Defining the A Class...An Instructor's Perspective

A Class. What does it mean? The WGI manual would describe the class in the following terms: 

• It’s the understanding and achievement of the tenets and principles in each caption
• Layering of equipment on some body and some phrases done while traveling.
• Staging choices will provide the performers with the opportunity to show growing comprehension of challenging spatial relationships, speed/method of moving and orientation
• At the highest level of A Class, those whose students have mastered basic skills will be offered the opportunity to demonstrate some intermediate Open Class skills

The actual sheets that reference the criteria uses the following words to describe the A class:

• Good
• Greater Depth
• Growing level
• Usually
• Some more mature approaches
• Good knowledge of the fundamentals of design
• Staging fully reflects the basic musical structure
• Arrangement displays a successful blend of design
• Adherence to style is good
• Methods and techniques reflect a good degree of physical and mental development

But what is A class, really? Is A Class the words on the sheet or the make up of the guards in the class? On the surface, it would look as if A Class is for a winter guard getting their feet wet in the activity for the first time or a guard that sets its goals based on organizational needs or barriers such as money, facility, time, or membership commitment. A Class on the surface, is the perfect place for a guard who for example, is struggling with an inconsistent membership. It's the place where a new designer can explore the possibilities of their creativity and talent. It's the place where a technician can learn more about the training process, cleaning, and working hand in hand with their choreographer. 

The "A Class" is an enigma and always has been. When you listen to instructors talk in critique or over a glass of wine, they compare the words on the sheet to the practicality of its application. What does "good" mean? They look at the top guards in the class and say, "No one in A class should be doing an ensemble phrase that ends in a triple salchow." (insert post Olympic humor) The guards sitting in the potential medalist spot respond back by saying, "We just want to medal" and "We would never survive in Open," when the Open Class is just as confusing. The conversation is a virtual mathematical given every February. But what is it and why can't we define it?

At the 2013 World Championships, the Independent A Class finalists were made up of 3 guards who came from current world class colorguards; Onyx, Zydeco, and USF. Other colorguards in the class list their staff of well paid designers who coincidentally come from some of those world guards previously mentioned. Other units are off shoots of drum corps and universities. Many have sophisticated websites, staff's, and some with financial backing. In fact, there were only 4 teams in finals that I couldn't identify of having assets of either a staff with a sophisticated history in the activity or organizational backing of a strong non-profit structure. (It doesn't mean they didn't have it. I just couldn't find the information)

So what do we do with this information? The reality is that none of us would pay to see finals at WGI if the guards on Friday night were doing drop spins and three count tosses. We can't fault the judges. They score based on the presentation of the guards of the day. If the guards are pushing the skills and achieving those skills, then the judge has no choice but to credit them. WGI is also in a difficult spot, because no one wants to create a mandatory skills list. If we do that, then we are walking the slippery slope of some Olympic sports such as ice skating and gymnastics. They can promote those guards, but what happens when they can barely survive in Open and end up back in A Class a couple of years down the road? We see THAT scenario all too often. Finally, we can't fault the units. Each year they look at the finalists and try to determine which skill set will be the most beneficial in the next season. The guards look at the finalists and know they are competing against longstanding world class designers, so they ramp up the skills. This in turn creates problems at the local level with guards who are just "doing too much" without the training to achieve.

On the surface it looks like there is nothing we can do. This sport, just like all others evolves and grows. What World Class is today, will be A Class in 10 years. Each year training for guards becomes more and more sophisticated to compensate for the system. Some guards are now requiring cross fit training. They have hired professional fitness experts and dancers to train their guards. This costs money. Dues go up. Rehearsal times lengthen and without even realizing it we have crossed into the world of sport over art. 

Each year I hear people try to blame WGI. I can't however, figure out what WGI is supposed to do. Do you tell Onyx they can't bring out three colorguards and take up space in three classes? Of course not. It's called free enterprise and may the best man win. We use to have a promotion system based off of a number every weekend, but the "bump score" was eliminated, because of the subjectivity of show dynamics and the fact that the bump score didn't take into account a number of issues that created scenarios where a guard might throw the show to avoid the bump score. What we have now is an even more subjected system with promotion by committee. 

So what do we do? What is the answer? How do guards figure out how to write a show that is supposed to be based on basic to intermediate skills and still survive? I can't tell you how many times I've heard an instructor say, "I just want to medal in 'A Class' and move on." Ten years later they are still waiting for that medal. I suggest the following:

• Start with education. Our education system for instructors is weak at best. Every sport I have researched has annual and sometimes semi-annual conferences. They have coach certification programs. They have money management, risk management, and board development classes they are a requirement to attend. Train the instructors how to read a recap. My God! Could we try to make that any more confusing for an instructor? Factor...don't factor...50/50 split...factor...don't factor. Why wouldn't they be confused? Teach them about how to work hand in hand with a judge at critique. 

• Create dialog. Encourage dialog. Seek dialog. Don't shut dialog down. If the A Class beyond finals is a catch all for guards who are still trying to figure it out, then why wouldn't we want to elicit as much feedback possible? Why wouldn't we want to know what they are confused about and then...why wouldn't we do everything in our power to make them successful?

If the education and dialog truly existed, then we might just see an explosion of guards into Open Class and less guards falling out of World Class and into oblivion. 

• Collect data and then share that data. If someone could really see that their dream of medaling at nationals is not and cannot be a whim that occurs randomly, then maybe they would see time as a tool that brings longterm success for their program. The evidence shows that finalists guards have years upon years of failure and success to their name. They have created organizations with a federal tax status and their instructional personnel are not fresh from the performance field. Show them that yes, there are outliers, but those outliers are rare in comparison to what really happens. 

To become a finalist in any class requires work that goes beyond good design and technique. It is pain staking organizational level work and steps cannot be missed or taken for granted. We don't always teach that and in fact, rarely have that conversation. Many people around the country have said that "A Class" is the cash cow for the activity, while the World Class gets all the perks. Being on staff at a program that has explored all realms of the classes, I can assure you that is not the case. I do however believe that there are decisions made to support the World guards that does not look at the consequences on the A and Open guards.  It's hard all over and the one constant that I keep coming back to is that without the three points made earlier of education, dialog, and data, then we will never build the cohesive understanding of the classes we are all so desperately wanting. 

This is a competitive activity/sport. It's expensive and the time spent on just one 5 minute show is absurd. So why wouldn't an instructor or director want to medal and medal now? In this 24/7 world of immediacy, it is really hard to slow down and say, "Wait! The world has changed and there are steps that are necessary to success and that success is pain painstakingly slow." We should stop and talk about what it is that's happening. I wonder the following. When we eliminated the age out rule in World Class, how did that decision filter into the other classes? If a guard has 60 kids show up to their auditions and half of those kids aren't kids, but 25 year old professional performers and the 18 year old who would have made the world class guard 10 years ago is put into the A guard, then how has that changed our current A class structure? Maybe it did and maybe it didn't?  When we instituted a policy where World Guards can march 40 members on the floor, did we create unintended consequences for A guards in the same area of the World units such as in Ohio? We can't possibly know without data. Maybe it's time we found out.

I'll end with this. Basic skills and intermediate skills are words we use to define the class and they are words that are similar to other sports that are subjective. In gymnastics for instance, a back handspring is considered a basic skill and the back handspring in isolation is done at the lowest levels. We all know that throwing a triple in second position, without anything following it, is a basic skill. So maybe, it's not skills we should be defining. Maybe we need to re-frame the dialog to not what you are doing, but what has it taken for you to get to this moment today and how can we move you forward?