FFCC / Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit

Colorguard, Percussion, and Winds for Northern and Central Florida

Color Guard News

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2020 FFCC E-Adjudicate Virtual Solo Championships

2020 FFCC Virtual Solo Championships

The FFCC is partnering with our Solo & Duet Championships sponsor, E-Adjudicate, to offer the 2020 FFCC Virtual Solo Championships! Since we can’t be together during this difficult time, we can spin in our backyards and share some competitive fun!

Quick Facts:

  • The competition is now open to independent performers and more! See below for details!
  • If you are already registered & paid, you can elect to participate in the online competition, or receive a refund. This post contains all those details.
  • This competition is currently only for colorguard performers, as previously scheduled. We know that many of our percussionists and instrumentalists don’t have access to instruments right now. We are looking at other ways to get you involved in other activities from home.
  • No, we are not planning to hold our championships virtually, or reschedule. Unfortunately the continuously fluid situation with school districts and public gatherings does not make it financially and logistically feasible for an organization of our size to reschedule this season. Many of our teams do not have videos, were not able to have a “last run”, and we do not know when or if they will, so we will not elect to hold an online competition for teams since there is no way to offer it fairly.

Timeline:

  • March 17-20: Pre-Registered Performers
    • If you already paid and registered for the original competition, you will have the opportunity to continue your registration or request a refund. Please check your email by Wednesday, March 18th.
    • Duets will not be offered in our new virtual contest. If you were registered as a duet, you will have the opportunity to compete as two separate soloists or receive a refund.
    • If you choose to continue, please got to e-adjudicate.com and register as a student and create an account by Friday, March 20th. A credit will be placed in your account by March 24th.
    • You will be automatically placed in the solo category you originally chose (rifle, for example), and entered into a division based on your team affiliation.
  • March 24-April 1: New Registrations & Upload Window
    • Registration will open for new performers who would like to participate in the competition.
    • Registration is open in the divisions below.
    • Registration takes place on the E-Adjudicate website at www.e-adjudicate.com See directions below.
  • April 2-4: Judging Window
    • Our judges will access your videos and score them individually
  • Week of April 5th: Winners Announced!
    • Our winners will be announced, and the top three in each category, in each division, will be shared on the FFCC YouTube Channel!
    • Prizes will be awarded at a date TBD

We are offering the following divisions:

  • Cadet Division
    • Open to performers in grades PreK-8 who are members of current FFCC teams in good standing
  • Scholastic Division
    • Open to performers in grades 9-12 who are members of current FFCC teams in good standing
  • Independent Division
    • Open to performers of any age who are members of a current FFCC independent team in good standing
  • Open Division
    • Open to performers of any age and any affiliation from any team, circuit, or state.

Categories:

  • Dance
  • Flag
  • Rifle
  • Sabre

Rules

  • Register in the appropriate division based on your team’s affiliation with the FFCC in 2020. You will be disqualified if you enter a division other than your own (except Open, which is available to all).
  • Time Limit: 2 minute maximum. Judges will stop judging after 2 minutes
  • Equipment soloists may not put their equipment down at any time during the performance. (Penalty of 10 points for each incidence of intentional grounding of equipment).
  • Solos will judged using the FFCC Solo Competition Sheet
  • Make sure your video is clear and music is audible.
  • Record your video in landscape, not portrait, and try to reduce background noise
  • Your video may not be edited in any way

Cost

  • $30 for performers from FFCC member teams in Cadet, Scholastic, or Independent divisions
  • $40 for performers entering the Open Division

Solos will be judged by FFCC judges as originally planned, via E-Adjudicate’s online judging system. The top three in each division will be featured on the FFCC YouTube Channel and our social media.

Leave your equipment at school? Our partners at Digital Performance Gear have equipment ready to ship- order here!

Winners in each division will receive prizes TBD!

If you do not want to participate in the online contest, but have already paid, please send an email with your name, school, and request to treasurer@ffcc.org by Friday, March 20th. Full refunds will be processed via PayPal within 30 days of receipt.

