There’s been a lot of conversation this week surrounding medal-chasing and how toxic it makes the activity. For those of you who are unfamiliar here’s a quick definition for you:
Medal-Chasing (Verb): The act of participating in a group/corps well-known to win medals in their circuit for the sole purpose of earning a medal.
People tend to put medal chasers in a box of people who “only march because they want to win,not because they actually love the activity.” And while I absolutely am one to say to march wherever you feel happiest, I understand why people do it. It’s important to approach questions like this from a place of empathy–understand where the other party is coming from. In order to understand the “morals”, we first need to understand the “why”.
As you know, colorguard is a competitive activity. In any competitive sporting event and/or art form, there are competitions in which someone may or may not place. Since scoring is usually tied to skill, presentation, and effectiveness of the program, winning a medal is likely to increase the credibility and authority that that group has. Most groups want to win (whether you admit it or not), and almost no performer would reject a medal if given one. But why?
A Program that has a lot of Wins under it’s Belt probably has Good Instruction.
Since colorguard is such an expensive activity, we want more bang for our buck, right? So it makes sense to want to get the best instruction possible.
Disclaimer: This is in no way saying that groups who don’t place don’t have good instruction. I am speaking purely from an outside perspective here.
High Member Retention.
Usually groups that place have a high percentage of returning members every year. This implies that the atmosphere is a good one and that people have enjoyed marching there so much so that they want to pay thousands to come back the next year. We read reviews before we buy most things in our lives, and this is no different.
It Builds your Credibility.
The sad truth is that for those performers looking to teach later in life, marching at a top corps/winterguard matters A TON. It’s like the difference between getting a degree from Yale vs. the same degree from a state school. Are both degrees valid? Sure. Is it possible that you had the same quality of instruction? Absolutely. But the optics of Yale as a more prestigious institution is going to take you a long way, whether your skills are more developed than those of your friends who went to state schools or not.
So Back to the Original Question–Is Medal-Chasing Morally Bad?
No, it’s not. Medal-Chasing doesn’t create a toxic environment. In fact, it makes a lot of sense to want a medal. I mean I certainly wouldn’t mind one, would you?
The toxicity associated with medal chasing is not because of the action in itself. It becomes toxic when it’s the sole purpose for existing in the activity and the ego gets involved in the results. So you won a medal, congrats. Newsflash, If you’re a performer you are not better than your friends just because you won. To the programs out there, winning a medal does not give you the authority to treat your members like crap because they are “lucky to march there”.
I like to illustrate my point with this money analogy: There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting a lot of money. But if you do everything in your life just to get that money (and I mean everything), you probably won’t be very happy. Also when you do come across that large sum of money, remember that you’re still a person on this earth like everyone else, and that you are not better than others just because you’re rich.
Also, if you’re judging someone for wanting to march to win, you need to check yourself. Being judgmental and hostile towards someone just because you perceive their actions as “greedy” and “wrong” doesn’t make you any less toxic than you perceive them to be.
It’s important to note that winning isn’t everything. In fact, my favorite seasons are the ones that I marched in which we didn’t win. But it’s time for us to learn to practice empathy and to let people live their lives. I honestly don’t care what Billy Bob Joe is doing with their marching career. As long as they’re enjoying their time and I’m enjoying mine, all is well.
