Drum Corps International (DCI) is one of the top competitive organizations for the marching arts. It holds a season every summer in which each ensemble, or corps, all comes together to learn and perfect that season’s show, then tour around the country performing and competing. It all cumulates to DCI Finals in Indianapolis to see which corps has the best overall product. This activity is very rewarding for the members who participate, who gain lifelong skills and learn many valuable lessons even beyond music. 

Being a youth activity, there is an age limit, or “age out,” for who is eligible to participate. Normally, the age out is 21 years old, and 22 if you have a birthday during the season. However, with the outbreak of COVID-19 throughout the United States, the DCI 2020 season has been unfortunately cancelled, and every performer who has worked hard to earn a spot has lost the season. 2020 age outs have been given the opportunity to march in 2021, however, the rest of the performers that have been contracted for this year have just lost the season. Giving just 2020 age outs an extra year of eligibility causes some issues, as now there will be twice as many people aging out in 2021, meaning corps will have to replace twice the amount of people in 2022. Also, many potential members will not have a fair opportunity to make the ensemble of their choice due to there being twice the amount of already contracted members.

I think the most fair way to fix these issues is to give all eligible members for 2020 an extra season. This way everyone gets the time back that was taken away from them due to the pandemic and puts things back on track for everyone. New members will have normal opportunities to make their ensemble of choice and nobody’s age out would be overlapping. We have all worked very hard to achieve great things in this activity and it’s a shame the season was cancelled, and we hope DCI considers making this change to put things back on track for its members.