I decided to share this post on the events page. This is something I have spoken with gcurrier about, and I think it's a pretty cool idea that can give some nice exposure and experience to newer players. Hope you like it!

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Hello all, my name is Michael Alexander. I'm the corps director of the Lexington Legends as well as the band director of the Ram Band. I'm here to announce what I think is actually a pretty cool event - the Young Players Challenge (suggestions for a better name welcome!).

We all have gone through the stress of trying to fill up our schedule when we have neither experience nor influence. It's tough. Even my groups get turned away sometimes. So I decided to revive an idea that I have used once before and only stopped because it was not financially sustainable - a competition (in this case, a series of competitions) that will cater solely to newer players.

Believe it or not, over the seasons I have actually created two B accounts. One to troll cire, one to see how quickly I could make a group competitive. I got bored with both and stopped using them, but I figured I could make them useful. I created two new accounts today so that I could have four, one for each week before Finals.

Here's how it works - every Wednesday week one through four my Booster Club accounts will host a competition. The competition will only accept applications from low influence or new players (basically, I will reject you if I suspect you could be a DI group).

Note - these accounts will not collect influence or any more money than necessary in order to hold a 30 group show, nor will they rehearse or attend shows. They are not competitive groups. I only did it this way so that I could host extra shows. If it makes you more comfortable I will even keep track of their influence/cash gains and update you on it.

We hope to see you at our competitions on Wednesday evenings! Save the dates!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Ok so to anyone who is applying to these shows... I do admit that I'm applying standards somewhat arbitrarily. It's my first time seriously hosting these shows, and I'm still not sure what truly constitutes someone who truly needs to be in one of these shows. Here are some of the standards I apply regardless of anything else.

1. If your influence is over 30k, I am rejecting your group.
2. If I know for a fact you have won a DI Medal, I am rejecting you.
3. If your director level is above fifty, I am rejecting you.

Like I said, I am learning and applying my rules somewhat arbitrarily (not completely though), so it might be a little funky early on. If you're Nemesis you are definitely getting rejected, for example.

Ha! I think I forgot you were doing this and accidentally applied lol its been a busy few days for me. I help foster with a cat and dog rescue and this week we had one of our kitten fosters adopted, took in a new puppy who was adopted by a friend and goes to their forever home tomorrow, failed with one of our rescue kittens (meaning we are keeping her because we fell in love) and picked up a new one tonight! Phew! I need another day off lol.

So long story short, SORRY! LOL

For a while one of them was the only show on that day so I can see why someone might have just accidentally clicked haha. And that sounds adorable, must be a rough life!

No influence? No problem! Join the Young Players Challenge series today! Competitions held the first four Wednesdays of the season.

We are rejecting players with high influence. Multiple players with over 100k influence have been rejected, while multiple players with under 100 influence have been accepted. While you work on building up your groups, we'll help you build up your schedule!