By Kiley Brown
Color guard had their second competition, “Las Vegas #2,” for Winter Guard Association of Southern California, on March 2 at Desert Pines High School. They performed to “What’s Inside” and “Opening Up” by Sara Bareilles, the first two songs of the musical “Waitress,” scoring third out eight guards in their Scholastic Double A division.
“I felt pretty good since we’ve had time to clean up the show,” freshman Jersey Beebe said. “I did feel it was a little sloppy, but I am confident about our show in all.”
Earlier in the season, color guard competed in the Winter Guard Association of Southern California Marching Band Series at Sunrise Mountain High School on Saturday, Feb. 23, placing fourth out of eight guards. Performing to the same songs, they earned 62.25 points. Basic Academy took first scoring 73.03.
“This was our first official competition, I didn’t really know what to expect,” freshman Lily Cooper said. “It was definitely not our best run. I think the nerves got to us, the spacing was bad, and it threw us off.”
Gearing up for this event, the guard earned second at the Las Vegas Evaluation Clinic on Saturday Feb. 9 at Liberty, receiving the ranking of Scholastic AA. Rankings include JH AA, HS AA, HS A, Scholastic AA, Scholastic A, and Independent Open. More information about rankings can be found here.
“We don’t get scored, but instead are placed in a class dependent on our skills,” junior Keeton Lord, captain, said.
This evaluation differs from others because teams get to perform twice. The first time they perform, judges watch and take notes. Afterward, the judges talk to the team, give tips, and the team then performs once more. After the second time, the judges talk to Macey Kennedy, coach, and give her pointers on how to improve the show.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to remember what to do,” sophomore Ruby Cooper said. “We learned a lot of new moves for the show. I did okay and was happy with my performance in the end.”
Color guard is a competitive sport of performing arts with song choice being one of the most important parts of colorguard. Members practice the use of flags, weaponry, and dance. The guard competes with other schools in out of state. Their goal is to compete and work hard in order to advance to higher levels.
“We choose a song and create the best performance using flaps, rifles, sabers, and swing flags,” Co-captain Jessa Vicente, junior, said. “We perform by putting our emotions to use.”
