My Season as a Color Guard Director

Tuffree during parade season.

    Hello! I am back to write yet another story about color guard. I teach at Tuffree Middle School. I am currently finishing out my second year. I was in color guard all throughout middle and high school. I actually attended the school I teach at now, which makes it more special to me. In the fall we march parade with the band, in the winter we go solo for our indoor performances.

    Last winter guard season I registered my guard in the lowest division, JHAAA. Which was perfect for us, because it was the year right after COVID, none of the girls had performed in person before and I was new. We ended up becoming WGASC bronze medalists. WGASC is the local circuit we compete in, stands for Winter Guard Association of Southern California.

Posing with 2022 bronze medals!

Since we were extremely successful in our division, we were promoted to compete in one division higher, JHAA. After so many ideas running through my head of show ideas, I chose to make our show to the song Car Wash. Specifically the version from the movie Shark Tale, I just felt it was more fun!

With the song picked, I moved on to decide what costumes they would be wearing. I needed to make them look like they were working at an actual car wash. I found the perfect costume to mimic overalls.

We couldn't have a car wash without a car. So I had my brother in law build us a 2D car that I painted. Throughout the season, some of the girls’ dads provided upgrades to the car such as wheels, and metal handles. The girls loved seeing this car for the first time!

Our car with a fresh paint job. 

Our first competition was interesting to say the least. We had our music cut out! About one minute of our three and a half minute song actually played. However the girls continued to perform without the music! It was extremely mature and professional of them to do. I was so proud. Despite the mishap, we ended up getting first place!

Our second performance was pouring rain all morning! This is a huge inconvenience for many reasons. One, the car is made of wood and we transport it in the back of a pickup truck. Two, warm up time is usually outside for all shows. This school had little to no awnings for the girls to hide under, leaving us limited space and no room for tosses. Three, the floor they performed on was wet due to the rain outside. All these factors worked hard against the team and ultimately stressed them out. Even though it was a rough run for them, they placed second.

1st at Pacifica HS!

Our third performance was everything I could ask for! It was a perfect day, it was the first day of spring break for the girls. The energy was up, the performance presence was strong. They counted and did everything right that day. This would be the last performance before championships, we placed first!

After every high comes a low. Since the girls had a week off for spring break, they came back sloppy in terms of skill, energy, and motivation. People were missing practice, no one seemed to care, everything was rusty, and it felt as if no one wanted to be there. At the same time, I felt this sense of arrogance from them. Since they won the last show, they believed they wouldn’t need to try for championships, it would be handed to them. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I had to have a talk explaining to them that this is the time most teams push through, make improvements, and gain points. If they wanted to get a medal they needed to work for it. 

Posing with our 2023 bronze medals.
 (Yes, I matched them). 

This talk seemed to get through to them. It was like hitting a switch. I had the old team back. It was amazing. Due to their hard work and dedication we became bronze medalists for the second year in a row. Next year we will be moved up to the next division, JHA. I can’t wait to see what that season brings us. Continuing to climb the ladder!

This year has taught me so much. I had so much fun. The team teaches me as I teach them it is a great relationship. I am so thankful they give me the opportunity to continue my passion as a director. I can't wait to see who the people I teach grow up to be. They are all so amazingly talented!

I <3 Color Guard.

WGI World Championships Recap

     On April 13th, WGI world championships began in Dayton, Ohio. This is an event where top winter guards from around the world come together to compete and watch each other's performances. This recap will focus on the two top divisions, Scholastic World and Independent World Class. 

Onyx Performing at WGI Finals. Photo by Tony McCrackin.

Scholastic World Class are for groups representing high schools. The independent class is for the performers usually out of high school. As the name suggests, they usually have no ties to colleges or schools, however some do. 

The event is spread out into three days. Thursday for prelims, Friday for semi-finals, Saturday for finals. Each round, depending on the number of groups performing, guards are eliminated. By finals only the top 15 will perform. For perspective, some of the classes with the most competitors start with around 50. 

These groups are judged based on 4 categories: movement, equipment, design, and overall general effect. Movement focuses on the dancing abilities, equipment on the spinning of flags, rifles, and sabres. Design focuses on the theming of the show, general effect focuses on the performance and the show overall.  

