Color guard preforms 'hero' theme

Grace Tadajweski l Editor-In-Chief

Superman: a man striving for greatness, a man striving to be the best version of himself, a man aspiring of something more. The same can be said about color guard.

With the football season well underway, color guard has had many shows prior to and during the games. For this outdoor season, the color guard’s show is founded on ‘A Hero Rises’ or the story of Superman as leaves Krypton to travel to Earth, where he fights to ensure Earth’s safety.

“My favorite part of the routine has to be the rifle work,” said senior captain Brianna Trombley. “It is the most intense part of the show and is really fun to spin.”

The color guard collaborates with the marching band to create a cohesive show surrounding the same music. During the show, color guard members use props, rifles, and multiple flags to visually represent the music.

“I’d say my favorite part of our routine so far is the rifle section of the show,” said senior captain Jailyn Duffy. “But, especially the newer A line rifle work that hasn’t been performed in our show yet.”

Like the band, the color guard’s routine is not completed at their first show; the routine gradually evolves more and more as the season progresses until it is finally completed by the end of the season. The show will likely be completed sometime between late October and early November.

“When we write the work, we are not expecting them to have it perfect immediately,” said head coach Samantha Dundore. “We always put in some new skills that will help them grow both as individual performers and as a group but will also be achievable before the end of the season.”

With the season’s progression comes more focus on transitions and small movement work to complete the look of the show. However, the color guard’s season is not limited to the outdoor football season as they compete at indoor competitions afterwards.

“I really don’t want the season to ever be completed because that means that I will never do another outdoor show,” said Trombley. “I want to keep growing as a team and family and get more skilled as a color guard member.”

Like the marching band, color guard has members from eighth grade and the high school grades as well. This allows people that don’t normally get a chance to interact to talk with each other.

“Honestly, there is no certain thing I’m most looking forward to; I just want to keep going and progressing in the show and as a team,” said Duffy.

Most color guard members come into the team knowing nothing about the activity as it not widely popular outside of high school. More than half of the color guard was new to the activity this year, but the team has come together and learned many new skills.

“We, the instructors, are always looking to make everyone as successful as possible, while also pushing each member to improve their skills,” said Dundore.

Both Duffy and Trombley noted that the rifle portion of the show was the hardest to learn. The color guard uses a rifle that is made from wood.

“The work for it is always exciting, but it is the most painful,” said Trombley. “You’re always coming home with bruises after a rifle practice.”

Another challenge has been moving at a slower speed due to the amount of younger members.

“It’s been a hard transition going from more advanced work at a faster pace to more ‘easy’ work at a slower pace,” said Duffy. “But they (new members) are doing great, and I want to continue to advance in such things as listening skills and just skills in general.”

Like Duffy, Trombley hopes to work on bettering her skills as leader and person outside of the physicality of color guard.

“I can always improve on the physical aspect of things, but dealing with people as a leader is important,” said Trombley. “I hope that the team can look up to me and Jailyn as good captains and approachable people.”