Junior Section Figure Marching

The Junior Section Figure Marching competition will be held at Priory Methodist Church, Bedford, on Saturday 4th December starting at 2.30 pm.  It will be followed by the Dodge Ball competition.

This year's routine can be found at the foot of this page or as a Word document  here.

Companies wishing to take part in either competition must contact Andrew Burchell no later than 8 pm on Friday 3rd December.

Figure Marching Rules

Teams must have a minimum of four and a maximum of eight boys. Companies may enter more than one team.

Scoring:

The figure marching routine consists of 17 moves.  For each move a total of 5 points are available as follows:

      0 points - move missed out;
      1 point - move attempted but not correctly completed;
      2 points - move recognisable;
      3 points - move correct but very messy;
      4 points - move correct but a bit ragged;
      5 points - move perfect.

A team inspection will take place after move 13. Boys should be wearing Junior Section Uniform in accordance with Brigade Regulations, i.e.

• clean black shoes,
• dark socks,
• black, dark grey or dark blue trousers,
• blue BB polo shirt,
• royal blue BB sweatshirt,
• armband with badges correctly laid out (Note: The Company Officer must inform the judge before the routine if any boy on the team is not entitled to wear an armband, i.e. they have not yet received any BB awards).

An inspection mark out of 15 will be awarded to the team.

Notes: Where teams have a number of boys that is not divisible by two, "spare" boys should always adopt the most central position possible.  For example, in section 5, when forming into fours, one "spare" boy should march down the centre of the hall, two "spare" boys should march in files 2 & 3.

1     Enter through the doors in single file, going to the centre of the hall, the turning left to march down the centre of the hall.

2     At the far end of the hall, the leading boy turns right, the second boy left, the third right and so on.

3     The two teams will march around the sides of the hall, until they meet at the top when they will turn to march down the centre of the hall in pairs.

4     At the end of the hall the first pair turn right, the second pair turn left, the third pair turn right and so on.

5     In pairs, the two teams march around the sides of the hall, until they meet at the top when they turn to march down the centre of the hall in fours.

6     At the end of the hall, the four boys split, marching to the corners in pairs (the same pairs as in move 4.  At the corner, the inner boy in each pair heads diagonally towards the opposite corner of the hall, while the outer boy continues up the side of the hall.

7     On reaching the opposite corners the boys merge back two single files.  The boy heading diagonally from bottom left to top right should lead the top right file (blue on the diagram), the boy heading up the left hand side of the hall should lead the top left file (red on the diagram).  The two single files head across the hall.

8     The two files meet at the top centre of the hall and merge into a single file.  The boys should now be back in their original order.  (Note: this is very dependent on getting move 7 correct).  The single file proceeds down the centre of the hall.

9     On reaching the end of the hall, the boys turn right, then right again and proceed towards the centre line.  On reaching the centre they turn left, then left again, returning to the bottom of the hall.  They then turn right and right again to proceed up the left hand side of the hall.  When they reach the centre line of the hall they turn right.

10    The boys cross the hall and turn left.

11    On reaching the top of the hall the team turn left and form a snake diagonally across the hall.  The leading boy will stop shortly after passing the cone.  The rest of the team shall march around him, on his right hand side, with the second boy stopping in front of the leading boy.  The rest of the team will pass between the leading boy and the second boy and continue with the third boy stopping in front of the second boy.  The team should be spaced so that they use the full diagonal of the hall.  When the last boy stops he will raise his hand for 5 seconds.

12    When the last boy lowers his hand, the leading boy will march, passing to the left of the second boy, the right of the third boy and so on.  When the leading boy passes the second boy he will march behind the leading boy.  When the two boys have passed the third boy he will join the march and so on.  On reaching the corner, the team will turn right.

13    The team proceed up the left hand side of the hall, across the top, and down the right hand side.  At a suitable point the leading boys will mark time so that the team is in centred on the side of the hall.  On the command “Halt” from the Company Officer the team will halt.

       The judge will undertake the inspection of the squad before asking the Company Officer to continue.

14    On the command "Turning to the right, right turn”, the boys will turn right, standing to attention.

15    On the command “By the left, quick march”, the boys will march in a single line across the hall.

16    On reaching the opposite side of the hall the boys turn left and march to the corner, turning left and then left again to march up the centre of the hall.

17    The boys continue to march up the hall, turning right at the end to exit through the doors.