This year there were 21 Scholastic World groups to start off with. According to the WGI policy manual, 30 groups or less to start with means 20 groups get to move on to semi-finals. However, this year they allowed all 21 groups to perform in semi-finals. This could be because they did not just want to eliminate one group. Below are the standing scores after semi-finals. 

1. Carmel HS -  95.9

2. Tarpon Springs HS - 95.1

3. The Woodlands HS - 94.0

4. Avon HS - 92.9

5. Arcadia HS - 91.1

6. MiamisBurg HS - 89.6

7. Northview HS - 88.1

8. West Broward HS - 87.9

9. Cleveland HS (NC) - 87.1

10. El Dorado HS - 86.2

11. Stoneman Douglas HS - 84.9

12. Center Grove HS - 83.7

13. Kiski Area HS - 83.5

14. Warren Central HS - 82.5

15. Chino Hills HS - 81.9

16. Bellbrook HS - 81.5

17. Fishers HS - 80.0

18. Moe and Gene Johnson HS - 78.7

19. Flanagan HS - 78.2

20. Marvin Ridge HS -77.5

21. Norwin HS - 77.4

As for who gets to move onto finals, only the top 15 make it. Most groups just strive to make it to finals as it is a huge honor in the color guard community. However, comparing the 15th and 16th scores, you can just see how competitive it can be. Bellbrook HS lost their finals spot by four tenths of a point.

Screenshot of Carmel HS Finals Performance.

In comparison, the independent class started off with 35 groups for prelims. In WGI's rules only 24 groups get to move onto semi-finals. Which is exactly what happened. Here are the standing scores for the independent class.

1. Paramount - 96.9

2. Blessed Sacrament - 96.2

3. Pride of Cincinnati - 95.4

4. Fusion Winter Guard - 93.4 

5. Onyx - 92.9

6. Fantasia - 91.5

7. Mirage - 91.0

8. ORIGINS - 90.9

9. UCF Pegasus World - 88.5

10. Etude - 88.4

11. AMP Winter Guard - 87.6

12. FIU Winter Guard - 87.0

13. Juxtaposition - 85.4

14. Tampa Independent - 85.4

15. Mayflower - 83.7

16. Lexis - 83.4

17. FeniX Independent - 82.9

18. Malachi - 81.6

19. Invictus - 81.1

20. In Motion Performance Ensemble - 79.4

21. Icon Winter Guard - 79.2

22. Relentless - 78.7

23. First Flight - 77.4

24. Edge Independent - 77.0

Just like the scholastic class, only the top 15 move on to finals for the independent world class. Comparing the scores of the 15th and 16th spot again, you can see how close it was for this division as well. Lexis lost their spot to just three tenths of a point to Mayflower. 

The WGI Champions of the Scholastic World Class was Carmel HS. They kept their first place standing throughout all three performances, which is extremely impressive. Their performance was named “Lean On Me.” Their music was all piano and super fun. The audience was even clapping along during their final performance. There was no ensemble flag feature, which usually appears in winter guard shows. However, there was a huge rifle presence throughout the whole show. I interpreted the rifles as the piano keys dancing across the floor. This is adamant with the surplus of ripple tosses throughout the show that perfectly match the music.  

Photo by Jolesch Enterprises of Carmel HS. 

Here is a link to view their finals performance.
https://youtu.be/vcbPpqtfKRw

The WGI Champions of the Independent World Class was Paramount. Just like Carmel, Paramount kept their first place title the whole weekend. With each score improving with every performance, there was no doubt their performance was breathtaking. This production was called “Drawn Together.” One of my favorite elements of this show was the flag silks. The first opening silk had a cut out in it, making a huge whole, the choreography even utilized this whole with performance weaving themselves through the silks. The ending silks had each performer's face and name printed on them in a sketch style. Thus the team was drawn together with the completion of the flag feature. 

Screenshot of Paramount's final performance.

Here is a link to view Paramount's Final Performance.

https://youtu.be/4uf39dyIOPc

WGI had so many amazing performances this year, I can’t wait to see what is in store for next year!

Photo by Jolesch Enterprises of Paramount.