 

 

 

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2020 Season Cancellation

Update: March 15, 2020

The FFCC asks for patience as we continue to work through the many details surrounding the cancellation of the remainder of our season due to COVID-19 and the current national state of emergency. We are currently working with local businesses, including our Headquarters Hotel, the Daytona Beach Hilton Ocean Walk Resort, to resolve this year’s event, and to begin the planning of next year’s Championships. The FFCC is proud to partner with the City of Daytona Beach, the Ocean Center, and its incredible event staff and appreciates their support throughout this difficult process.

Pre-Purchased Team Wristbands

Full refunds will be processed via PayPal within the next 30 days for those who charged their team non-performance day wristbands. Any outstanding invoices will be voided if currently unpaid.

Pre-Purchased Spectator Wristbands

Full refunds will be processed via PayPal within the next 30 days. There is no need to contact the FFCC unless:

  1. You do not receive a refund by April 16, 2020
  2. You wish to donate your wristbands to the FFCC as a charitable contribution to help with costs incurred from the cancellations. If you would like to donate your fee, please email treasurer@ffcc.org with your name and email address before Friday, March 20th. We will be happy to provide you with a receipt.

Hotel Blocks

If you purchased rooms for championships via our website at the Daytona Beach Hilton Ocean Walk, we will be in touch with you directly within the next week regarding your options.

Scholarships

The FFCC will continue to award the Martha Stark Memorial Scholarships, along with two scholarships sponsored by our partners at McCormick’s. The scholarship committee is still reviewing applications and will continue to work on their original timeline. Scholarship winners will be announced the week of our originally scheduled championships.

Senior Medals

The FFCC is working to coordinate the distribution of senior medals to all teams who ordered them this season. As you can imagine, this process may take some time. Please note that none will be sent out until after schools reopen, or other arrangements are made. We appreciate your patience as we work through this unprecedented process.

Championships Program

We are compiling our championships program as an online virtual yearbook this year. Directors were sent an email with requests for information by March 17th. Please check your email or the FFCC Director’s Facebook group for information, or contact Cichele Fields.

Annual Director Meeting

Our Annual meeting date is TBA.

2020-2021 Advisory Boards

Those teams currently serving on the 2019-2020 FFCC advisory boards will continue in those roles for the 2020-2021 season.

Solos and Duet Championships  

More information coming soon.

FFCC March 15th Update

 

 

The FFCC released the following statement regarding the cancellation of the remainder of the 2020 season:

The FFCC has been in constant communication to monitor and evaluate our upcoming events for the health and safety of our performers. It is with great sadness that we inform you that the remainder of the FFCC season, to include both shows scheduled for this weekend, and the FFCC Championships event have been cancelled.

The board has worked to mitigate the cost to the organization and our show hosts, and will be in touch with teams who had previously reserved hotels for championships, performers who purchased solo & duet fees, pre-purchased wristbands, etc. as soon as we are able. Please be patient as we sort through these complicated processes in this difficult time.

We know this is disappointing to our members, performers, spectators, and fans, but the with current situation regarding the COVID-19 outbreak and the school district closures and government recommendations changing hourly, it is the right thing to do for our community. We ask you to be supportive of each other during this difficult time.

We look forward to celebrating our 36th year with you in 2021.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Higbe
FFCC President

 

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2020 Critique Information

As we enter the 2020 FFCC winterguard season we are very excited to offer a new education initiative in the design process for our classes in Cadet, B, AAA, and AA.  As we evaluated our critiques and gained feedback from our judges, advisory board, and membership it has come to our attention that our members within these developing classes are strongly looking for more opportunities to discuss their design as well as specifics within their shows to further develop their creativity and students within the competition season.  As we have seen much success with our members that have attended the design symposium the past 2 years during the preseason, we are now offering an additional support to meet with a judge at one of our March 7th shows and discuss opportunities in a critique setting specific to just your group after your round comes to completion.  This will give you the opportunity to come with questions about your show, the tape you received that day, and gain more insight on how to improve on where you are currently at in the season giving you the tools to make the best instructional decisions as you move towards championships.  Within this model these classes will have competitively 4 judges (equipment, movement, design analysis, and General Effect) the General Effect judge at the end of each round will then meet with each group one at a time for approximately 5-10 minutes (depending on show) and can discuss any caption or questions they would like.  You can bring in specific areas of your show on video that you would like support or thoughts on, as well as looking into next steps that will most benefit your program and its growth with a few weeks before championships to set your team up for the most success possible.

