As an MCHS student walks into their house, away from the bitter cold they go to sit down at their kitchen table to work on school assignments. They remember they wanted to pick an after school activity so they can stay active. The student opens their computer and starts scrolling through different activities they can participate in after school. When they were scrolling, the winter guard caught their eye. They decided that would be a good sport to participate in after school because they were in color guard in the beginning of the year but the season has ended. The student thought that it would be a good fit for them so they can continue their sport during the winter season and even learn different things since winter guard is a little different than color guard.
This year at MCHS they are bringing winter guard back to the school. Winter guard isn’t exactly the same thing as color guard, they have some similarities like using the same equipment and having some similarities in the dancing portion, but the two sports can also be very different.
“Winter guard is an indoor activity that is a combination of dance and color guard equipment work,” winter guard coach Lauren Specchio says. “A routine is created to recorded music and it can be performed at school activities or competitions.”
Even though color guard and winter guard are similar, they aren’t the exact same thing and they have some really big differences.
“One really big difference, and it’s more when you’re doing color guard, it’s a lot more formation and a lot less choreo,” says MCHS student Liliana Rasmussen, “while in winter guard, you do a lot more dance based stuff.”
Students are able to try the reintroduced sport this year without having to deal with the pressure of competitions, but instead they are able to test it out.
“It’s not competitive this year, ” Rasmussen said, “so it’s good that it’s not competitive so a lot of people can try it out and see if they enjoy it.”
This year coach Specchio wants students to learn more about the sport to build their skillset.
“I really want each guard member to not only learn fundamentals but enjoy learning, developing and building confidence in their skillset,” said Specchio.
While students are gonna be learning in this new sport and how it all works coach Specchio will also be learning alongside the students with all of them learning together.
“I’m looking forward to interacting with the students,” Speechio says. “We are bringing back this activity this year and so it’s a new experience for most students so I’m looking forward to not only teaching but learning and growing alongside the students.”
With Winter Guard coming back to MCHS students are able to test out this new sport with no pressure. Students are able to learn about this new sport and so are the coaches alongside the students. With all the difference between Color Guard and Winter Guard with a whole different routine since they aren’t alongside the marching band, but instead they will be competing in competitions. Students are able to learn and be prepared for next year since this year they won’t be competitive, but next year they will be.