The UMD Athletic Bands Play On

Photo by. Ryan Hietpas

Standing on the field of the James S. Malosky Stadium with hundreds of people watching, the UMD Athletic Bands finish their halftime show. The students of the band had accomplished what they thought might not have been possible: to perform now as a student-run organization. 

The athletic bands, made up of the marching band and pep band, were once credited classes that had a professor for their director, but last spring the students found out the classes would be cut. It was apparent to the students that they needed to take action in order to keep the athletic bands alive.

“That is when they started talking about the leadership nominations, and that was definitely a call to action for me,” Senior Ethan Goulson, Chair of Recruitment and Public Relations of Athletic Bands, said. “I knew that I loved the athletic bands and I didn’t want to see it disappear.” 

The leadership committee consists of  22 members, nominated by their peers, who carry out various tasks to help lead and organize the bands. These tasks include creating rehearsal schedules, contacting the athletics department, writing their own field drills and directing the bands’ music performances.   

“We get together and talk about what needs to get done for that day and then just write it down and then before rehearsals we usually make sure to the best of our ability that all the leadership members are told ‘hey this [is] what we’re working on today’ or ‘go look at the rehearsal plan and make sure that this is what we’re working on,’” said Goulson. 

Becoming leaders of athletic bands was a transition itself for the students. These students went from being directed by one professor who made the decisions to now making the decisions as a group and having to lead their peers. 

“We’re basically doing the job of a band director. Just a bunch of people doing it rather than one person doing all of it,” said Sophia “Frankie” Huf, Treasurer and Chair of Uniforms and Apparel of Athletic Bands.“Even just doing one section of that job can be pretty stressful at times versus being in the band and participating in it and just playing music. It almost feels like a full time job.” 

When it comes to the financial aspect of running the athletic bands, they have gotten support from multiple resources, including the college, Student Life and donations from alumni and families. The bands’ funds are used for instrument maintenance, food for band camp, transportation, software to create show drills, renting out Malosky Stadium for practice and a number of other elements.  

When it came to getting people to join athletic bands, leadership created their own web page and contacted new students who were enrolled to attend UMD for the fall semester. The leadership was able to get contact information from faculty within the music department. 

“The best thing that I am proud of is the fact that we exceeded our numbers from last year with marching band. As a class, we had less than we have now which is amazing. I hope we can just keep growing from that and also just the fact that we were able to do it as a whole and be able to actually step up and take charge of this program,” said Huf. There are currently about 100 to 120 students in the athletic bands. 

The athletic bands have been described by many people as a big family and a close community where people care about their friendships they made. 

“It’s where literally all of my friends are. A lot of the people who I care about on this campus who have touched my life are all a part of this organization,” said junior Sophia Fenske, Vice President of Athletic Bands. “To not work for it, to not make sacrifices for it would not be working for my friends and not making sacrifices for my friends and not caring about my friends.”

The athletic bands plan to continue to be a support for the UMD athletic teams and do not plan on going away anytime soon. They have faced an obstacle that has changed how the bands are run and supported, but they have continued onward to strive to be successful. 

“I don’t think I want people to look at us as ‘oh that sucks, poor them.’ To some extent, it’s true, like this does suck for us and we did kind of get the short end of the stick. But at the same time we’re doing it and it should be inspiring to people. You can do it if you set your mind to it,” said Huf.