Good Night--and Good Luck And Skill!!!!

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Ryan H. Turner
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Good Night--and Good Luck And Skill!!!!

Post by Ryan H. Turner » Fri Nov 21, 2003 9:58 pm

I have NOOOOOOOOOO idea if anyone is still on line or if anyone will wake up Saturday morning to see this--but I figured, what the heck?

I am getting on the road to go spend the night in San Diego so I'm ready to go bright and early in the morning, and I was thinking as I was packing how fortunate I am to be part of the greatest activity on the planet in the best area of the country. Then I got all sentimental and weepy, and my wife had to get out of her sick bed and come kick me in the bumm and tell me to be a man for God's sakes.

In any case--as we head into Championships...a few cool words and acknowledgements...

To all the directors who work their collective tails off year in and year out to provide quality education, great instructors, and interesting and challenging shows to your kids--THANK YOU!!! Southern California marching band has been a part of the Turner family since 1970, and I for one know that the directors are a huge part of the success of their programs and shows--both on and off the field.

To all the hard working boosters, parents, and administrators that support this activity--To say thanks seems so incredibly paltry to the greatness and love you bring. Boosters organize and finance these kids, parents, you BIRTHED these kids :D , administrators, you support these incredibly VISIBLE representation of the very BEST in today's youth, and it's incredible this "THING" we call pageantry and what these kids can do. It's because of these "behind the scenes" folks that we owe a lot to.

To all the assistant band directors, admin assistants, instructional staff members, creative folks, designers, "dot writers", etc, etc--to the ones that do it for the RIGHT reason to further the love that YOU learned about this activity from a director or staff member--to help kids be the best they can be by being the best YOU can be in front of them....BLESS YOU!!! I have been "in the trenches" since the day I graduated high school in 1984, and I've had my share of crap and my share of glory. But in the end, I don't think I'd be the nutcase fireball that I am now if it wasn't for the MANY opportunities I know I've had across this great region of ours. So to all of you "support instructional and show staff" folks--DO THIS FOR THE RIGHT REASON!! And success will follow....to all you knuckleheads that want to relive your corps glory days or scam on high school students....NEVER let me meet you!!! :evil:

To the SCSBOA and the judges--being a judge myself in other areas of the country, I KNOW the pressures...I know the gig. To the judges that honestly try to go out and do a great job Saturday after Saturday (and to those few judges that wear parade AND field hats simultaneous--a SPECIAL thanks!), THANK YOU for doing a great service FOR THE KIDS!! (Side note--haven't been to a WBA show this year, but hopefully their whole organization is built on making sure it's FOR THE KIDS...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight??????)

And lastly----to the students....the ones that PROBABLY won't read this because they'll be too nervous to get online and too cramped for time...

Thank YOU for getting out there, sweating, straining, trying, doing...and bringing on to the streets and fields of southern California pageantry some of the most incredible performances that can be put on by a troop of so many performers at one time. THANK YOU!!! Thank you for your leadership, your commitment...and to those that don't get it. Either you will or you won't, but if you DO get it, you'll understand that in 20 years, unless you're a MAJOR FREAK like myself, you'll forget ALL about the scores, and remember the "other" things that make marching band so incredible. And I hope one of those things is the thrill of getting in front of a group of people that PAID MONEY TO SEE YOU....and watching and FEELING them react to what you do with their applause and support!!! When you get that bug in you (the PERFORMANCE BUG), it's hard to ever ignore it for the rest of your life. But most of all, go OUT AND DO THE BEST YOU CAN DO!!! Because that's ALL that you CAN do for sure...you can't control the scores, the opinion of a judge, the weather, the size of the trophy, or the color of your buses. But you CAN control just HOW MASSIVELY AWESOME YOU PERSONALLY CAN DO!!! Soooooooooo, GO DO IT!!

Thanks...just HAD to get that off my chest before I get on the road. And considering I type about 120 words a minute without looking at the keyboard, that took me about, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, 10 minutes to type!!! POOR KEYBOARD!!! It's poooooped!!

SEE YA IN SAN DIEGO!!!!

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