Most Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the...

National High School
Drill Team Championships

QUESTION #1 - The NHSDTC looks like Two Different Events - True?
Technically, no. The NHSDTC event is a multi-day military drill competition weekend! The competition is divided into two different competitions, Masters Level and Challenge Level. The Challenge Level competition is a single day event. The Commander's Call for the Challenge Level competition is held on Thursday evening to cover many of the most important rules and any late breaking information. The competition is held throughout Friday morning, afternoon and early evening. The Challenge Level Awards Ceremony is a streamline affair that follows the competition in the evening. At this time, all trophies, scoresheets, scoring reports and team pictures are distributed. The end of the Challenge Level Awards Ceremony ends the physical cadet competition segment of the NHSDTC for these Challenge Level cadets.

The Master's Level competition begins with the Commander's Call Friday evening. The actual competition is held throughout the days of Saturday & Sunday. The floor is cleared in the later afternoon on Sunday and extensive staging, seating, decoration and installation of electronics to produce a very spectacular Awards Gala that evening - all in just a few hours! The end of the Masters Level Awards Ceremony ends the physical cadet competition segment of the entire NHSDTC competition.

QUESTION #2 - How Many Days Do Teams Stay in Daytona Beach to Compete?
The basic stay in Daytona Beach for the Nationals is a 4-day / 3-night stay. For Masters Level schools, this means most schools opt for a Thursday early afternoon check-in and a Monday morning check-out. Most Challenge Level schools opt for a check in on Thursday early afternoon and a Sunday morning check-out. Challenge Level competition schools generally stay the extra day to conduct sightseeing at the Masters Level, or to nearby educational sites of Kennedy Space Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Bethune-Cookman College or maybe even an end-of-the-year fun trip to Universal Studios, Seaworld or Disney.

Occasionally, some Challlenge Level schools ask to attend the event for the minimum 3 days / 2 nights. This is possible as we have a few select hotels that will accept schools for this reduced number of days.

All schools dictate their length of stay on the rooming paperwork they fill out to attend the event as all schools attend the competition through the NHSDTC Team Package Plan (explained later in the FAQ).

QUESTION #3 - How Does Our Drill Unit Get Invited to Attend the NHSDTC?
Every year in late September, a magazine is mailed by Sports Network International to every JROTC unit in the world. This magazine (IDR) maintains an official invitation for your JROTC program to petition to enter the Nationals. Any unit in the world is eligible to enter. Submission of the School Registration Form and the School Registration Fee constitutes a valid petition for entry into the Nationals.

QUESTION #4 - What Determines Who Gets Accepted Into The Nationals?
This is a tough question. In years past, all entries were handled on an earliest postmark basis. Many years ago, this wasn't a big problem as entry spaces seemed to just about meet the demand from quality programs looking to attend. However, in the past two or three years, more and more teams from farther and farther away are looking to make their plans to attend the Nationals. And tough choices had to be made as there are only so many hours in the day!

Using an earliest postmark basis, the event was becoming geographically skewed, favoring schools that are closest to the home of the Nationals, Daytona Beach, Florida. These schools received their entries first, had the easiest time deciding whether to attend (or not as transportation was little problem and little planning was necessary), and then had the fastest mail service getting their entries back to SNI.

Beginning in 1998, an entry deadline was instituted. This early December deadline gives all schools equal entry consideration so long as their registration is received by SNI no later than the early December deadline published within the IDR Magazine. Using this method, SNI can select the most deserving schools to attend, not necessarily the ones who can fill out a form, cut a check and mail an application the fastest!

That being said, SNI will make determinations regarding who gets into the Nationals based on numerous criteria. The first criteria is to accept teams who are in contention for an overall title FIRST. This means that schools entering all five team events within a Division (Masters Level) or all four team events (Challenge Level) are given a priority over schools who are entering just a few events. Therefore, if you are NOT planning to enter all events, probably better to save your time and postage because we haven't accepted a "partial" team entry in years. And also remember, schools looking to enter just a color guard unit are encouraged to enter the Open Level Color Guard competition held on the first competition day on Friday --- this is why we began this exciting event -- join it!

