Jittering with nerves, a new leisure marching team in Tauranga lined up for its first performance in a North Island display meet of the hobby held in the city on Saturday.

The Matua Majors at the event today.

The Tauranga Leisure Marchers marching display saw 20 teams from across the North Island show off their choreographed steps to each other– some arriving from as far as Auckland, Orewa and Taupo.

The event held at Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, Memorial Park is not a competition, it is simply a display of the teams' choreographed and practiced marching steps, says Tauranga Leisure Marchers president Coreen willis.

'We just do it for fun.”

But it is still a nerving concept for Tauranga's Balmoral Marching Team who performed for the first time on Saturday.

Tauranga woman Anita Macleod is marching in her parents' footsteps by re-starting their Balmoral Marching Team – and new ladies, age 30-60, can still join.

'I did all my marching from age seven under the team name Balmoral which my parents Rita and the late Norman Macleod coached – that is how it all came about,” says Anita, who is the new team's coach.

The team of seven ladies is performing its first public display in tomorrow's Tauranga Leisure Marching Day of teams from the North Island, including 11 from Tauranga.

'The Balmorals are a new team with no experience at all in marching, except for myself; and we've only been training for four months,” says Anita. 'So the girls are a bit nervous, but we have so much fun, gaining new friendships – it's an awesome happy team.”

Coreen says 10 Tauranga teams took part in the event and meet every so often to perform at different marching displays across the North Island.

The next display is at Hamilton in September followed by a ‘North Island Day' in Napier.

Teams can consist of a minimum of five marchers up to 15 or 20 and range between 50 and 80 years old.

Coreen says Tauranga usually has a strong attendance in the displays when they are held in the city as the whole concept was started here 15 years ago.

'A lot of people were ex-marchers from when they were little and in competition.”

Anyone, aged 30-60, keen to join the Balmorals, can call Anita on 07 571 4096 or 021 025 76094.

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Pacific Guards from Mount Maunganui.