Color guard is a very little known sport (yes, it is a sport). But it’s one of those sports that you have to be a special kind of person to enjoy, and it’s a sport that takes a lot of dedication and practice. Here are some signs you were/still are a guard:

1. Telling someone you’re in band and having them ask, “What instrument do you play?”

Look, I told you I was in band so I wouldn’t have to explain to you what color guard was. Now we’re gonna be here for five minutes while I explain something to you that you don’t actually care about

2. Getting called a “wannabe cheerleader” all the time doesn’t even phase you anymore.

In the beginning, it was such a huge insult. Now, you just let your spins speak for themselves. If you ever see me on the field with pom poms in my hand, then and only then will calling me a wannabe cheerleader be acceptable.

3. Your pictures from high school are very different from everyone else’s.

While you have the cute homecoming pictures and the cute pictures from theme days at school, yours all feature sock tans. There’s also no end to pictures of you and your team in whatever weird uniform your director picked out for you that year. (Remember that year the band did a show based on Cirque De Soleil? Yeah, I’m still trying to forget it too.)

4. “Don’t even get me started on the makeup”

No, we do not voluntarily put on purple eye shadow all the way up to our temples. No, it was not our idea to line our lips in black eyeliner and wear orange lipstick. We did not have a choice in this.

5. Your director in high school probably wasn’t employed by the school district.

This sounds sketchier than it is, really. My color guard director was paid from the band budget and we had to let him into the school for after-school practice because he wasn’t actually employed by the school and therefore didn’t have a key.

6. Your director was also your least favorite person on the planet.

There’s something about color guard directors that just makes them all mean. My senior year we actually had a great director and I loved her. Before that, though, there were a lot of tears at the expense of our coach.

7. You constantly looked like you were being abused because of rifle and saber.

Even after you had mastered rifle and sabre, there were still So. Many. Bruises. There were also probably a few fat lips and black eyes. It comes with the territory.

8. You reveled in showing off your skills at pep rallies.

Even if your guard only got to perform at one pep rally a year like mine did, it was the best. People always loved to make fun of the color guard but the second they saw us throw a quad on rifle, do a turn under it and catch it with a smile on our faces, they were in awe.

9. Two words: band couples

Since color guard is a part of the band, you spent a lot of time with everyone else in band and either made fun of all of the weird couples that came as a result of band, or you and your significant other were one of those couples.

10. You have absolutely no shame.

Something about changing on a bus going 50 mph down the highway on the way to a game really takes away any embarrassment you have about changing in front of people.

11. You’re also incredibly skilled at doing your makeup.

There’s also nothing that can teach you how to have a steady hand when applying makeup like putting it on in a bus going 50 mph down a highway with a bunch of freshman band boys pushing people and making things difficult.

12. You were probably best friends with one of the band directors.

My senior year I literally spent more time in the band directors'
office than I did in class. It’s inevitable when you’re the captain of the guard, because since your director is never there you always have to consult the band directors. Plus, they’re the ones with the power to spend the money in the budget.

13. Being captain of the color guard kind of caused you to have a big head.

You were important in the band as a whole because you were a section leader and therefore could tell freshman trumpet players what to do, even though you didn’t play the trumpet. You were important to the guard because you were basically the director when the director wasn’t there. It’s a combination that basically dooms you to an inflated ego.

14. You imagine a routine to every single song you hear.

Some songs are better than others, obviously. But there was never not someone in front of the mirror imagining up work to the newest Katy Perry song.15. You hated it so much when you were in it, and now you’d give anything to go back.

Senior year when your coach pissed you off or the freshmen weren’t getting something, all you could think about was how ready you were to be done with this. Now, you miss those Friday night lights more than anything.