Over two dozen marching bands from schools all over Texas gathered at McLane Stadium on Saturday to compete in the Bands of America (BOA) – Waco Regional Championship.
According to KWTX, a total of 28 school bands competed, hailing from South Texas, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin.
This year marks the first that the marching band competition was held at McLane Stadium. It was formerly held at the Waco ISD Stadium.
Speaking about the turnout, the BOA – Waco contest director, Barry Morgan, emphasized the fighting spirit of bands from Texas.
“They’re all from Texas and we’re glad to see that. Texas bands are very competitive and seem to enjoy coming to our competitions,” Morgan said.
Students who compete in BOA perform in front of professional judges and receive feedback, according to KWTX.
Morgan said, “You know they’re here to compete for a placement but they’re really competing against themselves and the performance that they’re putting on, their responsibility.”
Waco High School competed in the BOA for the very first time this year. Tyler Sage, the assistant band director, shared his hope that the school would appear at the national competition one day.
“This is kind of our first experience dipping our toes hoping to move in that direction,” Sage told KWTX.
The winner of the Waco BOA was DFW’s Burleson Centennial High School, followed by Roma High School and Colleyville Heritage High School.
BOA is a musical program of Music for All, a non-profit educational organization that looks at music and arts education as a catalyst for student growth and achievement.
Funded by Yamaha, the BOA Championships are hosted at the top venues around the country.
Regional championships like that in Waco act as complete championships and educational opportunities in their own right. They do not qualify the bands for the Grand National Championships.
During regional championships, about 32 bands compete in a preliminary round and then 10 are selected to advance to the finals the same evening.
The Super Regional Championships is another self-contained championship that occurs over the course of two days, Friday and Saturday. Up to 84 bands are able to compete, with the event broken into preliminary and final events.
The Grand National Championships is open to all high school marching bands, first come, first served, according to the website. It lasts for three days and is divided into the preliminary round, semi-finals, and finals. Up to 45 bands can compete in the preliminary contest.
An upcoming Super Regional Championship will be held in San Antonio on November 4 and 5 at the Alamodome stadium.
The 2022 Grand Nationals will take place from November 10 to 12, the website shares. It will be hosted at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Texas schools competing at Nationals this year include Moe & Gene Johnson High School, Prosper High School, Robert E. Hendrickson High School, and Southlake Carroll High School.