With the weather becoming crisp, Ziannah Grandy, loves as winter guard season began a as she can’t wait to meet fellow guard members from other schools and finally get to toss without having to deal with the wind becoming an obstacle.
Burke color guard transitions inside for the winter season, which is combined with other OPS high schools and now middle schools to perform for OWA this season.
“Winter guard is an opportunity to connect with people that go to other OPS schools who also enjoy spinning and doing color guard.” Audrey Brown said.
With getting to connect with other, it starts with the three-day audition process where everyone interested can come to clinic before the audition on the last day.
“The audition process is really fun, and I loved the song for the audition and some of the work was difficult, but it was really cool to try.” Ziannah Grandy said.
There are lots of opportunities with being inside and helps with the way that competition goes and how choreo can be written.
“My favorite thing about winter guard is getting to do harder tricks and tosses inside without having to worry about the wind taking your flag.” Brown said.
Even with the joy that many get from this sport, it always come with its fair share of challenging times.
“The most difficult part for me is the long practices, they are typically after school after I’ve been awake all day and I just feel really burnt out after them and then I don’t do my homework.” Brown said
During winter season, this is time for people to try new equipment, like rifle and Sabre for those who want to try and prep for marching band season.
“Spinning rifle takes a lot of practice to get some tosses consistent and rifle is also one of the more painful equipment to toss.” Grandy said
Even with difficult equipment, there is also some that some are looking forward to spin.
“I’m looking forward to being able to spin Sabre again. It’s my favorite piece of equipment and they look super cool and there are things you can do on Sabre that you can’t do with a flag, and I just love spinning one.” Brown said.
Once the season starts and the long Monday and Thursday practices begin, it will all be worth it in the end during the competitions where they show off all the hard work they’ve done throughout the season.
“Rehearsals leading up to a competition might be my favorite part. It’s really cool to see the show all put together at competitions.” Grandy says.
