Have you ever seen the "flag team" march in a parade before? Maybe you've seen these men and women perform during the halftime show at a football game. The "flag team," better known as color guard (also known as winter guard during the winter season), is a sport that requires mental and physical agility. We don't just twirl flags and dance with them, nor do we just play with wooden guns and dull swords.
I was first introduced to the term "color guard" in 8th grade when one of my closest friends had auditioned for the color guard team at our high school. She made it on the team, and I didn't actually understand what the term meant until I saw my friend and her teammates perform at a football game. Needless to say, she was the one who inspired me to audition for the team at the end of my sophomore year (and I got in!). Being in color guard definitely changed the course of my high school career; I learned so many life lessons from being on my high school team, but these are some that I will definitely remember forever.
1. Bobby pins = best friend
At every performance (indoors or outdoors), my hair would need to be perfect and out of my face. I had rarely ever used bobby pins prior to being in color guard, but I had achieved show-stopping hairstyles all thanks to the bobby pins that would keep my hair in place. At the end of the night, I would end up having to remove all 15-plus of them. To this day, I still find bobby pins to be a staple in my daily hair and makeup routine.
2. Whether it's a whole song or a tiny chunk of it, you're always going to remember the routines you performed.
Over my two years of being in guard, I learned about two dozen routines: from performing stand tunes in front of small audiences to showcasing our first-place performance at championships, I had to remember the moves and counts to every song. It was definitely challenging, considering that I don't have the best memory, but I had to repeat each routine over and over and over (all thanks to the marching band director who would constantly yell "Run it back to set __!"). This definitely led to me remembering many of my routines even after months since performing them!
3. The bus rides are the best part.
Riding the bus as a team — nay, as a family! — really helps you bond with each other. There's something about the musty smell in the bus, the obnoxious singing, or even the Goldfish crackers that you share with each other that just screams "Communion!" (And I mean this in the sense that the bonds with your teammates seem to grow stronger and closer.) I noticed this during my first season of winter guard, when we were on the bus going to competitions.
4. Nailing the routine means perfecting it by any means necessary.
And this, to me, means safety first. I could never perfect my routine or my tosses without my trusty, handy-dandy helmet. I was always so scared that my flag would fall flat on my face or that I would die if a saber cracked my head open. My fears were begging me to use a helmet, and so I did (which all of my teammates laughed at me for, but hey, I eventually knew how to do a helicopter toss without it!). Being in guard means getting hurt every once in a while, and that brings me to my next point.
5. You're going to get hurt regardless; you just have to deal with the pain.
Being around long flags, wooden rifles and metal sabers means taking the risk of getting hurt. Believe me, I've been hurt plenty of times. I've skinned my knees on the tarp, bruised my thigh with a flag that I couldn't catch on time, and nearly fractured my big toe after dropping the hilt of my saber on it. Getting hurt in color or winter guard is inevitable, but I knew how to handle it.
6. You're going to be close with your coach.
I can't speak for everyone, but for the most part, color guard instructors are funny, lighthearted, focused and caring. Your coach wants the best for you. Your coach was once in your shoes. I had the privilege of having the best coach out there, who laughed with (and at) me, who pushed my team to work hard to reach our dreams, who cried with us when we won at championships. My coach cared about us, and she'll always care about her current and future teams; she made my whole color and winter guard experience the best it could have been.
If I could have redone my high school career, I would make sure that I would end up on the color guard team during my freshman year, rather than starting as a junior. Guard definitely changed my life and it taught me so much about myself, which I am forever grateful for.
