This is a neat story form the Trojan Marching Band's perspective.
There’s nothing quite like 93,000 screaming football fans to calm your nerves. As I stepped into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time as drum major of the University of Southern California (USC) Trojan Marching Band (TMB), an eerie sense of calm and confidence overcame me. For the first time, I knew that I was ready. I knew that this was what I was meant to do.
For months, I thought about this one moment—the “stabbing of the field” during pre-game. Years of work came down to this one moment. I had gone over it in my head literally thousands of times. I barely slept the night before. And here I was, finally ready and strangely relaxed as I stepped onto the field, spun the sword above my head and plunged it deep into the turf of the most storied football stadium in the nation.
Prepared to Fight On
“You don’t want to look back and think ‘What if?’” That’s where this whole ride started.
For the last four years, I’ve immersed myself in the Trojan Marching Band, first as a trumpet player and now as drum major in my senior year. My time as a bandsman in the TMB has taken me places I couldn’t have imagined four years ago. I’ve travelled to two foreign continents, 10 different states and even met Bill Cosby. I’ve marched a marathon’s worth of Rose Parades (four in a row) and even played at the national championship. From performing for a football team that’s a national championship contender year after year to playing alongside fantastic musicians, there’s nothing that can compare to the incredible opportunities I’ve found in the Trojan Marching Band.
This is good read as there is no more recognizable symbol at USC than the TMB.