Pub. 54 2013-2014 Issue 4

28 Justin Ploch and The Great GMA Do-Over E veryone in Texas knows that Friday Night Lights means Texas High School Football. The players put in a great deal of time and effort to get ready to play each week. What many do not know is there is a group that practices and trains more hours and weeks than the football team each fall to be on the field for ten minutes each game. That group is the High School Marching Band. Justin Ploch is a Baritone Player in the Lake Travis High School Cavalier March- ing Band. During the first three weeks of August he meets his fellow band members at 2:00 pm each weekday and they go home at 11:00 pm that night to get ready for the start of the season. Once the games begin they practice every morning at 7:00 am until schools starts at 8:45. On Thursday before game day, they also practice until 9:00pm after school. Friday finds them in the stands playing throughout the game and they showcase their marching skills at halftime. If it is a road game they generally are ready to head home about midnight. But their work most weeks is still not fin- ished. They then get up early on Saturday to pack the buses and head to a marching band competition and return late that night. At Lake Travis High School where