For sports fanatics, Friday night means football and cheerleaders, but people often forget about one component to Friday night lights: Marching band.
Some people may argue that marching band is indeed a sport, but others beg to differ.

“It does get exhausting sometimes, especially adding on homework and a social life, but I love doing it because of the people and the show that I get to create with them,” said junior Sara Grammer.

The marching band starts practicing three weeks before school starts. The first two weeks they practice in the hot summer weather from 8am to 5pm. On the third week, they have three hour rehearsals every day. During the school year they also practice every day.

“Marching band is a sport in the sense that it is a very physical activity. From the marching, to holding up an instrument, and then moving constantly as you play. It requires not only physical strength but mental and emotional strength as well,” said Grammer
Many people define a sport as something that requires physical activity. Others say you should compete against other teams for something to be a sport.
“I do believe marching band is a sport, people may compare it to a lot of other sports that are more physically taxing but that makes no difference,” said sophomore Amity Ermarth.
Others have opinions that contradict with people who say it is a sport. Many think it doesn’t require as much physical activity as most people says it does. For example, people think that it doesn’t require the same amount of physical activity as soccer or lacrosse. Some may think that Marching band is more of an art than a sport since you are playing an instrument.
“I don’t think it’s a sport because all they do is walk around and people do that every day,” said sophomore Bailee Padgett, “It’s like carrying grocery bags from your car to your kitchen, it’s not a sport!”

“I think that marching band is not a sport, but just an activity that takes a lot of commitment,” said sophomore Bryce Gaskins. “It is athletic, but I think most people would be able to handle it. But I think that it’s just something that takes a lot of your time.”
Nonetheless, some people are neutral on the issue.

“I think the whole ‘is it a sport?’ discussion is silly,” said junior Kai Kato. “Because if you think something is a sport then it doesn’t matter what other people say.”