Color Guard transitions to revamped Winter Guard

In October, the Color Guard members rehearsed their field show “Sacred Geometry” with the marching band. Colorful flags and tinfoil-covered props — cubes and spheres and tetrahedrons — filled the air as the 36 girls danced around the football field.

Transition to December, and the Winter Guard is practicing on the vinyl “floor” they’ve spread out to cover the gym floor. Some faces are familiar from fall Guard, and others from past winter seasons. The rest are new members. All are excited about their show, every component of which was written with the members and their individual talents in mind.

Among the new Guard members was freshman Austin Shi, the first male Guard member since Michael Woodruff graduated in 2012.

Despite opting to march trombone with the band instead of spinning with the Color Guard during the band season, Shi spent a lot of time with the Fall Guard members and started winter season already a full member of the Guard family. Not only did Shi attend many of the summer Guard rehearsals, he also practiced on his own for hours each week, becoming notorious as “that kid spinning a rifle in the band room at lunch.” As a result of this dedication, several music department staff members have remarked that Shi should join a drum corps.

“Contrary to what most people think, yes, there are boys in Color Guard. Some of the best guards out there are all male and they own it,” Shi said. “I really don't mind that I'm the only boy in Guard, and I'm proud of it.”

Shi’s membership is not the only new development that the Guard has seen this year. New instructor Joey Kidd made several adjustments when he took charge of the program from previous Guard instructor Tony Crapo.

“I want to be a better version of what we were last year,” Kidd said. “If you wanna be a better version of yourself, I think that’s the best way to succeed, so next year I’ll be saying the exact same thing.”

One change Kidd made this year was holding official auditions, which was a new and mixed experience for returning members in particular.

“I like the fact that I'm trying out for something that I love, and the word 'audition' just makes the whole process seem a lot more professional,” senior co-captain Vicky Fontanilla said. “What I hate about it is that it scares a lot of people into not doing Winter Guard at all. People think that, since you have to audition to get into Winter Guard, maybe Winter Guard is really hard to get into.”

“Professional” might just be exactly what Kidd was hoping for, since the music directors and Guard instructors intend for the Winter Guard to move up a competition class, into a more advanced level, in the next two years.

The Winter Guard plans to attend seven California Color Guard Circuit (CCGC) and Winter Guard International (WGI) competitions this coming season, one of which is a three-day overnight to the WGI regional at Fresno.