UIL Area A Marching Contest Zoned?

[TXWestside]

Hey guys,

So recently TMEA voted that the Area A Marching Contest be "zoned." They basically split up the bands from the west and in the DFW area, Region 2 specifically, which consists of all Denton, Keller, and Northwest ISD schools into 'zones' which will be the substitute Area Contest designation for this region in Area A as opposed to everyone else in Odessa. This means that now all bands from Region 2 will only be competing with each other, and since there are only 8 6A bands in Region 2 only 1 will be Advancing to state

 

- So I guess my question would be what was the insight behind this decision? And I know it had more than just how far Region 2 had to travel for the contest because there were ALOT of west Texas bands that were complaining about north Texas bands taking all the finals spots. Also, is it fair that now more west Texas bands will have the opportunity to go to State even if some of the Region 2 bands possibly deserve it more? Feel free to clarify anything and let me know what you think!

[daldhowe]

'Unofficial' UIL feedback was that the Central section of Area A...(Lubbock / Amarillo),  complained of their lack of representation at the State level over the past 6-8 years.....ie:  Politics. 

[LKendrick]

I went to school south of Amarillo, and I'm going to college up here.  I'm not sure why they ended up doing this, and haven't heard an explanation of why.  I don't know if it's because of the distance of what the area was (El Paso, The Panhandle, Midland/Odessa, and Fort Worth), but it doesn't make much sense to me.  If it's because of lack of representation and directors complaining,  there's been plenty of bands that have advanced, and I guess they need to get better......because there were no politics keeping bands from up here advancing to state, they're just not as good.  And over the past few years we've had plenty of representation at State:

 

2013:

 

AAAA)

 

Frenship

 

AA)

 

Bushland

 

2012:

 

AAA)

 

Lubbock Cooper

 

2011:

 

AAAA)  Frenship

 

AA)  Littlefield

 

A)  Sudan, Tahoka, Canadian

 

2010:

 

AAA)  Lubbock Cooper

 

2009:

 

AAAA)  Frenship

 

A)  Canadian (Bronze Medalist)

 

2008:

 

AAA)  Andrews, Seminole  

 

2007:

 

AAAA)  Frenship

 

2006:

 

AAA)  Canyon, Andrews

 

And the list goes on, I guess if they want to make it to state, they need to get better.

 

I guess though it'll be about the same bands advancing that always do anyway, just at different contests.  In AAAAA) It was always El Paso Coronado, Hanks, Americas, Keller, and Central.  In AAAA)  It was always Boswell, Frenship, Azle, Saginaw, and El Paso Del Valle.  Regardless of which way you split the area, it's the same amount of bands advancing and the same bands will probably go on.  Not much different honestly, there's not any more bands advancing than before, they are just being determined by smaller contests that just send 1 or 2 a piece.  With El Paso, Panhandle/Permian Basin, and Fort Worth, that's still 4 - 5 bands.  

 

I'll have to ask my old high school director the next time I see him, before we start making up unofficial assumptions that we don't know are true.  I'd bet some money that the size of the area might have had something to do with it.  The old area was a good 1/3 of the entire state, it's 600 miles wide east to west and 400 miles north to south.  That's QUITE a bit bigger than what the other areas are, it's just more spread apart up here.