#teamtexas - 2021 Grand Nationals

[banddad84 506]

So - I know that there are a great deal of "known" programs attending Grand Nats - but these are the ones that I know

we know that there are 12 spots for the finals at Grand Nats and Texas may own half of then, as they did in 2019

Based on the known participants we have to assume the following as 5 of the 6 known participants are repeat finalists.

• CTJ
• Ronald Reagan
• Round Rock
• FlowerMound
• TWHS

the last band is Vista Ridge - a Texas 6A UIL state Champion - I assume we will see them as well.

Get ready - we know that there are more bands , but Texas is bringing their "A" game in 2021

 

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

On 3/25/2021 at 8:57 PM, banddad84 said:

So - I know that there are a great deal of "known" programs attending Grand Nats - but these are the ones that I know

we know that there are 12 spots for the finals at Grand Nats and Texas may own half of then, as they did in 2019

Based on the known participants we have to assume the following as 5 of the 6 known participants are repeat finalists.

• CTJ
• Ronald Reagan
• Round Rock
• FlowerMound
• TWHS

the last band is Vista Ridge - a Texas 6A UIL state Champion - I assume we will see them as well.

Get ready - we know that there are more bands , but Texas is bringing their "A" game in 2021

 

Vista Ridge is 100% making finals and will have a top tier finish as well. They may not have had a competitive season last year but they did have a show, and it was fantastic. Just a glimpse of what’s to come in fact. Yes I have high expectations for the former 6A state champion. Both of them.

[propsquaddad 15]

12 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

Vista Ridge is 100% making finals and will have a top tier finish as well. They may not have had a competitive season last year but they did have a show, and it was fantastic. Just a glimpse of what’s to come in fact. Yes I have high expectations for the former 6A state champion. Both of them.

I may be a little bias being from Leander ISD but I would expect Vista Ridge to both make finals and finish very high. Why would we expect anything less from a band from arguably the best marching band school district in the great state of Texas. 

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

9 hours ago, propsquaddad said:

I may be a little bias being from Leander ISD but I would expect Vista Ridge to both make finals and finish very high. Why would we expect anything less from a band from arguably the best marching band school district in the great state of Texas. 

♥️♥️♥️

[XCTFG Mom 115]

My kid will be at college at this point. However she did mention that maybe this could be a Mom/Daughter kind of thing for us to do. I'll yell loud for TeamTexas for sure.

[LostChoirGuy 382]

I would be very surprised for any of those 6 to not make finals, unless for some reason, there is a drop off in show quality or something.

I'm still confused- is Bowie confirmed, or no?

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

21 hours ago, XCTFG Mom said:

My kid will be at college at this point. However she did mention that maybe this could be a Mom/Daughter kind of thing for us to do. I'll yell loud for TeamTexas for sure.

I can vouch for how fun of a mother/daughter trip it is after they have graduated. ♥️

[banddad84 506]

My kid will be at college at this point. However she did mention that maybe this could be a Mom/Daughter kind of thing for us to do. I'll yell loud for TeamTexas for sure.

I can vouch for how fun of a mother/daughter trip it is after they have graduated. ♥️

My daughter was at GNats in 2011 as a freshman, our son was at Gnats as a freshman in 2019 and she joined us to cheer for her brother. my son is getting s second GNats shot in 2021 and she wants to go. Since she is married now she is debating the trip.  2019 was a great time to see my daughter cheering for her brother and her alma mater in Indy.

[principalagent 753]

On 3/31/2021 at 2:00 PM, LostChoirGuy said:

I would be very surprised for any of those 6 to not make finals, unless for some reason, there is a drop off in show quality or something.

I'm still confused- is Bowie confirmed, or no?

6 is hard. Depends on how good you think Wando, Mason, and Blue Springs are. Broken Arrow being on cycle and Tarpon Springs coming throws a massive wrench into things for Texas repeating with 6 or getting to 7.

[LostChoirGuy 382]

Personally, I dont think Wando will be able to keep up with the others on that list this year with their school split.  We'll see if they prove me wrong.  

[banddad84 506]

12 hours ago, LostChoirGuy said:

Personally, I dont think Wando will be able to keep up with the others on that list this year with their school split.  We'll see if they prove me wrong.  

yes, it will impact Wando, and at some point the new school may surpass the old one. We saw the same thing when CTJ split off from Reagan in 2008. Reagan went from 5th at BOA-SA in 2007 to 14th place in 2008 and 2009. 2010 Reagan was 6th and CTJ was 10th at San Antonio and 2011 Reagan was 12th while CTJ finished San Antonio in 5th and made finals at Grand Nats. Wando is the best marching program in SC - it will be interesting to see who they react to the split on top of the Covid impact.

