Prior to the Drum Corps International Tour Premiere at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 23, hundreds of high school band students and staff attended Kick Start Your Season With DCI, an interactive leadership workshop hosted by motivational speaker Fran Kick.
DCI’s fifth season of Kick’s program educated students on being constructive leaders and working as a team.
“Kick Start is a pre-show, stadium size, team building, leadership opportunity for students to learn a little bit about leadership and how they can work with each other in a more constructive and positive way,” Kick said.
Kick related his lessons to band students in terms of how they can become stronger players and teammates. He also promoted being positive audience members while watching drum corps or marching bands perform.
“It’s the symbiotic relationship between performer and audience that makes the connection,” Kick said.
Attentiveness, involvement and appropriate responses are three traits Kick believes performers should instill in themselves. He said that possessing these qualities will reflect how successful they will be.
As well as receiving verbal advice from Kick, students participated in an activity on the field of Lucas Oil Stadium which gave them the opportunity to learn how perceived status can influence how they treat one another.
“The biggest lesson we share when students come to the stadiums is a little activity about how actions speak louder than words and that the way they treat each other will influence how others in their organization treat each other,” Kick said. “The example they set might be the most powerful thing they do to create their organization’s 'leadership followership dynamic.'”
Following the activity, the students huddled on the 50-yard line surrounding Kick where he gave final words of wisdom to the students that “actions speak louder than words.”
Four additional Kick Start events will be hosted this summer in conjunction with DCI Tour events. Admission is free with a ticket to the corresponding drum corps show.
DCI Central Texas presented by Band Shoppe
University of Mary-Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX
Thursday, July 21
Event details
DCI Southwestern Championship presented by Fred J. Miller, Inc.
The Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
Saturday, July 23
Event details
DCI Atlanta Southeastern Championship presented by Lone Star Percussion
The Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
Saturday, July 30
Event details
DCI World Championship Finals
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Saturday, August 13
Event details
Contact groups@dci.org for additional information on upcoming Kick Start sessions or to get your students involved.