I'd like to respond to Dick Yarbrough's Oct. 4 column, "Drum up some appreciation for The Marching Band."
I am the proud parent of two boys who both participated in marching band at Sprayberry High School all four years. While I agree that with son number one, the band never spoke to the football team and vice versa, things radically changed with son two, with the hiring of an SHS alumni, Coach Billy Shackelford, as head coach in 2007.
From day one, "Coach Shack" has showed his support for the marching band and it's quite common for coach and band Director Andy Esserwein to congratulate each other on a great evening at the conclusion of a football game! This past Friday night, I witnessed something I've never seen in my eight years as a band parent, with the playing of the school fight song at the conclusion of the night, the football team walked through the marching band giving them "high fives"!
While most school football teams and marching bands are at odds with each other on who owns the playing field, we at Sprayberry know that exceptional leadership brings mutual admiration.
Margie Crawford
Marietta
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I am happy to hear of your positive experience at Sprayberry. We too at Pope HS now enjoy a close relationship between Coach Matt Kemper and the band. Coach Kemper is a class act who has turned our team around, both in terms of on the field and off. Kemper, his staff, and the team support the band, and the band loves the team and coaching staff. This is such a breath of fresh air after Kemper's predecessors. He is a man of high character, and does what he can to teach these young men the same values.
To those coaches who refuse to share the field with the band and other organizations- shame on you! We all paid for that turf and you don't own exclusive rights to its use. Too many coaches and football boosters don't play nice in this regard. Not just the field, but parking lots and other facilities. The sense of entitlement with some football programs is astounding.
Some of their neighboring schools are in stark contrast- Sprayberry and Pope are perfect examples of the close relationship between the band and the team. It starts with classy coaches, and trickles down.