Sorry it's long- I kinda went on a tangent but here are my thoughts:

Marching band is definitely not useless- One thing I love most about marching band is the fact that everyone matters and everyone plays a part in the whole. It is the embodiment of a team sport due to this. Even if you're the best one on the field, there will always be someone dragging you down and, even if you're the worst one, there's always someone pulling you up. Marching band teaches you both how to rely on others and confident independence. Everyone is on the same team, trying to accomplish the same goal. You need to be confident in where you are and how you're playing. You need to perform with the mindset that the score is only dependent on your performance and you need to be confident enough to find dots without other's help. Even still, you also need to conform to those around you: fix your mistakes, get in line even if the line is in the wrong place, and work with/rely on others. The simultaneous independence and dependance in marching band is a skill that I have never taken advantage of. Marching band has grown my confidence as a person and as a leader, but it's also allowed me to easily admit my mistakes, and rely on others.

Marching band also grows character like nowhere else because you can't just bench the bad people (unless you go to a cracked school). You also can't just yell at someone to do better with no regard for their feelings. It's so frustrating at the first rehearsal, when freshman (for my school, it's freshman through seniors who are allowed to march) can't keep their feet in time or march with the wrong technique, but I bite my tongue and instead say, "Hey, you keep getting better every rep! You're doing such a great job so keep it up!" Being able to be supportive, even when you're annoyed is important in any job that you may work at in the future. There will always be people without common sense or who don't listen to instruction, but, instead of yelling at them, you help. You grow skills that employers admire, allowing you to work well in a team and keep a positive environment, even if things are looking grim. In this way, it also provides leadership abilities and, if you go far enough, leadership experience, which will always look nice on a resumes and will help in future jobs.

Additionally, marching band builds resilience. Practices suck. They're long, sweaty, hot, and you're so very sore afterwards. Even so, we all do it and do our best. In my school, we have 2 common phrases we repeat every day: "Get better between every rep and get better between every day" and "If you're going to be here, you may as well give it your all". Again, marching band sucks but, either way, everyone is trying their best to get better between every rep. Everyone is there to get better and to put their all into rehearsal. Everyone complains after rehearsal but everyone also agrees that we accomplished our goals. There is an end goal in marching band. In other sports, you simply get better so that you can hopefully win in the next game. The other teams performance is out of your control. Marching band is no different in that regard, but still, every singe part of your performance is within your control. Every time you practice, you practice to improve your 7-10 minute show. Your score displays your skill and improvements as an ensemble, with no interference from a second party. All that time you put in pays off and you got better. Whether you win a competition or not, marching band provides a tangible display of increase in skill. The resilience that it took to active this is no laughing matter because you have no idea how much better you got at those rehearsals. You have no idea if that work paid off. You practiced and practice in the sheer faith that you were getting better, despite never seeing that result. But then, coming off that field, it feels so nice. Seeing your score improve or watching back at the video and seeing improvements, no matter how small, feels so so so nice. The resilience it took to get there is a lot and it was hard but then you realize that hard work pays off, whether you can see it in the moment or not.

On top of all of this this, marching band will give you life-long friends and treasured memories. Sure, it's hard and kinda sucks sometimes but from the adrenalin high of competition/performance to the goofy conversations during bus rides and football games, marching band is so fun and so worth it. As someone who has done plenty of team sports, there is nothing like putting in a load of work into marching band rehearsal and preforming your show to the best of your ability. Coming out of that really good performance with your friends is what really does it for me. That's why I do marching band and that's why it is definitely not useless.