- 1stSgt. Christopher Borghese

2012 ORIGINAL INDUCTEE OF THE MILITARY DRILL HALL OF FAME

The National High School Drill Team Championships &
Sports Network International
The National High School Drill Team Championships maintains the largest and most well-recognized collection of all-service military drill & ceremony teams found anywhere in the world. Roughly 22% of all of the JROTC programs in the nation at one point or another have attended the NHSDTC. This single weekend spectacular begun in the 1980's has hosted over 220,000 cadets from most every state in the country and several foreign countries in their history. The four primary branches of the military annually allow their finest schools to compete in this unparalleled weekend of all-service military drill & ceremony excellence each May. 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of this illustrious event.

The NHSDTC competition is an annually spectacular and unlike any other military drill event you will ever attend. Exciting extras such as huge video screens, an elaborate awards ceremony, along with each competing cadet receiving exciting extras for their months and months of effort and sacrifice are signature hallmarks. However what makes the event most special is the amazing lengths the competition will go to in making their all-service judging corps the most well trained an well respected as any available in all-service military drill competition. Also, using a massive county civic center for the event, having 40+ vendors, and maintaining well over 150 schools attending each year gives the event an ambiance that i not possible to replicate. Frankly, unless you have been to the event, it is hard to describe to anyone the level of intensity and the sheer spectacular nature of the competition at all levels.

While "The Nationals" remain the most well-known and largest event held in the world of military drill, it is by far not the only impact event manager Sports Network International has maintained to the betterment of military drill proficiency around the world. SNI currently serves as the event host for the U.S. Army JROTC National Drill Championships, the U.S. Navy JROTC Academic, Athletic and Drill Championships, as well as the Air Force JROTC National Drill Championships. These service championship events are the premiere single service events in the nation, hosting a combined 4,000 cadets and instructors annually.

Along with these high school drill events, SNI hosts the widely recognized post-high school solo & dual national championships in the World Drill Championships. This event brings together most of the finest post-high school military drill & ceremony cadets found anywhere in the world for a competition that includes bayonet drill. It is a sight to behold and further promotes the creativity and lifetime excitement found in exhibition military drill.

As drill spread in popularity, the need to assist cadets looking to maintain not only talent, but safety components to their efforts became a focus for the NHSDTC. SNI, in conjunction with the non-profit Sports Network Int'l Youth Foundation, began the Nationals Drill Camp. This Summer camp worked with both JROTC cadets and their instructors focusing on drill composition, skills, and safety while honing leadership and decision making thereby keeping military drill a safe and vibrant sport. For seven days, all attendees learn from some of the most talented minds in competition and performance drill. Past attendees have stated repeatedly that it was a week they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Probably the single largest impact SNI has made to military drill outside the actual competitions they host has come through the distribution of the Best of Series Videos that are filmed during the Masters Level competition of the all-service Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida. Over 1,400 JROTC programs currently maintain at least one set of the Best of Series Videos, using them for instruction as well as entertainment as cadets can watch some of the greatest overall drill routines in Inspection, Regulation, Color Guard and Exhibition. These videos, in combination with the JROTC expansion of the mid 1980's, along with the advent of the internet, have formed a powerful force that has propelled the talent and interest in military drill to new heights over the past few decades.

The efforts of Sports Network International have given a powerful, prominent and justly deserved spotlight to the hundreds of thousands of cadets and instructors from around the world that have dedicated much of their free time to the glorification and excellence that military drill provides their program. Their inclusion into the Military Drill Hall of Fame is a given as they not only brought more glory to the sport of competition drill any other entity, but they have brought a level of professionalism and regulation to make the sport a serious national past time over portions of the last four decades.