Would you consider marching band/drum core a sport?

[Curious Strange]

I'm fairly new to this forum and would like to know: Would you in your opinion consider marching band/drum core a sport. The definition of 'sport' from dictionary.com:

–noun

So some would argue that it is not because you don't use a ball, but here you have fishing/hunting which I'm sure a lot of people would say are sports. The marching band I'm in goes to competitions against other high schools and goes to drum core competitions all the time, so yes marching bands and drum cores do compete for awards just as basketball/football/etc. teams do. It requires so much skill that if you're not in it you couldn't even imagine. You have to memorize and play your music while keeping perfect form, holding your horn up, and hitting your spot at the right time, hitting horns up/horns down in sync with everyone else...so much to say, not enough room in this forum to explain.

So, GovTeen, do you think marching band/drum core is a sport?

EDIT: To support my argument I'll post some quotes I found off of Yahoo! Answers:

Oh yes, marching band is most definitely a sport. You have to be able to do all kinds of movements, including jazz runs, obviously marches, and sometimes dances. We were even required to have a physical to prove that we were healthy enough to participate, as in all sports. Marching can take a lot out of you, those of us in the band know that

Yes, it is a sport... along with cheerleading and all those other activities that include physical exertion that other people don't consider as "sports". It requires a lot of skill to be a good marcher, and by the time you're done, you're sweaty and pretty much dead from all your marching and playing. Marching bands also do have competitions like other sports (at the high school level)... and it's just as hard as any other sport, if not a lot harder. The dude that said it's not an athletic activity doesn't know what he's talking about* because it most definitely is athletic... and that's probably where the "MB is not a sport" comes from.... people who think marchers are just people walking around playing instruments when it's a lot more than that.

*This was not at any posters here, this was at a poster from Yahoo! Answers

A sport is defined as "An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively." Marching Band in it's most modern incarnation is often competitive with organizations such as DCI (Drum Corps International) representing the highest level, and college and high school bands are very often competitive, competing in BoA (Bands of America) and at the district and state competitions, very similar to any other sport. Marching Band also requires much more physical prowess that most people give it credit for. It is not as noticeable to the untrained eye, because much of the physical exertion goes directly into the instrument. To give you an idea of what it is like to be in a marching band (if you aren't in one) imagine power walking at a fast pace repeatedly for 15-20 minutes at a time while constantly blowing up a balloon. This will give you some idea, although add to that wearing a stuffy wool uniform in summer heat while trying to remember 15-20 minutes of music and complex drill formations. Oh, and no matter how tired or sweaty you get you have to remain perfectly at attention. No wiping sweat from your eyes or water breaks. In addition, there are many rules regarding competition depending on which competition you are in. I will not go into detail, but you can easily access them online. In short, Marching Band is most definitely a sport.

To Mods: As I said I'm fairly new here, so if this belongs somewhere else move it.

[Sparticus]

I would still have to say no.

[Curious Strange]

And why is that?

[JerzeeKing]

i mean yes and no . like there is like motion to it so sortof but its not really a sport .

[Malevolent]

Originally Posted by Sparticus

I would still have to say no.

I agree. They're just no physical enough for me to consider them a sport.

[Curious Strange]

Originally Posted by Sexy

I agree. They're just no physical enough for me to consider them a sport.

But you consider golf, fishing and the like sports? I've done all three, and if you haven't done marching band I could understand how you might not think it's physical, but it is. For example, when you're marching backwards, you have to stay on the balls of your feet (your "platforms") the entire time, which is really a workout for your calves. And you have to have complete control over your upper body separated from your lower body or you'll have "feet in the sound" which means that your sound will be all bouncy, which is bad. And don't even get me started about learning all your sets (places where you have to be at a certain beat in the music) one by one over and over again outside on a hot football field..

[Malevolent]

Originally Posted by Curious Strange

But you consider golf, fishing and the like sports?

No, I do not.

[Sig]

Golf is a sport. Fishing is not. I am unsure about marching band because I'm unsure of the nature of it in itself.

[SecularHumanist]

ESPN considers it a sport.

As a longtime sports fan, I have always regarded "the game" almost as an art form. The technique, the hours of intense practice, honing the skills required to perform at a maximum: These are characteristics shared between athletes and artists.

Yet it seems too often that both fans and performers alike cannot draw the connections between their crafts and realize the true beauty of what they do, and why they appreciate the game or the art in the way they can.

