J.W. Koester
Division II & III coordinator J.W. Koester today explained some of the decisions that the Division II & III directors made this weekend.^ "Membership passed a clarification of division size. Division II is now 61 members minimum and 135 members maximum. Prior to this, Division II corps could have as few as 30 members. Division III membership requirements remain unchanged at a minimum of 30 members and a maximum of 60. "We clarified the championships week format. On Tuesday, all the Division III corps will compete in a Division III block, and Division II corps will be competing in a Division II block. Last year, all the corps were thrown together to compete in reverse order of score, and we took into Thursday semifinals the top seven Division III corps and the top five Division II corps, plus the next five highest scores regardless of division. This year, we're taking nine corps from each division into semifinals. For semifinals, each of the nine corps will only compete within their own class. "We are still tweaking the championships week format. "George Brown of Vanguard Cadets has been re-elected chairman of the advisory committee. Eddie Martin of Yamato was elected to the committee, as was Charlie Groh of Impulse. The other members were not up for re-election are Mike King of Marion Glory Cadets, John Rodriguez of Revolution, Tom Maiello of the Raiders and Paul Chaffee of the Racine Scouts. "As for judging, the criteria descriptions on the back of the judging sheets have been revamped for clarification and consistency. The word 'entertainment' has been added to the backs of the general effect sheets, so that judges see the word and can reward the presence of it. "To get more people in the seats the final week, we've come up with a number of incentives that will appeal to fans. We're working to get more visibility on the DCI Web site, as well as doing some local promotional campaigns in conjunction with the Blue Knights," Koester said.