Two weeks from today we depart on what is guaranteed to be an incredible cultural and musical experience. Having the opportunity to visit so many historic sites in France and Germany, living with a German host family for a week, and performing several concerts for appreciated audiences is simply something that doesn't happen every day! It will certainly be a tour you will never forget!!But beyond these opportunities we have a mission. That mission is to do battle and defeat our Musikschule friends on the football pitch! (we call it a soccer field...)
A time-honored tradition of this exchange is for our District 99 Honors Band to play soccer against the students of the Bietigheim-Bissingen Musikschule. Unfortunately for the USA, the D99 squad has not traditionally been up to par with our German colleagues. While the detailed records of these matches have been lost to time (thankfully), we believe we've only tallied one (MAYBE two...) victories over all the years of the exchange. That one victory is symbolized by the solitary star on the crest logo of our tour jerseys. Our hosts do not expect much of a fight from us... That star on the crest looks awfully lonely...
THAT WILL CHANGE THIS YEAR!
To prepare for our match we have secured field time on DGN's Carstens Field AND two former DGN Soccer coaches to help us train and develop some strategy. Mrs. Lois Graham (current DGN Social Studies teacher, former soccer coach) and Mr. Bob Graham (retired DGN Social Studies teacher, former soccer coach) will be with us on Tuesday, June 7th. In addition to providing us with some soccer help, they will be giving us some great information regarding our European tour - refreshers on the historical significance of the sites we'll be visiting, tips for traveling in Europe, and the importance of soccer in European countries.
Please note the following changes to Tuesday's rehearsal schedule:
- 8:00 - 9:30 - Honors Jazz Rehearsal (as originally scheduled)
- 10:00 - 12:30 - Honor Band Rehearsal (as originally scheduled)
- 12:30 - 1:30 - Tips for Touring Europe with Bob and Lois Graham - NEW ADDITION TO SCHEDULE - Please bring a sack lunch to eat during this session.
- 1:30 - 3:00 - Honors Band SOCCER PRACTICE - NEW ADDITION TO SCHEDULE - Please make sure to have appropriate footwear (and shorts, etc.) to participate in a helpful and FUN soccer practice! Attendance at this session is not required, but strongly encouraged for those who would like to represent our team! We will be putting together our starting lineup based on this practice.
Thank you for making these adjustments on your personal calendars!
