World of Pageantry

Someone asked over in perc land how many classes there were in NCBA. It was taken one step further and the NCBA classes were put with the equivalent WGI classes/titles. I’d like to see how that would pan out for guard. I know NCBA has A LOT of guard classes I just don’t know how many or what they are.

What are the NCBA guard classes and can someone give what WGI class they would most likely fall into? Thanks.

NCBA Classes:

Novice B-Lower half of the Novice division. Brand new guard with Very limited experience, a very inexperienced and/or no instructor, and very limited resources.

Novice A-Upper half of Novice division. Basically the same criteria, with maybe a slightly more experienced instructor and more resources. Typically brand new students as well.

The Novice division would be the lower end of Scholastic Regional A comparitively I think.

Intermediate- Typically groups with limited experience and younger instructors. Design starts to play a little more into the shows in this class, but remains fairly simple.
Intermediate is kind of comparitive to lower-middle SRA class in CCGC

Advanced-Show design and skill level plays more of an effect in this class, some challenges are introduced to the members, and there is slightly more complex design typically, while the work may remain simple. Groups in this class tend to be in the top portion of SRA, and occasionally in SA in CCGC.

Scholastic- Fairly similar to Scholastic A in CCGC, though some groups have been in Scholastic AA in the past.

Open-
Guards in NCBA's open class have fallen in both Scholastic AA (in CCGC, upper end of A in WGI), and Scholastic Open, depending on the group. There haven't been any world-class equals in NCBA.

This is all relative, and the circuits are so different that it doesn't hold true for every group. CCGC/WGI places MUCH more emphasis on the design of the show, while a standard of excellence is held for all divisions. In NCBA, a group who doesn't necessarily have the best design, but has better excellence with their show, tends to do better, IMO. But it really does vary. I've seen groups get KILLED in the SA class in CCGC, and then do OK at the same time in the NCBA Open division, so it's really hard to compare. I know that I've had a groups that has been beaten by other groups in NCBA, and has beaten those same groups in CCGC.
Hope that might have helped somewhat...

Sounds about right. Great job Ben!

guardthepiccolo wrote:NCBA Classes:

Novice B-Lower half of the Novice division. Brand new guard with Very limited experience, a very inexperienced and/or no instructor, and very limited resources.

Novice A-Upper half of Novice division. Basically the same criteria, with maybe a slightly more experienced instructor and more resources. Typically brand new students as well.

The Novice division would be the lower end of Scholastic Regional A comparitively I think.

Intermediate- Typically groups with limited experience and younger instructors. Design starts to play a little more into the shows in this class, but remains fairly simple.
Intermediate is kind of comparitive to lower-middle SRA class in CCGC

Advanced-Show design and skill level plays more of an effect in this class, some challenges are introduced to the members, and there is slightly more complex design typically, while the work may remain simple. Groups in this class tend to be in the top portion of SRA, and occasionally in SA in CCGC.

Scholastic- Fairly similar to Scholastic A in CCGC, though some groups have been in Scholastic AA in the past.

Open-
Guards in NCBA's open class have fallen in both Scholastic AA (in CCGC, upper end of A in WGI), and Scholastic Open, depending on the group. There haven't been any world-class equals in NCBA.

This is all relative, and the circuits are so different that it doesn't hold true for every group. CCGC/WGI places MUCH more emphasis on the design of the show, while a standard of excellence is held for all divisions. In NCBA, a group who doesn't necessarily have the best design, but has better excellence with their show, tends to do better, IMO. But it really does vary. I've seen groups get KILLED in the SA class in CCGC, and then do OK at the same time in the NCBA Open division, so it's really hard to compare. I know that I've had a groups that has been beaten by other groups in NCBA, and has beaten those same groups in CCGC.
Hope that might have helped somewhat...

Thanks! This should help me out with my lil project!

OK the NCBA website isnt up to date yet...... so what is the maximum time for Novice guards?

I know that Novice B has to have a shorter show then Nov. A right? What is that time limit?

Does anyone know what happens if you skip a year of WG.. does your guard get knocked back down to Nov. B? We got no information with our applications on which Novice Guard we are listed as....... Thanks in advanced!

You're supposed to mark the class you think that your guard is best suited for.

Hey Ben, great job!

And Pittech, for a more detailed read on relativity take a look at some of the rankings at the regionals for those groups that have dipped a toe in the WGI pool -- Foothill, Golden Valley and Benicia Middle come to mind immediately. It's also pretty intriguing to review the recaps from CCGC shows -- Armijo, Granite Bay, Benicia High, San Mateo, Del Mar and several others have crossed over from time to time with some surprising results.

Can you tell I've been to way too many colorguard shows? Egads!


.

some other points of reference for NCBA Open -

Fairfield used to do both circuits up until 2000. Their A guard was NCBA Open, and WGI Scholastic Open, B guard was NCBA Scholastic and WGI Scholastic A, and C guard was NCBA Advanced and WGI Scholastic Regional A. That same year Wilcox, Granada and Vallejo were all in NCBA Open and CCGC's A Class.

Other examples would be 2005 Santa Cruz, they were in the SAA class over a CCGC and in Open at NCBA. Fairfield came back to NCBA in 2005 as Open but were also a CCGC SO group. I believe that year Fairfield got beat by Santa Cruz.

Same thing in 2007, MIT and Foothill. MIT participated in both circuits as NCBA Open and CCGC SAA and did well that season. Foothill went to the Union City Regional as Scholastic Open and made finals that night while being an NCBA Open group. Yet in NCBA MIT came out on top.

2009, Jesse Bethel and Benicia did both. Those two were both in SAA at CCGC and Open in NCBA and pretty much traded places all season in both circuits. Benicia Middle has always done well in CCGC, even against the high school groups in SA and SAA. Yet in NCBA they're only allowed to compete in against other middle schools, I'm sure their probably in the highest middle school class.

Long story short NCBA's open class probably doesn't have the most direct translation into WGI and these are some examples that I could think of.