The final bell signals the end of school for many, but in the school gym, students in winter guard are just picking up their flags and rifles. Although practicing late into the evening is familiar for those on the color guard teams, stakes have been raised after their season’s success allowed the team to compete in one of the biggest competitions in the color guard community, the AIA North Championships.
After months of practice, Deep Run Winter Guard performed in the AIA North Championships at the Hampton Coliseum on April 6.
With their performance, the Deep Run team earned a total score of 83.7101.
“We placed first out of the 15 guards in our division by over two points. To put it in perspective it is not uncommon for there to just be thousands of a point differences between scores,” Roethel said. “This was a huge achievement and definitely made the work we put into the show worth it,” she said.
These competitions gave both veterans and newcomers an opportunity to learn from opposing teams and bond with their teammates.
This has been especially true for junior Maya Graf, who has been in color guard for three years.
“You just get to see a great amount of skill that you don’t get to see at everyday competitions,” Graf said.
To many winter guard teams participating in the championship, the goal is just to win, but Graf believes the focus is more on personal and team growth.
“I find so much community and pride and motivation in doing color guard. It’s something that I really love. Whenever I’m feeling stressed out I can always go practice in my backyard, and that usually resets me,” Graf said.
Her teammate, senior Hannah Roethel, believes the best part of being involved in the guard is the payoff of hard work.
“We tend to place very high, and it gives us the chance to showcase the work that we put into it.” Roethel said.
Although students have differences in their favorite parts of being in winter guard, it is evident that all winter guard members find a sense of community and passion in what they do.
“Everyone is very nice and works well together as a team,” Roethel said.
Like many guard members, the community is something that keeps Graf coming back every year.
“The people in winter guard, color guard, and band have such a strong sense of community that when you leave a sport, you’re leaving these people who you’ve spent so much time together with,” Graf said. “You’re on the same team, you’re all rooting for the same goal. You’re facing the same struggles whether that’s heat in the summer or exhaustion in the winter, there’s such a strong bond there that its hard to break apart and not come back.”
With this strong sense of togetherness and hard work, the team has not only seen success in their competitions, but unbreakable bonds personally and communally as the team builds life long memories and friendships.
“The bonds that people make on these teams, it’s not synthetic, its very real. It lasts outside of the team. It’s important knowing that you have a friend group full of people who actually care about you, inspires you to grow and be a better person,” Graf said.
