With the winter DCUK SoundSport season now at a close, an on-line “debriefing” meeting was recently held for all the 11 participating units from 2025. This meeting was attended in person by 7 units and input by email from another 3 plus the DCUK Board and the DCUK SoundSport Judges Co-Ordinator.

The feedback received was invaluable as whilst the vast majority was extremely positive there were a few small aspects of how the season was run that will be looked at to help make any future events even better.

One question which DCUK has been asking and checking with the units on regular occasions over the last 3 to 4 months is “Do you want any events this summer?” At the end of the 2024 season a pledge was made that if Corps wanted a summer season then DCUK would run one and venues had been provisionally booked. The unanimous response has been that units did not want summer events in 2025 and so we now formally announce that, with the exception of the two COVID summers, for the first time since 1980 there will be no summer DCUK contests in the UK!

Whilst disappointing, it is not unexpected, as, especially since COVID, whilst the number of performing marching units in the UK is still quite good, the number of full competing Corps has continued to diminish. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom…

With all 11 units from 2025 - plus enquiries from at least 3 other existing performing units and 2 potential new units - currently looking to be part of our season next winter, it looks like SoundSport 2026 will see a step up in numbers and this can only be a positive sign. As mentioned, following this years feedback, there may be some tweaks to how next winter is formulated but in the main most things worked, the units got fantastic audiences and the performing members came away having had a great experience and so the plan is to now build on this.

Thank you to everyone that got involved/supported this year and we are now actively looking for more units that might want to take part and also, in this new and exciting era, we also would like to see more new judges/adjudicators coming on board to help us nurture the future talent in our activity. Please get in touch.

There is still the opportunity for SoundSport organisations -both existing and potential plus anyone interested in judging - to sit together next weekend on Saturday 17th May as part of the Winter Guard United Kingdom Spintastic event in Stoke on Trent and you can still register to attend by going to https://forms.gle/DGTzGLctePLSKAkC7 . 

We will soon be announcing further on-line meetings covering both next winters SoundSport events in general plus specific meetings just to cover judging - so let us know now if interested in being part of these and we can make ensure, when announced, you are advised.

DCUK SoundSport 26 – Here We Come...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SoundSport® is a program of Drum Corps International to showcase instrumental ensembles of any instrumentation and any skill level year-round, spotlighting their unique talents and creativity like never before. for more information visit the official website at www.soundsport.com

In case you missed it - check out the 2025 DCUK SoundSport YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iFkGbW3F8w