FAU's other 'players' at the Final Four: Pep band members also get shining moment

BOCA RATON — When Franklin Ticas Castellón joined Florida Atlantic University’s pep band last year, he didn’t anticipate playing his trombone at an NCAA Tournament game.

The last time his school’s men's basketball team had even made it to an NCAA Tournament was in 2002, without success. So, really, he hadn’t considered it. When it came to traveling with the band, he thought the one trip he was looking forward to was the Conference USA Tournament in Frisco, Texas, outside Dallas.

But on Wednesday, he was boarding a bus for a once-in-a-lifetime trip back to Texas — only this time to Houston, where the Owls will play the San Diego State Aztecs in the national semifinals, more commonly known as the Final Four.

“It’s been nothing less than just a dream come true,” the 21-year-old junior said.

He’s one of the 29 band members, selected out of the group’s 50, to travel to the game for the weekend. A win Saturday puts FAU in the national championship game Monday night against either Miami or Connecticut.

But the band can't bring everyone, and that makes it a dilemma for the band’s director, Marc Decker, who rotates the musicians for travel.

“Every time I travel, I take a different group,” Decker said. “It’s not always the same students. I want to ensure everyone has an opportunity to perform and enjoy these trips.”

This weekend’s group is made up of students across all majors and grades. The pep band in general is, too. Two of its members are graduate students. Many are music education majors, like Ticas Castellón.

“I have exceptional students,” Decker said. “I'm thrilled that they get the chance to perform in the national spotlight.”

For him, to have made it this far is a payoff for the band. They’ve performed at almost all of the FAU men’s and women’s basketball games this season and have trailed along with the men’s team, supplying the biggest on-stage amplifier with drums, horns and clarinets among the fans.

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And just like the players, performing at the Final Four is a reward for them, Decker said. Not only does it give them the opportunity to cheer for their school but it also creates memories they’ll have for years to come.

'Every time we win, it's like straight out of a movie'

Shelby Pritchard, a freshman and one of the band’s youngest musicians, also will support the team in Houston. It’s her first year in the band, and already she’s played her saxophone at Madison Square Garden — last weekend when the team defeated the Kansas State Wildcats.

“Every time we win a game, it's like straight out of a movie,” she said. “We're all just screaming.”

After their first win against the University of Memphis in Columbus, Ohio, in mid-March, Pritchard, 19, was in tears. So were about half her bandmates. That followed with a win over Fairleigh Dickinson to reach the Sweet 16.

“It's surreal,” she said, thinking of the fans, announcers and cameras that surround her as she blares her saxophone.

They do, after all, sit mere inches away from the players, who often high-five them and thank them after the games.

" 'You guys keep playing your hearts out,' " she remembers the men's coach, Dusty May, telling them after one of the team's wins. " 'I want to hear louder!' "

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The band members, too, make it onto the Jumbotron and home televisions. Sometimes, Pritchard will get texts from roommates and family members who catch her on their screens.

“We’re playing, and the cameras just come up to us,” she said. “I get so excited.”

Julian Romero, a senior set to graduate this spring, played with Pritchard at Madison Square Garden last weekend.

“It was incredible,” he said. “Hearing not only our band but the other bands. Just being able to blast our music out for everyone to hear us.”

One fan even approached them, asking what song they were playing so she could teach it to her middle school band. It was "Big Ballin,’" Romero’s favorite.

Romero, 22, who has played the trumpet since fifth grade, is one of the pep band’s oldest members, having joined before the pandemic.

“You feel very supportive,” he said, thinking back on the times he’s spent now at larger arenas during the school’s March Madness run. “We always want to get up and clap our hands or something to encourage (the team).”

FAU's band will roll out 20 songs for the Final Four

But they’re allowed only to sit because of the spectators behind them.

Still, seated and instruments in hand, energy levels remain high among the "Parliament Sound" Pep Band at each of these arenas. With NRG Stadium — which seats almost 72,000 and is home to the NFL's Houston Texans — up next, the student musicians are ready to showcase the roughly 20 songs they’ve worked to perfect.

Take it from Ticas Castellón, the junior trombone player. He doesn’t believe it matters which side fans are on to appreciate the band for what it’s bringing them.

In fact, while playing at some of these larger arenas, he's noticed fans stay during halftime, pulling out their phones and recording the pep band during what most people use as their chance to grab food or run to the restroom.

“Music is a beautiful thing,” he said. “For those few minutes, when people listen to us play, I like to forget about all the struggles and stresses in the world and just focus on what message or emotion we're driving.”

Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU pep band also gets chance to travel to Houston for Final Four