Junior Section Figure Marching

The Junior Section Figure Marching competition will be held at Priory Methodist Church, Bedford, on Saturday 24th November 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 23rd November.

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 14. 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 PAIRS, one "spare" boy should march down the centre of the hall.

1.     Enter hall and counter march five times in half the hall.

2.     Counter march in the other half of the hall four times.

3.     March round outside of hall and come up the middle in a single file.

4.     At the end of the hall file splits into two with the leading boy turning to the right and the second boy turning left (boys alternating down the line) and march round outside of hall.

5.     Come up the middle of the hall in pairs.

6.     The pairs split at the end of the end of the hall back into their single files. (Again the leading boy going to the right and the second boy going to the left). At the first comers each file turns and heads towards their diagonal corner (thus the boys 'cross over' in the centre of the hall). When the two files reach their opposing corners they turn in towards the middle of the hall.

7.     Merge back into single file and come up the centre of the hall (leading boy in the front).

8.     Make a Circle Maze in the centre of the hall, making three decreasing circles anti-clockwise.

9.     At the centre of the Circle Maze turn right and make three increasing circles clockwise, ending up heading for the corner of the hall by the doors.

10.  March round outside of the hall to opposite corner and form The Snake diagonally across the hall: the leading boy stops a short way in from the corner, the team pass round the leading boy and the  second boy stops 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 length of the hall.  When the last boy stops he will raise his hand for 5 seconds.

11.  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.

12.  On reaching the corner of the hall the team will turn left and march across the top of the hall, half way down the side, across the centre,and down towards the bottom right hand corner.

13.  March across the bottom of the hall, turn right and march up the side of the hall, marking time when the leading boy is about 2/3 of the way up the hall.  “Halt” on the officer’s command.

14.  Turn right on the officer’s command “Turning to the right, right turn.”.  The inspection will take place at this point.

15.  After inspection, on the command “Step forward in turn”, the last boy in the file takes ONE STEP forward and halts.  When he has done that then the second from last boy takes TWO STEPS forward and halts. This goes through the team to the leading boy (Each boy taking one more step MORE than the previous boy) thus creating a straight diagonal line across the hall no matter how many boys there are in your team.

16.  When all the boys are in a diagonal line the boys turn to the left to form a diagonal line (without command).

17.  March out of the hall (without command).