[banddad84 506]

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

On 4/4/2021 at 5:00 AM, banddad84 said:

Gorgeous!  Are we putting this on a T-shirt?!!!

[principalagent 753]

On 4/2/2021 at 11:49 PM, LostChoirGuy said:

Personally, I dont think Wando will be able to keep up with the others on that list this year with their school split.  We'll see if they prove me wrong.  

Their school split isn’t super consequential at the end of the day. Wando is still supposed to have a student population of about 4000 students or more. They’ll have plenty of students for a healthy program, and they’re very well taught. The new school, at about 1500 students at full capacity will probably stake out their own path, while not taking too much from Wando.

[banddad84 506]

4 minutes ago, LeanderMomma said:

Gorgeous!  Are we putting this on a T-shirt?!!!

this is 1 of 2 designs and will include the names of the attending schools on the back as we have done in the past, Both come in Black and Navy and come in both cotton and dry-fit materials. We will also have long sleeve T-shirts, hoodies, ball caps, wool caps and scarves.

We have partnered with a vendor that will allow online ordering without going through the booster clubs (since you are no longer have Leandermomma in Texas to do an early morning pick up on my doorstep the morning of BOA San Antonio)

The store will be open for a few weeks and then will close and orders will be processed and shipped to the customers home (anywhere in the country). The first order cycle will open around late July as camps are opening and will close by late August to get all orders delivered before the first Texas BOA regional event. if there is enough demand we will reopen the online store in early October for 2 weeks to have orders filled prior to BOA SA, UIL State, and Grand Nationals.

we will post the store link on this site, HornRank, and our "#teamtexas 2021 Grand Nats" Facebook page as well as ask the booster programs of participating programs to promote it as well.

our goal is to have a sea of these shirts in Indy in November as our Texas Bands invade Indy again 

I welcome everyone's thoughts and support on these.

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

This is awesome @banddad84  I can’t wait to order one!

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

1 minute ago, LeanderMomma said:

This is awesome @banddad84  I can’t wait to order one!

Oh and maybe I’ll start a trend up here in NW Arkansas. 😁 #teamtexas4ever

[MadisonBandMan1 324]

I see that Grand Nationals looks to be really interesting this year from the evidence we've received thus far. Color me intrigued, excited for the season to come and the emotions that flow from these students.

 

[Samuel Culper 419]

 

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

On 3/25/2021 at 7:57 PM, banddad84 said:

So - I know that there are a great deal of "known" programs attending Grand Nats - but these are the ones that I know

we know that there are 12 spots for the finals at Grand Nats and Texas may own half of then, as they did in 2019

Based on the known participants we have to assume the following as 5 of the 6 known participants are repeat finalists.

• CTJ
• Ronald Reagan
• Round Rock
• FlowerMound
• TWHS

the last band is Vista Ridge - a Texas 6A UIL state Champion - I assume we will see them as well.

Get ready - we know that there are more bands , but Texas is bringing their "A" game in 2021

 

Add Marcus. 

[Rubisco 470]

Looks like making Grand National Finals this year will be as impressive as making San Antonio Finals for the first time in many years.

Of the supposedly confirmed groups, 14 potential finalists immediately caught my eye, which is an unusually high number. (Thank you, big Texas contingent!)

Avon

Broken Arrow

Carmel

CTJ

Dobyns-Bennett*

Flower Mound

Homestead*

Marcus

Reagan

Round Rock*

Tarpon Springs

TWHS*

Vista Ridge

William Mason*

Insane that I'm no longer including groups like Marian Catholic. 😭 The asterisks are next to the groups I view as most "at-risk" of missing finals. This is of course based on results from the past few years and is very premature, especially since we don't know exactly how everyone has been affected by the pandemic. (Regarding that, I'm not super concerned about any of the groups we saw at UIL State this past year, although the shows weren't as challenging as usual in general.) Anyway, since I'm playing, I'll comment a little bit.

I think it could be difficult for Round Rock to topple Dobyns-Bennett, TWHS, or William Mason, which they'll have to do to make finals. They'll also need to top Homestead.  They beat Homestead in finals at the 2019 GN event, but they lost to them in semis at that same event. So, the result of this match-up is sort of up in the air in my mind. There's always room for surprises, of course.

