By: Mary Queisser <[email protected]>

Before every competition, Matt Carfagna, marching band member and senior, and the rest of the marching band trumpet section pass around and kiss a bowling pin named “Maverick,” a sacred good luck ritual. “We do a lot of things most people would call normal and a lot of things most people wouldn’t understand,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bob Corpus, CHS wrestler and senior, will skip lunches to work out and won’t eat for the for sometimes two days in order to make weight for an upcoming meet.

He said, “You can’t drink water either because water is worse because it weighs more.”

Despite the extreme schedule consumption, time-consuming activities, such as marching band and wrestling, can enrich students’ lives instead of simply devouring them as commonly viewed.

Though Carfagna said marching band is, “absolutely a cult,” Michael Pote, associate director of bands, said it’s just like any other school activity that consumes a lot of time. “It’s a group of people who are really dedicated, so it may not make sense to anyone outside (of marching band),” he said. “But it’s just like any other sports or dance group.”

Robert Kopnisky, head wrestling coach and physical education teacher, said in order to excel in wrestling, a student must make that time commitment or risk being “average.” “We hope that wrestlers here want to become great and want to make it to State,” he said. “There are thousands of average Joes out there. Who wants to be an average Joe?”

Corpus said the sport takes several sacrifices. “You have to give up weekends. You have to give up time after school. You have to promote yourself to eating right and going to summer camps. You have to learn how to ‘mount the opponent,’ which is awkward,” he said.

The marching band has accumulated a mass of awards, prestige and bragging rights. “We’re kind of the big guys,” Carfagna said.

Pote said that Carmel’s tradition of excellence is what presses the marching band to work so hard. “We’ve developed the tradition of just trying to be really good at what we do, so it takes a lot of time,” he said. “You can’t get anything microwave quality and have turn out to be great.”

Activities like wrestling and marching band not only pay-off in titles and trophies but in life skills. Both Pote and Kopnisky said their programs teach students discipline, time management, work ethics, team work and commitment. And both Carfagna and Corpus said that they develop those traits. “It really makes you appreciate hard work more,” Corpus said.

Participants can also find pride in the outcome of all those hours. Corpus describes his wrestling experiences as a “badge of honor.”

Carfagna said earns a sense of belonging. He said, “The guys in the trumpet section are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

After a while, all those hours of training, rehearsals and competitions pile up, and burn out becomes an issue. During mid-October last year, Carfagna had to go to St. Louis and Atlanta and participated in a whole onslaught of competitions, where he admitted marching band becomes most stressful and tiring.

Near the end of the wrestling season, Corpus deals with back-to-back meets. “You get home after a meet and you realize that you have to do that whole starving thing again,” he said. “Around the end of the season, you’re praying for the day you don’t have to make weight.”

In spite of the labor, Kopnisky said everyone participates in an activity for a reason: fun. He said “It may be hard at times but you don’t do anything unless it’s fun.