Some people may or may not know what drill team is because it is a very small and hardworking sport. It is an activity that is linked with the JROTC; it involves the elements of color guard but on a much more extreme scale.

Drill team meets three or four times a week and they can have up to two hour practices but on days before competitions they often have a five hour practice. Their competitions are on the weekend and they usually travel regionally for the events, competing in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Against other JROTC programs around here. There are many different parts to drill team; armed color guard, unarmed color guard, unarmed regulation, armed inspection, unarmed inspection, armed exhibition. Haley Murphy ‘18, Kaitlyn Vitzhum ‘18, Matt Hampshire ‘17 and Jenna Williams ‘17 of the drill team all agree that exhibition is their favorite. It is usually about 2-3 minutes long and it usually duo or solo. Their main events are like color guard where they have a certain routine to a certain time but instead of having flags it is rifle spinning with ‘demilitarized 1903 Springfield rifles that weigh about 8.5 pounds’.

Some may think that it gets boring at times but they say that it really is not. “At times it gets repetitive because you do the same routine over and over and the same movements” said Murphy.

“People’s personalities make it more interesting and fun and not boring,” says Vitzhum.

They all agreed that the best part of drill team is that they all become family. It is a small group so they all get to know each other really fast. Traveling and the long practices give them plenty of time to bond.

They are always looking for new members and they would love to have new people to the team. It takes about two to three weeks to get the hang out it but after that members get used to the practices and the whole team supports you and they help you out when you can’t get things down. Murphy, Vitzhum, Hampshire and Williams never have had any other experience before this they all either decided to try something new or there sisters or brothers did it before them. They all agreed that Considering the amount of time and dedication it takes to succeed, if they could describe Drill team in three words, they would be “Drill is life”.