Other important criteria in use include: overall team talent, returning teams/past champions, maintaining a solid service diversity at the event (Navy and Air Force schools are usually in shorter supply!), geographic diversity (distance helps!), and team location diversity (urban, rural, suburban), and a mixture of armed and unarmed teams, as well as a solid number of Alternative Arms Division schools and you have the recipe for a great National competition!

The final decision is subjective but based on making the Nationals exactly what it is -- the finest gathering of high school drill and ceremony units ever assembled on a single weekend! It is filled with second guessing and mind-numbing detail but hard choices have to be made. The most important single piece of advice that can be imparted is to fill out the back of your entry form with solid facts -- make your best case why YOUR SCHOOL BELONGS AT THE NATIONALS!

QUESTION #5 - What Competition Level Should Our Unit Enter?
Every school must determine which Nationals Competition Level you feel your team would best compete in -- Masters Level or Challenge Level. The first thing all schools facing this question must understand is your school is gauged on its OVERALL performance. Just because you always do very well in Color Guard doesn't mean that your entire team is worthy of entering the Masters Level. Conversely, just because you never do well in Unit Inspection doesn't mean that your overall team strength is weak.

A general rule of thumb is if you habitually finish in the top three schools in most of the regional drill meets you attend, your unit is most certainly a Masters Level entry. If your program is newer and cannot compete well against many of the better programs in your area, you are probably a perfect candidate for the Challenge Level.

In either case, schools should enter the level they feel they belong within. If the Competition Committee of SNI does not feel that your entry is justified at that level, we will give you the option to move where we feel you belong, or we will refund your registration fee and withdraw your entry from consideration.

QUESTION #6 - How is the date for the Nationals Selected Each Year?
The dates for the Nationals are dictated in concert with the event venue, the Daytona Beach Ocean Center Arena. Many events occur every year in the late Spring in Daytona Beach and the Nationals are scheduled around these. The dates for the Nationals historically remain the first weekend in May.

QUESTION #7 - What Drill Manual Do We Compete Under at the Nationals?
The Armed events at the Nationals are held under the guidelines of Army Manual 22-5. The Unarmed events are held under the guidance of Air Force Manual 36-2203. The NHSDTC allows all units to perform in accordance with the requirements outlined in their particular service manual. As the saying goes, "you dance with the girl that brung ya"! Every unit competes under their own service manual or the manual of your choosing (all schools state to the judge the manual they will be utilizing during their report in).

QUESTION #8 - Do We Have to Enter Every Event or Can We Just Enter One or Two?
There is no requirement that a team must enter all events within a competition division to attend the Nationals. However, with the huge interest from schools looking to capture an overall National title, teams that are looking to enter just an event or two are very rarely accepted. Our first priority in accepting any team for entry is, are they competing for an overall title (a team entering all four events {Challenge Level} or five events {Masters Level}? If they are not, they go to the bottom of the pile of entrants. Therefore, we suggest any team serious about gaining entry look at entering every team event within the division you are entering.

QUESTION #9 - Why does the Challenge Level competition only have one team exhibition event instead of the two different ones offered at the Masters Level?
Mostly the overall philosophy of what the "Challenge" level competition is supposed to be all about have brought Sports Network to the decision that a four event competition, with each phase worth an equal 25% weighting, is the best measure of a National Championship team within this reduced-talent division. Teams that are at a level of "Challenge" should not be expected to establish and practice two exhibition events -- their time could be better spent practicing their Regulation drill and their Color Guard -- the "meat & potatoes" of the drill team.

Reducing the event to the four basic components also allowed the event to literally double in size, thereby allowing the number of schools to be doubled, helping to keep the costs down for the attendees, and most importantly, help to make the hunt for a Challenge Level National Championship as difficult, rewarding and tough as that of the Masters Level championship.

