Overview
Historically, one of the things that the regulation and color guard phases of drill were designed to test was the ability of the cadet commander to maneuver the formation and deliver each command while remaining within the marked boundaries of the drill area. And for many units around the country, those events remain as such; after all, an eagle-eyed, quick-witted commander should have no trouble keeping their formation in-bounds while completing the totality of their drill sequence.
With so many variables outside of our control, however, we like to exercise a bit more strategy when it comes to conducting both regulation and color guard drill.
In this article, we will explore the benefits and process of mapping your regulation or color guard sequences to specific counts in order to maximize your leverage when it comes to competitions!
What is Count Mapping?
Count mapping is the process of working working through a given drill card or sequence and assigning a specific number of steps between each command, especially in the marching portions, to ensure that a cadet commander is delivering the commands in a consistent fashion – or has the ability to quickly and mathematically make adjustments for unknown variables.
Why not just call commands?
Drill competitions are unpredictable by nature. Unlike other sports and activities, we cannot rely on judges or even drill areas to exist as anticipated or even as published. With so many variables left to chance, much of the competition drill team activity involves isolating and making consistent as many variables as we can control ourselves.
Count-mapping our drill cards takes a great deal of burden off the cadet commander. The alternative to counting steps between commands is using visual input to determine when to give the next command. Because it’s highly unlikely our competition area is visually similar to our practice floor, we’re already setting ourselves at a disadvantage. And what happens when the barrier to the floor is not as clear as you’ve made it at practice? Relying on inconsistent visual information doesn’t seem to be the most competitive decision.
Drill competitions also introduce other variables. For teams who compete outdoors, perhaps the drill area is set at a slight incline. Every time the team marches to house right, they march uphill. Every time the team marches to house left, they march downhill. This slightly change in elevation changes the size and rate of steps enough to make a significant difference to the commander still charged with keeping the team inbounds. When compounded with different visual input, you can see where we step into the territory of “chance” really quickly. Counting steps lets a commander make adjustments mentally and factor those adjustments into their decision-making many commands in advance. In effect, it lets them see their card as something they can mentally manipulate while competing. The team marching uphill shortened their stride? Let’s add 4 steps to the count. If we added 4 here, we need to make that adjustment elsewhere by removing 4. Where can that happen next? This is the power of count-mapping a drill sequence.
What is the process?
This process is somewhat tedious and will take intentional, concentrated practice time. It will require the commander to study and do their homework outside of practice. It will require consistent follow-up wherein the commander gets comfortable counting their paces. And it will require a period of adjustment where the counts mapped may change as the steps of the formation “settle” and become more consistent as the team gets more comfortable.
- Start by drawing out the drill sequence. We recommend using an app such as GoodNotes for Apple devices where you can easily create a digital notebook to keep track of counts.
- Bring markers to practice so you can easily reset to key areas on the floor. Because mapping counts is all about precisely delivering commands, having specificity when working sections later into the sequence is key.
- Figure out how you want to count. As long as it makes sense to the commander and team, there are a number of possibilities. Some teams count every step and the “official count” is the number upon which the preparatory command for the next movement begins. Some teams count every step and note their counts as something like “after 16 steps, on the 17th” or “16/17” for short. Some teams count every left or right foot dependent on which foot the next command will begin on to effectively halve the number of counts.
- Start at the beginning of the drill card and work through each logical section. How many steps from the entry to centered on the Head Judge? Emphasize to the squad/element leaders the importance of taking consistent steps and work through each section until you’re consistently landing in the right place. Document how many steps occur between each command.
- Continue that process for the entire drill sequence. When it makes sense, rather than starting at the beginning of the entire drill card, use your markers to denote a reset point to which the team can return when working sections later in the card.
- We recommend commanders write and re-write their map complete with counts. This will help in retention.
- In the subsequent practices, spend time isolating for the commander’s ability to retain and count through their sequence. This is a great time for team members to work on consistent, quality execution of each movement and coach themselves individually since the commander will likely need some time to settle into their counts, especially if it’s their first time calling commanders on counts.
Conclusion
We HIGHLY recommend teams who want to be as competitive as possible map their sequences as soon as they have drill floor diagrams and drill sequences. This process takes some time but ultimately results in both a commander who is in control and proactive (vs. being reactive to their surroundings) and a team who performs with great confidence because they too aren’t just waiting around for a command to be given and responding to it!