Major Beverly

Chapter 6: Rules and regulations

Johnny, Dejah, Lana, Tyler, and Julia talk about the plans she has for the qualification battle. Dejah and Johnny at her house and Lana and Julia on facetime.

"Okay guys, We are all here, let's go over this year's March Madness categories." Dejah greeted

"Can we just talk about that competition today real quick?" asked Julia

"Dejah, literally crushed it today." Lana mentioned

"Yea, I wonder what made them score me so high?" Dejah wondered

"Well, you had what we call the Debut boost." Tyler said

"What's that?" they all asked 

"John, the captain before me, told me all about it. It happened in 2014 when Cultural had the highest score in the Homecoming Showcase, they all believed that they got a higher score because they were showing something new to everyone. If it's new and looked good, it is believed that they would score you a little higher and everyone slightly lower." Tyler explained

"So, you think I won so many points because they were being biased?" Dejah asked

"Of course not, I believe that instead of them scoring you higher just because you're new, they score everyone lower for not wowing as much as you did because you performed most of your routines well. Did you notice how when you performed slightly wrong for the pass it challenge they took off so many points? When you perform something they have never seen before correctly you get a boost but if you don't perform it correctly you lose more points than you gain by doing it correctly." Tyler corrected

"That makes sense, so initially people think having a fresh style will boost your chances but instead it makes it harder because they need to work harder to do it perfectly for a better first impression." Johnny added

"Exactly." Tyler agreed

"Well, good thing I had some help." Dejah mentioned

"Can I ask you something Dejah?" wondered Lana

"What's up?" Dejah responded

"Johnny was telling us how you gave them advice and it made their score higher, I was wondering what we could have done differently to make the cut next time." Lana stated

"Well you guys all were so close, you only needed about 13 points. If Tyler had more difficult choreography in the pass it challenge and Julia utilized her prop better they would have gotten more points. Everyone could have tried harder in their intros and outros, more specifically Lana you could have done the same thing as your intro to get an extra 5 points at least to make the cut. Johnny, your intro was a little basic no one wants to see a team limp all the way across the field it lacked a wow factor. Julia, your into and outro needed to include your whole team and maybe you could have gotten more points. With all of that being said, I meant it all respectfully." Dejah told

"Dejah, we are dancers... we can take constructive criticism." laughed Lana

"Yea, it's fine. Next time we know to step our game up when going against you." Julia added

"Hey, Dejah I noticed that on your Homecoming Showcase paper you have no co-captains." Tyler mentioned

"I was thinking about that, I need a lot of help putting these routines together so I decided to make 3 people co-captains." Dejah informed

"Why not 4?" Julia asked

"In majorette, well on my team at least, we only had 3 co-captains at the most." Dejah mentioned

"Which co-captain were you before you became captain?" asked Tyler

"Oh, well I never was captain or co-captain." Dejah mentioned