Thank you!

We travel the country and from coast to coast, and there are several key mistakes we see many JROTC drill teams making that hinder their overall success! Whether large or small, well-funded or under-funded, eliminating these key mistakes will result in a more productive, effective, and cohesive drill unit!

OUR TOP 10 LIST OF JROTC DRILL TEAM MISTAKES:

10. Low Engagement:

In today’s society, kids are not used to sustaining attention on any one task for the duration of time drill team requires. With video games, instant communication, etc., it’s more important than ever for drill team coaches and commanders to keep their cadets engaged 100% of the time on tasks designed to improve their ability and focus. Keeping an urgent pace throughout practice, consistently keeping them moving from Point A to Point B, and knowing when to ramp up intensity and when to let off are all key components in keeping their brains where their bodies are: on the drill deck. Anything that detracts from engagement or slows the pace of practice needs to be eliminated immediately. Time is a perishable resource that cannot be recovered once lost; identify every moment spent on something counter to the mission at hand and find ways to redirect that time to practice.

9. Lack of Time Management:

Drill is inherently a numbers game that is played out by the coach and cadet commander on the drill deck at practice each day. With multiple disciplines to tackle – regulation, inspection, exhibition, and color guard – many teams fail to prioritize and create a time management schedule which allows for effective progression in all phases of competition. As a general rule, color guards should practice at a separate time (or involve separate cadets) from the drill team blocks to avoid downtime for the other drill team members not involved in this 4-person endeavor. Exhibition, while it takes the most time to put together, shouldn’t always trump regulation, the seat upon which excellence in your unit is built. Ultimately, what many units realize once we begin to help them manage their time more effectively is that they simply don’t have enough hours in their current schedule to accomplish their desired mission and must adjust fire.

8. Not Practicing Enough:

To be successful in each phase of drill takes time and sustained effort. We understand: JROTC Instructors have families to attend time, lives outside of practice, and other personal attentions that are important to them as individuals. Students have homework, jobs, social lives, etc. However, all successful, competitive units know that sacrifice is necessary to perform at a high level. It’s often the most difficult question you’ll ask of yourself as an instructor (or your teammates as a commander) at the start of each season: What is our goal and how much time are we willing to give to our goal? Do the two factors align effectively with one another? We aren’t saying that every drill team needs to practice 20 hours a week from August to May. But if your goal is to compete successfully at a National level and you aren’t willing to devote those kind hours, it’s time adjust your goal to keep it reasonable to the amount of time you have available to accomplish it. This is a decision that must ultimately be made by the Junior ROTC Instructor. There is no “right” or “wrong” amount of practice hours a week a team needs, but there are reasonable expectations that come with each kind of schedule.

7. Allowing Cadets to Form “Cliques”:

Nothing separates and divides a drill team like one in which “cliques” form and others are pushed away. The best drill teams spend more time with each other than with any other group in their lives. Why? Because the bond they form goes beyond the drill deck but translates to their performance in competition. Spending time together outside of practice and including EVERYONE – not just the team members you may like as the cadet commander – will drastically improve morale and help work through the inevitable conflicts drill teams will face as a result of natural teenage drama.

6. Taking Breaks:

When we go to a school, the first thing we teach is the “Gush ‘n Go” style of water break. Hydration is important but it does not take 10 minutes to hydrate adequately. Let us break this down: For every 10 minutes spent on a break, it will take the same amount of time to re-engage the team in their particular task to the point they were at before they took that break. From there, it will take an additional 5-10 minutes to progress past that point. If a team takes two 10-minute breaks in the course of a two-hour practice, they’ve effectively given up twice that – 40-45 minutes – in real, gain-making practice time. If a team practices five days a week, they’ve lost HOURS. Multiply that by an entire season and they’ve lost DAYS of practice time. Our teams only ever “Gush ‘n Go:” They leave the block, grab a quick gush of water, and double time back to the block immediately. We do this often to ensure that cadets remain hydrated AND checked-in to the practice environment.