QUESTION #10 - Why does the Challenge Level not maintain Solo and/or Dual Exhibition competition?
Similar to much of the reasoning listed above. Primarily, the National High School Drill Team Championships are designed to find the finest military drill team in the world. The solo & dual competition is not scored toward the National title in any division. It is presented to give those schools who have practiced, worked hard and excelled a place to showcase their best and brightest in an individual forum after the overall team competition has ended. After all of the solo & dual entry spaces are filled by attending Nationals teams, invariably a small number of spaces are left over that we do make available to the most qualified entrants looking to occupy just a solo and/or a dual competition space. We usually have about 12-20 people looking for these spaces and we usually have between 3-6 of these spaces available. Anyone looking to occupy one of these slots should contact SNI to gain the information necessary to attend and compete at this level.

QUESTION #11 - The "No Crossing Over" Rule -- What Does That Mean?
Cadets may only compete on one TEAM at the Nationals. Therefore, while a single cadet may compete in each EVENT within a competition level and division, he/she may not compete on two separate teams. Teams found in violation of the this rule will be disqualified from the event. ENSURE YOUR TEAM DOES NOT PLAN TO HAVE CADETS WHO ARE "CROSSING OVER", COMPETING IN TWO DIFFERENT DIVISIONS (i.e. both the Armed and the Unarmed events). The easiest way to understand this is to think of each team you enter as being from a separate school.

QUESTION #12 - What are the different competition division available at the Nationals?
This is fairly simple. Challenge Level maintains an Armed Division and an Unarmed Division. To be considered eligible for the Challenge Level Armed competition OR the Masters Level Demilitarized competition, your rifle must:
   - weigh a minimum of 8 lbs.
   - be modified to ensure it cannot fire a live round (either by removing the firing pin and/or leading the barrel)
   - it must have a trigger guard, an adjustable sling, and a closed stock (metal or rubber)

Unarmed Division in both Challenge and Masters Level is just that, unarmed! Only the rifles used in this division will be those used in the 4-person color guard detail.

The Masters Level Alternative Arms Division is a hybrid. It is an armed competition. It maintains any team (regardless of the gender of the cadets) who utilize weapons that do not meet the criteria listed above for a demilitarized weapon and are deemed as an "alternative arm" by the judging director. This generally means that units using lightweight "facsimile" weapons compete in this division. Additionally, units that are all-female that drill with full-weight, demilitarized weapons, are granted to option of competing within the Alternative Arms division. This is done because it is believed that all-female teams drilling with full-weight weapons better compete against teams using lightweight weapons regardless of the team gender, as opposed to predominantly males drilling with full-weight weapons.

In all of the Armed Divisions, the cadet commander MUST carry a rifle, sabre or sword. In the Unarmed Division, the cadet commander MAY carry a sabre or sword.

QUESTION #13 - What is the Team Package Plan and Do I Have to Use It?
All schools choosing to attend the National High School Drill Team Championships must attend through the Team Package Plan. This plan is designed to ensure all cadets, and instructors are given the enjoyment of staying together in superb oceanfront hotels with other schools from across the country, provided with treasured event mementos, as well as ensuring all schools receive the finest drill event they have ever attended at an affordable cost. Team Package Plan Includes:

• Four days & three nights billeting in one of many oceanfront hotels in Daytona Beach
• Specially-minted NHSDTC bronze medallion on a RWB chest ribbon
• Specially-designed NHSDTC t-shirt for all cadets, ordered to size
• Specially-designed NHSDTC collared sports-shirt for all adults, ordered to size
• Swiss-embroidered four-inch patch designed for the NHSDTC event
• 8" X 10" color team photograph with custom event logo
• Discounts at local pizza, fast food and sandwich shops in the area

The price of the Team Package Plan, based on staying four-to-a-room, remains in the mid-ninety dollar range for the full 4 day / 3 night package (exact costs are outlined within IDR Magazine).. Challenge level schools have the option to stay 2 nights only for a slightly reduced price. Three, two and one to a room prices are slightly higher, utilized primarily for instructors and other adult team followers. All participants (cadets and unit instructors) are required to attend the NHSDTC through the Team Package Plan.

