Drill Team

[CAPis#1]

I'm interested in starting a drill team in my home squadron, but I'm pretty much clueless on how to go about getting the necessary experience.  Where do you get the specialized drill training?  Is there a school/academy that teaches tosses, spins, and other drill team skills?  Do I need to try and find a squadron that has an existing drill team and join that one?  Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
C/TSgt Wassenberg

[Eclipse]

"Drill Team", per se, isn't really a CAP "thing" anymore.  It's no longer part o NCC, and there's no
indication (publicly) that it's coming back any time soon.

Are you are part of your unit's Color Guard team? 

That would be the place to start.

[CAPis#1]

Yes, sort of.  We kinda just throw together some people when we need them, but I'm working on putting together an official one currently.  Thanks for the help!

[PHall]

Yes, sort of.  We kinda just throw together some people when we need them, but I'm working on putting together an official one currently.  Thanks for the help!

For what purpose? There are no CAP Drill Team comps anymore. Unless you want to compete against JROTC.

[Toad1168]

Yes, sort of.  We kinda just throw together some people when we need them, but I'm working on putting together an official one currently.  Thanks for the help!

For what purpose? There are no CAP Drill Team comps anymore. Unless you want to compete against JROTC.

They are doing a ungraded one at NCC this year.  Apparently some of the teams want it back.

[kwe1009]

They are doing a ungraded one at NCC this year.  Apparently some of the teams want it back.

Where did you hear that from?  That would be very surprising.  It went away because there were fewer and fewer teams competing.  I know that in 2013, one Region only had 1 team interested so they went straight to NCC without having to compete on any level.

[Toad1168]

They are doing a ungraded one at NCC this year.  Apparently some of the teams want it back.

Where did you hear that from?  That would be very surprising.  It went away because there were fewer and fewer teams competing.  I know that in 2013, one Region only had 1 team interested so they went straight to NCC without having to compete on any level.

On the NCC conference call.  We are competing this year.

[Eclipse]

Please no, seriously.

May wings can't even generate enough interest in this to have legit competitions, let alone at the region level,
and now NHQ wants to put DT back in the mix?

[Toad1168]

I got the impression that it was only a few teams.  Seemed like it was the ones that have been to NCC several times.  They said the drill comp part was to see how it went and determine if they want to put it back in.

Go figure, nobody likes change.

[cnitas]

They are testing a new event as part of the revised NCC:  -Color Guard Standard Drill- 

Not the old Drill Team competition. 

IMHO it should be a Standard Drill event as the cadets are supposed to learn as part of their progression, not color guard stuff...but nobody asked me.

[Mitchell 1969]

Getting back to the OP question, which included:

"Where do you get the specialized drill training?  Is there a school/academy that teaches tosses, spins, and other drill team skills?"

Tosses and spins appears to concern drill using rifles. Even when CAP had Wing, Region and National drill comps, rifles were not part of them.

If a local unit wants to start a drill team, there doesn't have to be a CAP competition before they can do so. There are local opportunities at parades or, yes, even competitions with other types of Vader programs.

My advice is to first determine if the members of the unit have the true commitment needed for drill team, without infringing on cadet program requirements, squadron activities and school. Then, start with the drill components and don't even think about spinning and tossing rifles.

[CAPis#1]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll try to put it to use.

[HGjunkie]

There are other drill competitions you can go to around the country too. USAFA for example hosts a JROTC competition every year.