Though the icy chill of February approaches, the gymnasium is anywhere but cold. With a dazzling array of flags, tosses and dances, winter guard set the floor ablaze with its first tournament performance of ‘Burn’ on Feb. 1.
At the competition hosted by the West Coast Winter Guard, the team placed fourth out of five teams in Division Scholastic Regional A with a score of 49.470. The show featured many great moments such as the saber line’s tosses, but there were still avenues for growth, according to head color guard coach Michelle Schuk.
“The performance is not going to be fantastic the first time out because they’re really nervous about having an audience for the first time,” Schuk said. “Things tend to slip out of your hand, or you make a little mistake here and there. But those mistakes gives you an opportunity to do better at the next show and have something to work towards during the week to help you get better.”
In preparation, color guard members began by refining their rifle, sabre and flag technique from the fall field season, according to Schuk. They slowly added choreography and practiced putting emotion into their dance, which is continuing to change as they get further into the season.
“Everybody has been putting in a lot of effort into [the show] for two months,” color guard member and freshman Leia Speir said. “So I’m really proud of everybody. We definitely [need] time management because we have a lot of early practices and lots of practice.”
This year, color guard has almost doubled in size, growing from 14 to 25 members. Balancing a hard choreography with a larger team has been difficult, but seeing new members grow alongside their hard work has been gratifying, according to color guard member and senior Leah Sim.
“[Before the competitions], we always stand in a circle, hold each other’s hands, and send this squeeze across the circle. Our coaches are in the middle, and they say motivational stuff,” Sim said. “It’s really fun. Everyone’s having a lot of fun talking to each other and getting to know each other more.”
Even though color guard placed fourth out of five teams in the first tournament, the team holds out high hopes for the future.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Schuk said. “I have complete faith that at the end of the season, we’re all gonna be where we want to be show-wise and technique-wise. Performance-wise, this was just our first little baby step to getting there.”