QUESTION #14 - What About Parents, Chaperones, Instructors, etc.
Are They Required to Attend Through the Team Package Plan?
Only Cadets and Unit Instructors are required to attend the event and stay through the Team Package Plan - this rule in non-changeable. Many other team followers including Bus Drivers, parents and other team followers elect to stay through the Team Package Plan. They do this for several reasons, including:

• Wishing to stay in a reasonably priced hotel on the same floor with the team
• The ability to receive a collared, Nationals sports shirt and a personalized pass to enter the closing night awards ceremony.

QUESTION #15 - We Want to Get a Ballpark Cost for the Trip -- What Should We Consider?
There are several factors that any school should consider when trying to estimate a cost to attend the Nationals. Several of the most important things to consider are: Transportation, Food, and the Team Package Costs.

Transportation: Teams traveling from any great distance must decide whether they will drive or fly. If the team decides to fly, teams should consider flying not only into Daytona Beach International Airport, but also into Orlando International Airport, Melbourne Regional and Jacksonville International Airport -- check your air fares. Teams that fly to the Nationals (even into Daytona Beach) must make arrangements for local transportation not only to and from the airport, but to an from the competition site which is between 1 and 7 miles from the oceanfront hotels used for the NHSDTC Team Package Plan. This is why most teams bus to the Nationals from as far away as Missouri, Louisiana, Texas and Nebraska.

Food: Meals are plentiful, varied and reasonably priced. As with any other beach resort town, we have more than our share of pizza an hamburger places! Also available are tons of family dinner chains, as well as cafeterias and all-you-can-eat restaurants. Most teams have found that you can comfortably feed your cadets for $12 per day, per person. Sports Network International provides to all teams numerous coupons for many different types of meals throughout the greater Daytona Beach area.

Team Package Plan: The price of the Team Package Plan, based on staying four-to-a-room, changes slightly every year but is kept at the lowest possible level. Challenge level schools have the option to stay only 3 days / 2 nights for a price generally a little less expensive. Three, two and one to a room prices are slightly higher, utilized primarily for instructors and other adult team followers. Not only does this price pay for the oceanfront hotel accommodations, but it also pays for the shirts, medallions, patches, team photos and other items given to each competitor, but more importantly pays for the Ocean Center Arena, the judges, event insurance, trophies, etc. that are necessary to run the event. including housing and feeding the massive judging staff, as well as put forth all of the other items that are necessary to host a drill meet of this size and magnitude.

QUESTION #16 - Is it a requirement that our program maintain an official JROTC status?
It is not a requirement that your unit maintain a JROTC status to be considered to attend the Nationals. However, we allow VERY FEW non-affiliate teams into the competition. To even be considered, your cadets must meet the following four requirements:

The cadets on your team must:
• All attend the SAME HIGH SCHOOL
• Meet state academic eligibility standards
• Participate within an IN-SCHOOL, military-style program (not an after-school club or other program)
• Be schooled in and perform in accordance with one of the four branches of the Armed Forces

If your program meets these four regulations, you are welcome to apply for entry.

QUESTION #17 - Why is it that the Nationals are not on Television?
Most "2nd Tier" events (everything except baseball, basketball, football, hockey and a few other major sports) are not filmed by the television networks that you watch the event on. The tractor pulls, cheerleading, jump rope, table tennis, skeet shooting and other "niche" sports that you see on television are often filmed, edited, and then made ready to broadcast. THEN, the COMPETITION ITSELF obtains sponsors and buys the actual television time and then shows their own product during the broadcast.

Without boring you regarding the endless details, the Nationals have looked at this on numerous occasions, including having broadcast professionals look at the event as well. While many of them feel the event would be a natural smash hit to broadcast during the July 4th holiday weekend, to date the estimated $150,000 to $175,000 price tag necessary to do everything required to produce, film, edit, and then broadcast a small 46 minute piece of the Nationals (60 minutes of TV show is actually only 46 minutes) is just not in the budget of our event, nor any sponsors that we have contacted.

We at Sports Network International do believe that the competition would have a broad appeal not only within the JROTC community. Rest assured, if and when the cards fall in just the right place, we would love nothing more than to showcase the National High School Drill Team Championships on a National network. Maybe when one of the Nationals attendees goes on to become the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company, this situation will change around in a big hurry!

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