The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    The Football Team or the Marching Band — Who’s Being Left In the Turf?

    The Football Team or the Marching Band -- Whos Being Left In the Turf?

    Monday. The cycle has begun again, and you can smell the turf, sweat, and tears in the air.

    The long hours gearing up to weekly game are about to begin, and neither the football team or the marching band are ready. Both teams spend anywhere from 3 to 6 days a week practicing plays, charts, and music all leading up to Friday.

    I recently interviewed one of the team captains Justin Steiner, and one of the coaches, Mr. Thome. For the Marching Band I spoke with Mason Orlando, one of the field commanders, and one of the band directors, Mr. Steinbrunner. Let’s start with Justin.


    Q : How often do you practice during the week?

    A : “We practice 6 days a week for 3 hours with individual training and running plays, with lifting twice a week.”

    Q : Do you have any sort of pregame rituals with yourself or the team?

    A : “I try to make myself angry thinking of Algebra 2, and we have team dinners twice a week.”

    And now for Coach Thome.

    Q : How often do you spend a week planning plays/sets for your team?

    A : “I take an average of about 20 hours a week planning, and then 3 hours everyday with the team.”

    Q : Do you have any sort of pregame rituals with yourself of the team?

    A : “The day before a game I like to take time to myself to just be alone in my own world, meditation time.”


    Next up we have the Mason answering the same questions about the Band.

    Q : How often do you practice during the week?

    A : “We have evening practice two days a week, 2 hours and 45 minutes on Tuesday, then for 1 hour, Auxiliary has 2 hours and 30 minutes on Thursdays. Each section has morning practice for 45 minutes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.”

    Q : Do you have any sort of pregame rituals with yourself or the team?

    A : Before any game or performance we have potlucks for team bonding, and we have a ritual where we put on our uniforms and tuck on each others collars for good luck.

    Last, but certainly not least we have Mr. Steinbrunner.

    Q : How often do you spend a week planning plays/sets for your team?

    A : Drill takes about 4 hours per song, organization takes about 4 hours, and any extra things and rewriting and such take up to 8 hours.

    Q : Do you have any sort of pregame rituals with yourself of the team?

    A : Honestly no, I like to make sure I am using all of extra time to be organized and make sure the band is ready so we can have a stress free performance.


    In the end, both the football team and the Marching Band work hard to do what they love; some practice more than others, but the game is the real test.

    More to Discover