First week of October
This first week of October finds the Oscar Smith Band Booster Club in high gear. Three critical events this week: Thursday's home JV Football Game; Friday's away Varsity Football Game; and Saturday's Marching Band Competition. Read on, as several of these events have time-sensitive deadlines, one as soon as Wednesday night!
Thursday's JV game. This is the first home JV game of the year for Oscar Smith High School ( the previously scheduled game having been moved due to hurricane concerns). The band does not attend as a band (i.e., they won't be in the stands nor will they perform at half-time). But the OSBBC will sell concessions for the game. We make money and also provide an important service for the Oscar Smith community. To provide that service, however, we need volunteers. It's a much smaller scale than varsity games - we only open one concession stand and have smaller crowds. The challenge is that the JV games start earlier (6 p.m.), which means we need volunteers there earlier as well (5 p.m.). It doesn't take nearly as many volunteers as a varsity game, but by my last check, we didn't have very many volunteers for Thursday's game. PLEASE VOLUNTEER! This is one of the few opportunities for band members themselves to volunteer as well. Please go to this link: bit.ly/OSBBC_JV
Friday's Varsity game. As a general rule, Thursday home JV games are followed by Friday away Varsity games, and this week is no exception. This Friday, the Varsity Tigers will go on the road to take on Nansemond River and the Marching Tigers will be right there to cheer them on. As usual, the marchers will need to report to the band room after school for Pizza Friday ($2) and rehearsal. The buses will depart at 5:30. According to Google Maps, Nansemond River High School is about 30 minutes from Oscar Smith High School, without traffic. A Remind text will be sent when the buses depart the game. If you aren't receiving the Remind texts, be sure to text @oscarsmi to 81010
Saturday's Marching Competition. On Saturday, the Marching Tigers will compete in their first marching competition of the season! Not only will this require the very best from the marchers themselves, but will also require heavy participation and coordination from the band boosters. First, the basics:
- Marchers will need to bring lunch to eat on the way
- 11:30 a.m.: Rehearsal begins
- 1:30 p.m.: Buses depart OSHS, with marchers dressed in uniform bottoms
- 3:30 p.m.: Warm up
- 4:30 p.m.: Performance
- After performance:
-- marchers change out of uniform and into sweats
-- marchers eat **see note below**
- 8:30 p.m.: Awards
- Remind text will go out when buses depart competition. According to Google Maps, the competition (at Wanner Stadium in Williamsburg) is about an hour away without traffic.
- 10:00 p.m.: Approximate arrival time back to OSHS. Remember that marchers will need to help unload gear.
**eating at the competition**
As veteran marchers/parents will tell you, eating at a competition is always a challenge. Imagine the rush at concessions that we get at home whenever one band lines up to eat. Now multiply that times all the bands that are competing and you begin to get some idea of the backup that occurs at all competitions. To help solve that problem, the competition hosts for Warhill have offered a pre-order option. If we order in advance, we'll be sure to get our food and at a discount. The trick is that we've got to get our order in by Wednesday. That means that we must collect Marching Tiger orders by Wednesday night, or marchers are on their own for getting food at the competition. Same for parents who are attending - same line or same discount.
- How do you order? Bring an order form with exact change (bills please) to practice by Wednesday.
- Where to get the form? I will try to get the form to Mr. Elgin so he can print them for Tuesday night. The form is also available online at this link or on the documents page on this website. We will also email the form.
***Booster Help***
We need a robust pit crew for this competition. We need to load the truck with props, speakers, uniform buckets, instruments, etc. Then we unload at the competition, push the gear to the field, assemble the gear, run the show, break down the gear, push it to the truck, and load the truck. At the end of the night, we unload the truck. It takes a lot of hands! So we really need your help.
Please sign up here: bit.ly/OSBBC_Competition
Critical links:
- Volunteer for JV Game: bit.ly/OSBBC_JV
- Volunteer for Competitions: bit.ly/OSBBC_Competition
- Remind alerts: text @oscarsmi to 81010