5. Allowing Cell Phones at Practice:

We can’t help it: cell phones are a huge part of our lives. However, whenever a drill team member stops to check their texts, snap a selfie, or even make a call, their brain is instantly taken away from the drill pad and placed somewhere else. The enemy of progression is the consistent need to re-focus cadets who could otherwise be engaged (see Mistake 10). One practice that has become common is designating a “cell phone box,” often a plastic container, cardboard box, or ammo can, where each drill team member is expected to place their phone at the start of practice. Parents and guardians should always have the instructor and school phone numbers so reaching a cadet in case of emergency is a non-issue. This way, cadets won’t have the option of “checking out” of practice and “checking in” to Facebook at any time during practice.

4. Alienating New Members:

A “tradition” has lost its worth when its only justification is “It’s always been done this way!” and nothing will shut a program down faster in today’s litigation-sensative society than any act that might be construed as the dreaded “H-word”: Hazing. In the most extreme cases, National-caliber programs have been benched because of acts against underclassmen billed as “rights of passage” or “traditions.” But let us ask a simple question: What purpose does it serve to break a new member down in any way, shape, or form? Does it teach them to be a productive team member? Or does it simply perpetuate a cycle in which upperclassmen look forward to doing to others what was done to them? Every JROTC instructor must be in tune with the culture of their drill team and strive to create an environment where new members aren’t looked down upon, forced into positions of servitude, or otherwise alienated from the rest of the unit. On game day, a judge doesn’t have any idea who is a new member and who isn’t; it serves no purpose to do anything other than build these cadets up so they can succeed as part of the team.

3. Allowing the Team to be “Cadet Driven” vs. “Cadet Led”:

Often we ask a program about the instructor’s involvement on the drill team only to hear something like, “Well, we want the team to be cadet-led to make it a leadership lab for their growth.” This completely misconstrues the meaning of “cadet-led”. Think about it: What football team allows its captains to decide the workouts and plays? What basketball team has a coach who sits in their office while the upperclassmen run practice? Drill is no different: 100% of the most successful drill units in the country understand that drill team is a huge leadership-building asset however those programs are adult-driven. The coach’s direct involvement in his or her team’s progression is essential for the students’ growth as people. Left to their own devices, cadets will not effectively lead each other without the role model of leadership found in their JROTC Instructor. We believe allowing cadets to run the entire show not only short-changes their success but usually fails to teach any leadership at all.

2. Lack of Instructor Supervision:

Sadly, the role of many instructors in drill practice is to unlock the armory at the start of practice and lock up the building when the kids are finished. However, not only does this detract from the leadership experience of a drill team, it also presents a huge safety and liability issue. Let us be clear: drill team practice SHOULD NEVER occur without an instructor directly present to supervise. We do understand the incredible amount of paperwork, grading, and other logistical tasks that must be accomplished but it’s a huge mistake to use practice time to accomplish those goals. When a cadet goes down due to injury, the instructor MUST be present to address it. When a dispute breaks out, the instructor MUST be present to mediate it. At the end of the day, it’s simply an unsafe practice to be anywhere but the drill deck while your cadets are practicing.

1. Treating Drill As a CLUB, Not a SPORT:

There are two types of drill programs in existence – only two. Drill is either an extracurricular activity or it is a varsity sport. An extracurricular activity has a supervising sponsor and participants who hold meetings and enjoy field trips. Several times a week, those students who share a common interest come together to participate in this interest with the goal of learning, enjoyment, and companionship. A varsity sport has coaches and players who push through practices to get results on the playing field. Every single waking moment is dedicated to performance on the field. From academic preparation to what each team member eats at every meal, everything is about the ability of the team to leave it all on the field when next they find themselves head to head with their opponents. The single most important hurdle to overcome in attaining the success YOU want to attain as a drill team is changing the mentality of the team from that of an extracurricular activity to that of a varsity sport.

Is your school making one of these critical mistakes? Check out the progression from BEFORE to AFTER in this unit after only a short period of sustained, intense practice:

Drill-Team Dynamics Inc. provides on-site drill team training for drill team units looking to take their experience to the next level! You can CLICK HERE to learn more about our services OR you can simply watch our staff of Drill Team Coaches in action: