ARVADA, Colo. — The first stop on our “Hearts of Champions” tour is Ralston Valley High School where they’re on track rebuilding their marching band program. Two years ago, the band from the Jefferson County School District went to the semi-finals at the Colorado Bandmasters Association’s 5A state championships in Colorado Springs for the first time in more than 10 years.
Last year, the marching band placed 13th in semi-finals and missed the cut off to qualify for finals by four tenths of a point. Although the 4A and 5A finals were cancelled due to weather, Head Instrumental Teacher, Kelly Watts uses that near miss as motivation for this year’s summer band camp.
“They want to get back to semifinals, that’s definitely their goal this year,” Watts said. “They are eager, they are hungry, they want to get those 4 tenths of a point back and be back in semi-finals.”
The group of 46 members were hard at work putting in long hours on the practice field during their summer band camp. The two-week camp takes place in the triple digit heat of late July and early August where students get in shape, learn the basics of marching and playing so they can learn to perform an eight-minute show. A show they’ll perform while marching, running, playing their instruments and spinning flags.
“It’s a lot of work,” said Lilly Gustafson, senior flute section leader. “It’s not just walking. You have to have a certain motion to it and multi-tasking with your playing and understanding angles and how to make a good sound while you’re running around on the field.”
Sophomore RJ Gold is the trumpet section leader for the band who learned how to multi-task last year. He was a freshman who was juggling marching band and playing football.
“The schedule was crazy,” Gold said. “I didn’t have any time for after school marching band rehearsals because that’s when all the football practices were, so I missed a lot of important things.”
This year, he’s focusing on marching and working to make it back to the state championships. He said marching band is like football, everyone working towards one common goal.
“It’s like this is your moment, you got to own up to it and you got to show up,” Gold said. “The final moment at the Air Force stadium, it’s pretty cool.”
It’s a mindset that Watts tries to instill at band camp so the freshmen can work together and bond with upper classmen before the start of the school year.
“They’re already going to have a group of friends, “Watts said. “They’re already going to be able to have a community that makes high school not as scary.”
The camps are a kickoff to a new school year that has these marching band members learning valuable lessons before the first bell rings.
“The end goal is to always be the best they can be, “Watts said. “The placement doesn’t matter as much as making sure they feel proud of what they’re doing on the field.”
Editor's note: This story is part of 9NEWS' "Hearts of Champions: Marching across Colorado" series, where we're highlighting marching bands across the state. Watch our full stories Friday mornings through the middle of September.
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