Color Guard by Pranavi Okade

 Why is color guard so much fun? A lot of people associate the sport with colorful flags on a marching band field. While that is certainly part of it, color guard is so much more. For starters, we get two seasons, winter and fall. Fall aligns with the marching band. That is when we are out on the football field learning a ten minute show. For many guards that do winter, fall is considered a kind of prep, particularly for those that are new. This is because winter guard is much more technically involved. In fall, the technique aspects of color guard are much more difficult to analyze because everyone is so spread out. In winter, the whole guard is much closer and far easier to see from the judges stand. Winter is also different in that it is much more technically involved. Since everything is so easy to see, everything has to be closer to perfection than when we first learn it. It is a little intimidating, but it is also a lot of fun to learn new things. 

A huge reason that guard is so fun is because there is a community among all of the guards. Even people that are competing in the same category are supportive of each other. Each time a guard passes another in the hallway, there are compliments about hair or makeup or costumes. If not compliments, it is congratulations on their show, or words of encouragement for their upcoming performance. Everyone is so consistently nice as a whole that the winter guard competitions are so much. 

Even in the stands, everyone is cheering for all of the guards performing. Since we as the color guards know when a toss is technically difficult, we cheer so loud each time something cool gets pulled off. Sometimes even more than the audience on the other side. 

Lastly, winter guard is so much fun because we improve so much more. There are tosses that I would struggle with in fall that I barely had to think about at the end of winter. I even learned how to toss a whole new piece of equipment in winter. Even on flag which I had been doing, I learned how to correct some of the moves I had been struggling with.