Color Guard is a combination of the use of flags, sabers, mock rifles and other equipment. As well as dance and other interpretive movements. There is even a thing called winter color guards that is just merely an indoor competitive form of color guard, often performed by high school or even college students. “Color guard is an activity in which members perform to music, either recorded or live, while dancing and manipulating various pieces of equipment, such as flags, props rifles, and prop sabres.” states Cathleen Vanburen, one of the 4 coaches of our team here at tahoma high school. The props vary in weight depending on the specific item. For example the rifle can typically weigh around 2.2 pounds – 2.4 pounds. You may not think that’s very heavy but at the speed that those things fly at when being pushed down by gravity can hurt you pretty bad if you don’t catch it correctly. The larger probs can weigh up to around 57 pounds. The members would have to be pretty strong to do tricks with the probs. 

Color guard teams can vary from just a few members to almost over 50 members, and are wildly influenced by factors like the size of the band or cops, budget and available talent. Color guard could even be often considered as a cut sport to most schools due to its physically demanding nature, including activities like flag and equipment throwing, running, jumping, and even dancing as well. So to think about all of that, people are surprised to know that even though tahoma has around 3,000 students, our tahoma color guard has a range from about 8 to 24 members. “It varies from season to season, but the average is probably around 15 members a season.” stated Cathleen. 

Non-color guard members would think that the hardest part about it would have to be the technical skills that would be the most challenging for the members of this group. This includes the intricate movements, flag manipulation, and the coordination needed to execute routines while marching. And although that may be true Cathleen Vanburen states that “one of the hardest parts of color guard is not being too hard on yourself and not giving up when you aren’t able to do a skill well right away.” That is really true, us humans like to put pity on ourselves when we cant do things right the first time, around 33% of humans give up on something the first try. 

Some people join the group without knowing anything about color guard and end up leaving soon after due to over stress and not knowing how to do any of the tricks and even feeling like they are letting the group down. But here at tahoma the coaches have a slow and easy way to help the newbies who join the color guard. “When someone new joins our group, we start by teaching them some basic technical skills that create a foundation for learning choreography and more difficult skills. To progress quickly, I would encourage extra practice, watching videos, and counting outloud to stay together with the group.” stated Cathleen. Just like any other thing that humans have to truly work for it takes lots of time that people put into it and it takes a lot of commitment and dedication and practice to become better at whatever it is. 

Now the big question is, does color guard count as a sport and if so why or why does it not count as a sport, it has most of the same coriculars to other sports. With the large demands on physical activity, requiring skills and practice levels of commitment, and the big part of involving team work with other people a part of the group. Just like with the cheer team, color guard also involves many competitions, with both schools and at regional and even national levels that drives members to push themselves to better themselves and their commitment. “Yes, I do think that color guard is a sport, but it is also an art. The large organization that holds the biggest competitions and has the most participants, winter guard international, calls it a sport of the arts which i think is extremely fitting, as color guard members have to become athletes, but also artists in order to perform their shows well, both with physical skill and with artistry” stashed Cathleen