The loud clink of metal rings through the school cafeteria as sophomore Sheila Aberin practice for their upcoming colorguard competition season, and prepare for their whirlwind day. With a busy band season coming to an end, the girls reminisce in their halftime performances, but they are snapped back to reality by another loud clink on the linoleum floors as they rehearse for their next competition. The long hours put into their routines do not go unnoticed, as seen when they snagged the first place title at their last competition.
“I prefer marching season, because we get to work and perform with the band. We also perform in the halftime and get to interact with other marching bands and the audience. Marching season is just more fun because you meet new people and make more memories throughout the season. Winter is more of staying focused on one thing, winning. Marching season is more of a team effort and representing your school through music and dancing,” said Aberin
The two seasons in colorguard are marching season in the fall where the girls preform at half time shows and competition season in the winter where they perform at competitions. Awards are given out during both seasons. The marching season offers more of a social aspect, which most girls enjoy. School spirit is emphasized more in marching seasons, but the girls still have a close bond traveling together for competitions.
“We come to school early morning, we load our props in the main commons. We then get breakfast and start to get ready for the day. We travel to wherever the competition is in a bus and then depending on the time we perform we use our free time to help our JV / A guard/ other schools with props and their floors. We do warm ups then after we perform we change out of our uniforms and chill throughout the day and get to watch other performances. We wait to find out if we made finals and if we did we repeat the process and wait for awards,” said Aberin
Competitions are an all-day event for the team. They meet early in the morning and do not get home until late at night. Colorguard is a big commitment and one must be very dedicated to join. Because of the major time commitment, the program only has the most dedicated athletes. Despite the long hours, the team has a blast at competitions and enjoys their quality time together. The team works well together and are very successful.
“Our last competition went really well. We competed in the national circuit and two of our guards made it to finals, the Open guard, highest class placed 1st in both prelims and finals, the A guard placed 12th in prelims and 10th in finals. We’re all very proud of each other and our hard work,” said junior Jewel Patani.
In the most recent competition, the team did extremely well. After all their hard work, including seven hour Saturday practices the girls walked away with their well-earned award. Their upcoming competition is on the Feb. 24 and they hope to win again.
