Tarpon Springs HS marching band head to Nationals

Oh yeah, that's Tarpon Springs High School's marching band, and they are marching to the Grand National Championships this week. They're headed to Indianapolis for the 2026 Bands of America Championships. From Thursday to Saturday, the band will showcase their ability as one of the best in the nation. FOX 13 photojournalist Cody Berkwist caught up with the band as they were given a hero send-off. Harvest Three show is entitled Echo So tonight, this is actually our last rehearsal with props before we leave for Indianapolis on Wednesday. So what we're preparing for is the Bands of America Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana. Basically, like the NCAA tournament for college basketball, it is for bands. So exciting. That's what we've been working for all year. Right now, we're working on running segments, finishing cleaning the show so that we can be our best for this last performance. We rehearse about 25 to 30 hours a week after school and two hours a day in class, so these kids definitely deserve everything. We rehearse so much that it gets to a point where everybody kind of has their own things that they're focused on. We know how to win every segment, we've rehearsed this, we know our thought process, and it's really about staying calm during that performance and not putting too much energy into it. It has to be focused, collected energy to make it great. Growth of the students is why we do this, you know, striving for excellence, self-accountability, taking something, beginning in a process where maybe you didn't think you could do it, and then the most exciting thing about this week is things that a lot of these students never thought was possible, you're starting to see them not only achieve it, but achieve it at a high level. It's really down to the little tiny details, making sure everybody is stepping off on the end of this count or making sure that the movement looks exactly the same. At this point in the show, we have everything learned and it's really about refining everything and making sure that we can all be completely uniform. We're excited for the students to be able to have the opportunity to unveil what they've been working on all season long on a national level. And they'll come back and change people all in the best ways. And we're really excited for them to have that opportunity. Thank you very much. If you are not attending the championship, don't worry. The entire performance will be live streamed. Just check their website.