I could see TWHS losing to both Dobyns-Bennett and William Mason. Lost to both groups in the past two finals they were in, but beat both groups in semis. So, again, kind of up in the air. A weaker year could see TWHS beaten by both, and then if Blue Springs also goes, or some other up and coming group like Pearland has a great year, that could be a surprising finals shutout. First time in 20 years?

I'm curious to see if Blue Springs, Haltom, L.D. Bell, and/or Pearland also make the trip, which I think would make this for sure the most competitive finals line-up ever. I think it probably already is.

One of the most exciting things about this lineup for me is that we've supposedly got every San Antonio Champion since 2012 attending. If L.D. Bell decides to go, that will make it every SA Champion since 2003. (Knowing our luck, though, some other group not attending Nats will win SA this year.) Of the TX groups, I'm leaning toward CTJ making the biggest splash, mainly because their show this past year was excellent and seemed the most challenging. Reagan will probably still be outstanding, despite supposedly losing their head director. Well-oiled machine type of program.

[banddad84 506]

2 hours ago, Rubisco said:

Looks like making Grand National Finals this year will be as impressive as making San Antonio Finals for the first time in many years.

Of the supposedly confirmed groups, 14 potential finalists immediately caught my eye, which is an unusually high number. (Thank you, big Texas contingent!)

Avon

Broken Arrow

Carmel

CTJ

Dobyns-Bennett*

Flower Mound

Homestead*

Marcus

Reagan

Round Rock*

Tarpon Springs

TWHS*

Vista Ridge

William Mason*

Insane that I'm no longer including groups like Marian Catholic. 😭 The asterisks are next to the groups I view as most "at-risk" of missing finals. This is of course based on results from the past few years and is very premature, especially since we don't know exactly how everyone has been affected by the pandemic. (Regarding that, I'm not super concerned about any of the groups we saw at UIL State this past year, although the shows weren't as challenging as usual in general.) Anyway, since I'm playing, I'll comment a little bit.

I think it could be difficult for Round Rock to topple Dobyns-Bennett, TWHS, or William Mason, which they'll have to do to make finals. They'll also need to top Homestead.  They beat Homestead in finals at the 2019 GN event, but they lost to them in semis at that same event. So, the result of this match-up is sort of up in the air in my mind. There's always room for surprises, of course.

I could see TWHS losing to both Dobyns-Bennett and William Mason. Lost to both groups in the past two finals they were in, but beat both groups in semis. So, again, kind of up in the air. A weaker year could see TWHS beaten by both, and then if Blue Springs also goes, or some other up and coming group like Pearland has a great year, that could be a surprising finals shutout. First time in 20 years?

I'm curious to see if Blue Springs, Haltom, L.D. Bell, and/or Pearland also make the trip, which I think would make this for sure the most competitive finals line-up ever. I think it probably already is.

One of the most exciting things about this lineup for me is that we've supposedly got every San Antonio Champion since 2012 attending. If L.D. Bell decides to go, that will make it every SA Champion since 2003. (Knowing our luck, though, some other group not attending Nats will win SA this year.) Of the TX groups, I'm leaning toward CTJ making the biggest splash, mainly because their show this past year was excellent and seemed the most challenging. Reagan will probably still be outstanding, despite supposedly losing their head director. Well-oiled machine type of program.

I agree with your assessment. 2018 saw only 1 Texas Band making the trek, 2019 saw 6 programs and all 6 made finals but that year did not see Broken Arrow, Blue Springs, Tarpon, Wando, Dobbs-Bennett. While even the 7 programs that has been mostly confirmed from Texas could change between now and August, and we could even see some additional programs decide to make the trek beyond those 7.

It will be interesting to see what the Texas footprint will be in the finals, but I think it could be 5 or more spots.

I feel we have some great 6A programs making the trek this year and have a chance to see some medals come back to Texas - maybe even a return of Kevin

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

16 hours ago, Rubisco said:

One of the most exciting things about this lineup for me is that we've supposedly got every San Antonio Champion since 2012 attending. If L.D. Bell decides to go, that will make it every SA Champion since 2003

Interesting!!!

[LeanderMomma 1,641]

I’m gonna predict a medal for Vista Ridge. 🤭

[LHSax 241]

And of course we will be sending every UIL top level state champ since 2004...It's hard to imagine a stronger contingency of Texas bands  (at least one that doesn't include the defending grand national champ) and it's even wilder that they will be up against one of the better lineups that the rest of the country has to offer. This will definitely at least partially make up for the lack of true season last year.