Is marching band tougher than football?

I'm really sorry for asking this but it's been on my mind and I wanted some opinions. And sorry if you don't like what I have to say about marching band. This is also somewhat of a rant. For marching band, I know you play instruments and walk around. Practice I know you guys do. But i've never heard of you guys having to run more than football players do. You play an instrument, and walk around. For football on the other hand, you have to learn plays, what to do during the game, positions.

For your practice, you do the same thing. You practice playing your instrument and walk around. Football, you practice the plays, if you do it wrong, you do it again and there are consequesquences. It varies for us though. We have to do any of the following: Up downs, bleachers, timed bleachers, push ups, laps, ect. I've never heard of people having to run 10 laps if you do something wrong in band practice. This is also marching band from Temple City High, and the football team from Gabrielino High School. Sorry abotu what I said. I just don't like how marching band is considered a sport or that my girlfriend thinks that it's tougher than football.

So is marching band tougher than football? Is marching band more hard core than football? Thank you.

They are very different. Some positions in football are tougher than others and some instruments in band are too. In football you just play the game. In band you have to both be able to play the instrument and march. It's different from school to school. I played football at a school with a mediocre team and the marching band won the national championship. Many people only went to the football games to watch the halftime show.

Before any of you football guys say you don't have to be tough to be in band try huffing a huge tuba five miles through a fast moving parade.

Apples and oranges... I think there's no way to answer that fairly.

I marched for 4 years, but in my opinion, marching band isn't a sport. Everything that's competitive isn't necessarily a sport... like cheerleading, which I did for 12 years. I think both are definitely challenging and competitive in so many valuable ways, but I don't think a convincing case can be made that they're sports. Unfortunately for cheerleading, that wraps in a lot of difficult title 9 and funding issues.

WELL... The age old question is marching band considered a sport. In my opinion its not necessarily but they are VERY similar and that is why marching band is considered a "sport of the art". Now I have to say that marching band is not just playing and instrument and walking around its alot tougher and more emotional and competitive just like football. Also I find that very offensive considering I am in a marching band and also dating a football player who says the exact same thing. It's something you'll probably never understand unless you want to. Back to your question. Band is pretty tough and so is football ,but I doubt any football player that says that could sucessfully be in a marching band. Just to explain "band" a lil to you... well first things first you have to play an instrument which is not easy . Second you have to have the marching technique down and be some-what in good shape to be able to last through a 5-10 min show. Then theres the you know bein able to play and march at the same time, which is kinda like running and trying to hold a steady notee and your instrument steady... its tough! It takes a lot of "mental toughness" as well. Like my teacher always says its like being a athlete below the belt and a professional musician above. The competitiveness is just like any other sport just a little more subtle and intense. Well the practices , for me , are just as tough. I go home sore just about every day. Theres the 9am to 9pm practices and the 5pm to 9pm on school days practices. Then theres the worst part of it all BASCIS which is exactly what it is, basics, which is practicing marching technique over and over and over again ,its horrible. Its like any other work out. Theres standing at attention holding that heavy instrument forever or drum which is just as bad.Theres the need for perfection, no excuse, perfection means better scores,better scores means...WINNING! IF YOUR NOT FIRST YOUR LAST !Performing is amazing, its probably the greastest feeling ive ever felt , its like every moment that led up to this one was worth it , all the jocks and their egos, all the miles you ran, all the pilates, all the basics blocks, all the sun burn , all the times when you felt like quiting, the drama, the bad days everything and I say its all worth it. So i'll leave off saying you cant knock it till you try it !

They are both equally hardcore, and equally as difficult. In marching band, our drills (the forms in which we march) are very similar to the plays/positions in football. Given, football players have to change their plays depending on what the opposing team is doing. However, remember that we have to do it with instruments. Imagine even going around half the speed that you do in football while only being able to take very short breaths of air. There are also specific guidelines for what we are supposed to do before and after we are on the field, which I won't go into. This is the same in our practices.

I have no idea why you haven't heard of people in marching bands getting punished for doing something wrong. For us, we typically get pushups or laps for things like being late to practice, not listening to our section leaders, or having rough rehearsals. While they're not as intense as the punishments you do in football, we still have to do them. (I actually have to run 3 laps tomorrow because some of my section was goofing off instead of moving down to the field.)

Sport (noun): an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. By this definition, football and marching band are both sports. Don't judge the difficulty of what you haven't done yourself.

Well I would say that marching band is a sport but I guess it varies. I'm not going to say that its tougher than football because I dont play football... but I would say this... actually marching and walking around are two different things. Marching requires one to work alot more than walking. We have to learn drill (Where we need to be on the field) and memorize it. We have to learn music and memorize it and we have to keep our grades up to stay in it just like any other sport. Sometimes the football coaches dont let us practice on the field. So guess what we're stuck with the cement. As for discipline I'm sure you dont have to do push up on the cement in the summer. We also have to run laps around the field in its entirety. If we are setting drill on a practice and you lose your coordinate sheet (the paper with the drill on it) We have to do 30 push ups or 3 laps around the field.