the trip to the show. That extra hour was used to give The Cadets more time on the field before the competition. After the show we would travel back into Eastern and lose that hour, but it would happen while were were travelling that night. The Cadets used time zones to give themselves a little edge and to do that takes serious planning and execution.

Matt