Our team (the Red Sox Headstocks) won the Trinity striking competition last weekend!  The shield will be displayed somewhere in Advent starting Wed.  

The judge, Simon Linford, gave some good feedback.  He said our team seemed "intent on not hitting each other" especially with the "One Two Three Four".  He acknowledged this as a good strategy, though it made the ringing sound a bit labored and sacrificed some of the music of the back bells.  He said our approach and use of practice time was very professional, so shoutout to Austin for great team leadership!  To compare, we were 7 faults ahead of the DC band, who Simon said "rang at battle speed" but "slipped on a banana peel" partway through.  NY came in third, 26.5 faults behind us, and Smith came in last though we were all proud of their performance as a team who's average experience was a couple of years.

One of the great benefits of the striking competition is an incentive to focus on our striking, which we've done some great work at even outside of the competition band!  Simon offered advice to talk to each other about striking, and that comments are a positive thing that demonstrate belief that a ringer can improve.  Hopefully we can keep up the improvement and strive for some healthy discourse!

Abby