Picture this: Over 20 JROTC programs competing in one meet, here at Central Catholic.
Each team with the same goal in mind: Win. On the weekend of April 12th, 20 schools will be at Central Catholic competing in our JROTC Skills Meet.

On April 12th, Central Catholic will host approximately 20 schools and over 70 teams here
for our 13th annual Skills Meet. These schools come from all over the state of Texas to be here
competing. Central Catholic’s JROTC program is no stranger to competition. Each one of our
teams has competed in many different events, in and out of Texas. They compete all around the nation to leave their mark on each competition they go to, and this year our Drill Team even went as far as the Army Nationals invitational in Virginia. However, the annual CC Skills Meet will mean a lot more than any other competition. This meet is on our home turf, and there is no doubt that our JROTC teams will do whatever it takes to make sure that each visiting team fears competing at Central Catholic.

On the day of the Skills Meet, different teams including, Armed/Unarmed Drill, Male and
Female Color Guard, PT team, and J-Lab teams, will have a chance to leave their own mark here at Central. Each team competes in their own various ways. The male/female color Guard teams perform a routine in sync, of flag folding, and rendering honors to the flag. J-Lab, which stands for JROTC Leadership Academic Bowl, is a team in which members compete and answer questions based on JROTC curriculum and knowledge. The PT teams showcase sit-ups, push- ups, pull-ups, and running in their events. Our Drill Team of course, practices their different routines they’ve been perfecting all year. This may include inspection, in which the team answers questions they are asked from a drill instructor, or exhibition, which is the actual spinning and tossing of a rifle. It will be interesting to see how our teams compare to the rest of competition during this Skills Meet.

Although these types of meets are particularly competitive, the real reason why Central
Catholic hosts these meets, is to interact with our fellow JROTC programs through fellowship
and friendly competition. Captain Dwayne Rhodes, the head instructor here at Central said “It
really means giving back to schools”, when asked what this Skills Meet means to him and the
rest of the corps. He says that events like this are not for us, but for schools to be able to come to Central and compete for their own trophies and medals. All JROTC programs have a special
connection considering they all want the same thing for their cadets: “…motivate young people to be better citizens”(JROTC Mission Statement). Each program is constantly training their teams for competitions. Many of which involve day and night practices. All of the teams in this event have practiced countless hours in preparation for this Skills Meet. When all 20 schools come together on April 12th and 13th, their skills will be put to the test.

This Skills Meet will be Central Catholic’s 13th time hosting this event. Central will
continue to host this event, if it means bringing different JROTC programs together for a little
friendly competition.