On Jan. 20, the Steinbrenner JROTC cadets attended an invitational drill competition in Brandon. The competition was considered a practice run, but they still prepared by practicing three times a week for an hour. Once the results are in, the cadets will find out how well they did compared to the 30 other high schools.
“I feel like we did pretty well, it was our first drill competition of the season so we were a little rocky in some areas, but overall I’m glad with how we did especially since our platoon was all freshmen.” said senior and Unarmed Squad Commander Nicole Ramazzotto.
The freshmen seemed to do well under the pressure to perform. The sequences they needed to perform contained up to 50 different commands. Each command had to be memorized and performed with precision. On top of this, they had to be learned in a short period of time. This was especially true for sophomore Megan Beckley, who took the place of a commander.
“Our female color guard got sick right before competition so I had to learn the whole sequence so we would still be able to compete. I only had three days to prepare, so it was super hard and stressful to learn all the commands so quickly.” said Beckley.
Even though Beckley only had a few days to prepare, she understood the sequence well and was able to help her team to go and give the competition their best.
After the competition, the cadets now know what they need to do in order to improve for the next competition at the University of Tampa’s district qualifier.
“Our armed platoon consisted of all level one JROTC cadets. I could tell we made a few mistakes since our alignment kept getting out of order whenever we took turns, but overall I believe we did really well.” said Beckley.
The JROTC cadets are cautiously optimistic for their next competition, and hope to be able to perform well at the state qualifier, and make it to the state competition.
“This invitational was more of a practice competition to prepare us for the district qualifier at University of Tampa, and then that will lead us up to the state qualifier at Anclote High School.” said Ramazzotto.
Photo Credit: Sean Worms
Gretchen Strunk // Staff Writer
Sara Gofter // Staff Writer
