Pop goes the wheel; marching band bus breaks down on the way to competition

Ava Memarzadeh, Staff Writer

The final competition for Samo’s marching band took an unexpected turn. On Nov. 20, marching band left for their last competition of the season in San Diego. The team was divided into three buses with about 45 students per bus. Students left at 12 p.m., with a call time of 7:10 p.m. Leaving earlier in the day was a strategic move on the part of the team in order to get there early, eat, change and warm up. 

Two of the three buses were able to make it to the competition site by 3 p.m., however, the last bus faced some complications. About one and a half hours before arrival, the tire of the bus popped, making the bus unable to continue its route. Students were left in a state of distress and confusion. Highway patrol shut down the highway for a period of time due to the blockage and the inability to pull the bus over to the side of the road. 

While stuck on the bus for three hours, students slept, played video games, virtual poker and engaged in conversation. Kai Ford (’22) expressed that he had a good time while waiting on the bus.

“It was honestly really fun being together and it provided a good opportunity to get to know my band mates better,” Ford said.

Eventually the first bus that had dropped off the first group of marching band students at the competition site came back to retrieve the remaining band members.  

“When we finally started moving again people were frantically eating and putting on marching shoes. Then we got there and got ready really fast and ran over to warm up and it was just about the same as usual from there,” said Sam Wessling (’23). 

Players were in a rush to get ready for the competition, while other teams had ample time to warm up and get dressed. 

“We went on exhausted, without proper warmup, without doing any of our pre-championship rituals, etc, and it showed in our beginning movement and ultimately in our score,” Raeva Vasisht (’23) said. 

Despite the setback all members of the team were able to be at the site and perform on time. The marching band not only placed fourth, but scored the highest Samo has ever scored. 

The marching band bus with its wheel off being fixed.

Charlie Marin / Contributor                                

Previous
Previous

Everything you need to know about COVID-19

Next
Next

’Tis the season— for waste