Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008 the band will compete in its final competitive event for the 2008 season.  The Festival of Champions will take place at the University of Central Missouri and is a different type of event for us.  This competition features a preliminary and finals format.  If we score high enough in the preliminary round, we will make it into the finals that evening.  The event takes place at Walton Stadium on the UCM campus.

                The bandroom will open at 11:00am.  Buses will load at 11:15am and we will be on the road by 11:30am.  Once we arrive in Warrensburg, we will unload and change into our uniforms.  Our preliminary performance time is 2:50pm.  Once we finish, we will change out of the uniforms and return to the stadium to wait for the awards presentation which is set for 5:00pm.  Finals start at 6:30pm and run in 15 minute intervals.  Our exact performance time will be determined by our prelim. score.  The higher our score, the later we perform.  We must end up in the top four places within our class to make it to the finals.  Our class, the large class, consists of Fort Zumwalt, Sedalia-Smith Cotton,  Lee’s Summit, Lee’s Summit West, Parkview, Shawnee Mission South, and Troy-Buchanan.  We definitely have our work cut out for us. 

In the past few days we have discussed the challenges of competing with such a large number of holes due to schedule conflicts with other events and athletics.  I applaud your insights and efforts as we have tackled these challenges.  You have done great work and I am proud of the maturity you have exhibited in this tough situation.  It is behind us now.  If we do our best, both marching and playing, I think we have a chance to make the finals.  Your playing scores will be high; it is your marching scores which we must focus on.  We have made major changes to the drill and you have worked very hard to get here.  We do not want to take away from all the quality work you have done this week due to poor or sloppy marching.  As we agreed, if we make it into the finals, the people who were not with us in the preliminary round should be able to join us that evening.  Either way, go out and do your best.  This is the last performance of the season.  Make it your best and don’t let the obstacles associated with these schedule conflicts cloud your focus.  You are a strong and very formidable band.  Go out and show everyone what you can do.

Best of Luck to Each of You

Dr. J                                        Mr. Bon                                 Mr. Bailey                                               Mrs. Frame

In regards to when we might be home.…

                It is hard to determine our return time.  If we are eliminated in the preliminary round, we should return to Platte City around 7:00pm.  However, if we make it into the finals our return time will be approximately 11:30pm.