As our circuit continues to grow and our shows are lasting longer due to full capacities at competitions, this model will now take the place of receiving a critique at each show for these classes during the season.  Directors and staff will still receive their feedback on tape at EVERY show, have a chance to speak to an overview consultant during their premiere show to discuss early on design ideas, have the opportunity to use our partnership with E-Adjudicate to have a judge look at your show on video, and can compile like comments to make instructional decisions and bring up when you meet with one of our critique judges to discuss your show during the March 7th competitions at Fleming Island, Braden River, or Oviedo High School.

National classes A, Open, and World will be able to receive a critique sign-up for premiere (Cypress Creek) and our March 14th shows (Durant and Cypress Creek) during the season.  National groups will NOT receive the one on one critique cadet-AA are receiving but will in return continue to have all 5 judges and scores with tape feedback at each show.

This will NOT affect our percussion units and they will continue their show protocol as in the past.

Percussion & Winds teams should sign up for critique via email to Tom@ffcc.org by January 28th for Premiere Shows and February 25th for Focus Shows. 

National Class teams (A-World) can email Tom to sign up for critique at the Cypress Premiere and the March 14th shows at tom@ffcc.org

Deadline for Cypress Premiere is Tuesday January 21st at 11:59pm

Deadline for March 14th shows is Tuesday, March 10th at 11:59pm

All emails will be replied to with your request.

To sign up for March 7th critiques (cadet-AA) at the Fleming Island, Braden River, and Oviedo show please email jamie@ffcc.org by February 15th at 11:59pm.

Again, we are very excited as we put education in design and show development at a forefront to help move our groups forward. If you have any questions please contact me at Jamie@ffcc.org

Jamie Dyer

FFCC Education Chair

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Find Your 2020 Photos!

Thanks to our outstanding photography vendors for their hard work! Check out your photos each week, and please consider supporting their businesses!

All of our photographers have connections to the FFCC as former performers, directors, guard parents, or volunteers. We are proud to be able to hire photographers who have a stake in the marching arts, and take pride in showing off your students to their best abilities. Please note that in the case of all of our photography vendors, photography is not their primary job-  please have patience with their posting times. By contract, all photographers have 10-14 days to edit & upload your proofs. This is a service they provide without cost to the circuit, and they want provide you with the best work they can.

Please keep these points in mind before sending emails looking for your photos. This is a service we would like to continue to provide in the future.

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2020 FFCC Hotel Blocks

The FFCC is proud to offer hotel discounts to member teams through our partnership with the Hilton Ocean Walk Resort, Daytona Beach, located directly across the street from our competition venue, the Ocean Center. The ONLY way to get this discount rate is by placing your reservation on the FFCC website through your Team Director.

There are a limited quantity of rooms and are available on a first come first serve basis. Rooms will not be held until payment is received in full. All rooms must be paid in full by January 31, 2020.

There is not a minimum number of nights required by the hotel. Each room is up to quad occupancy.   All rooms are non-refundable after January 31, 2020. Rooms may be paid for by check or online with a credit card.

2020 Championships Classes:

  • Friday 3/27: B & AAA Colorguard
  • Saturday 3/28: Novice, Cadet & AA Colorguard and all Percussion & Winds, as well as Colorguard Solo & Duet Championships
  • Sunday 3/29: A, Open & World Colorguard

Please direct all questions regarding hotel reservations to Tom Slaughter at tom@ffcc.org

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2020 Championships Hotels

  • eAdjudicate logo
  • Yamaha logo
  • Algy logo
  • FMBC logo
  • McCormicks logo
  • Digital Performance Gear logo
  • Marching Arts Education logo
  • AWCT logo
  • Marchmaster logo