The stereotype plays out where the "band" is ridiculed by the football team. The quarterback is never in the band room, and the painter is never in the weight room, but the musician...the musician, I have found, has become the bridge between what we consider "art" and "sport," making them one and the same.
A little-known activity with a surprisingly large and active fanbase, Drum Corps International is a competitive marching arena in which 22 world-class marching ensembles square off in over 100 events during the summer spread over 40 states.

The goal of each corps, comprised of brass instruments, percussion, and color guard, is perfection—not out of neurotic habit, but out of a necessity to be great, much like the drive of an NFL team to become Super Bowl champs.

Each corps puts on a 10-13 minute "show," which is generally a display of musicianship and body movement judged by a cast of eight specialists who critique and score a specific caption, such as music, color guard, visual, or general effect.

Much like many X-Games events or Olympic figure skating, Drum Corps International is an event in which each performance is judged one after another, the highest score at the end of the performances being the winner.

But the beauty of the activity is not so much in the system in which is it executed, but in the process by which champions become champions through the power of music and performance.

In 2005, DCI teamed up with ESPN to put on a two-hour special showcasing the 2005 summer music games World Championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. In the broadcast, ESPN highlighted the physical conditioning it takes to be a contender in the marching activity.

Dr. Jeff Edwards, the chair of Physical Education and Athletic Training at Indiana State University, measured the metabolic rate of a marching member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, IL to determine the extent of physical strain marching corps puts on the body. His results were astounding.
Dr. Edwards noted that even before the corps began their routine—even before he had put his drums on—the percussionist's heart rate had jumped to 180 beats per minute, which he compared to what happens to an athlete when the gun goes off.

The sympathetic area of the nervous system triggers what Dr. Edwards compares to an "adrenaline rush."
I loosely translate it as the power of performance.
But the astounding findings didn't end at the beginning. Edwards concluded that beyond the initial heart rate spike, during the performance, the percussionist's metabolic rate was 13 times that of his normal resting heart rate, to which he remarked, "The oxygen consumption is about where it would be in the middle of a marathon for a well-trained runner.

"If you looked at the heart rate, however, you would think you were looking at someone running a 400 or 800-meter dash. He's working very hard out there."
Heralded as "Marching Music's Major League," DCI is truly a unique activity-sport in which the artistic concepts of sports jump to the forefront of the activity. In fact, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young described DCI as "the ultimate team activity" after attending the 2007 DCI Stanford show with his family.
He mused that an activity where championships are won by every single member of a 150-person ensemble performing their exact assignment at their best is truly a unique and commendable experience.

I usually find that people who don't consider marching band to be a sport have never tried anything as difficult. Try marching precisely, keeping careful track of your location and that of those around you, carrying an instrument that weighs anywhere from 1 to 40 lbs, breathing out 90% of the time, and playing memorized music for 10 minutes. It isn't easy.

[Proggite]

Even though I'm a proud band geek, I'm going to have to say no.

[The Raven.]

I'm in marching band, and I don't consider it a sport.

[Sparticus]

Originally Posted by Curious Strange

And why is that?

Because it's not.

Originally Posted by Curious Strange

But you consider golf, fishing and the like sports? I've done all three, and if you haven't done marching band I could understand how you might not think it's physical, but it is. For example, when you're marching backwards, you have to stay on the balls of your feet (your "platforms") the entire time, which is really a workout for your calves. And you have to have complete control over your upper body separated from your lower body or you'll have "feet in the sound" which means that your sound will be all bouncy, which is bad. And don't even get me started about learning all your sets (places where you have to be at a certain beat in the music) one by one over and over again outside on a hot football field..

That stilll doesn't make it a sport.

Originally Posted by Proggite

Even though I'm a proud band geek, I'm going to have to say no.

This

Originally Posted by Gagné

I'm in marching band, and I don't consider it a sport.

And this.

[eJ_nehpetS]

I consider it a sport, as I do it (I play sousaphone in marching band / tuba in concert band). I had my first "real" practice a few months ago (for 6 hours), and the next day I couldn't even walk. I have practice every Tuesday and Thursday now from 4-8pm, this Friday it's 9am - 4pm, and Saturday is 10am - 4pm.

[Sparticus]

Originally Posted by eJ_nehpetS

I consider it a sport, as I do it (I play sousaphone in marching band / tuba in concert band).

That's a valid reason to consider anything a sport

[eJ_nehpetS]

Originally Posted by Sparticus

That's a valid reason to consider anything a sport

Obviously.