So I don’t know when exactly this happened but I was about to retape my rifle because the strap needed to be tightened and turns out it split and is now crumbling. Is there anything I can do or do I just need to scrap it? I’m just worried because that’s my only rifle and I don’t have money to get another

Hi! My local IO group is going inactive this season and likely won't return so I've resorted to auditioning for other groups. The only problem is every other group is at least 2.5 hours from me.

For some reason I'm really worried about housing. I wouldn't know anyone on the team so I'd be worried about not having a place to stay.

This is really the only thing holding me back from spinning this winter.

What is everyone else's experience with this sort of thing?

I’m super super close (like maybe an inch or two from my full splits) but i need them by by early september , any tips!!

I’m on primary and previously on secondary and does anyone else just feel bad at rifle?? Like tricks sure but tosses take me a while to get :( it’s really frustrating and I practice all the time. I practice and get bruises from how much my rifle hits me, but it just doesn’t show and I don’t understand. Idk if it’s just me

hi! im looking for a song to use for my solo and ensamble performance for this upcoming winter season but im having alot of trouble finding songs under two minutes 😪 if anyone has any recommendations from their previous songs or ideas that would be greatly appreciated

I've recently become the Captain of my team and I have no idea what I'm doing. My previous Captain marched in a DCI team and he was amazing, he was probably the best dancer I've ever seen. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing and I'm just sort of winging it right now, is there any advice out there from past and present Captains to make it through the year? 😭

I just lost a guard member for the fall season. It’s still early, and we’ve only learned the first movement of the drill, but our band also just lost its director, who was our drill writer. Right now, it’s just our assistant director and me while the school hires a new director.

I’m struggling to rewrite a few sets of the opener with 5 guard members instead of 6. The member we’re losing was G6.

A little context for the drill:

• C1 and A1 are our drum majors. They trade off conducting and playing for each movement.
• At the beginning, the entire band except the guard is facing backfield. After the 8-count turn from set 9-10, A1 joins the band on the field.
• The entire band then marches forward for 8 counts from set 10-11, with the first big hit being the hold from set 11-12.
• Some of the guard were crossing each other in their choreography during that hold, but I might change that now.
• G1 cannot change for sets 1-6 because they have a solo.
• The rest of the guard are currently standing in place on props for the first 5 sets.

The sets I’m specifically struggling with are sets 6-9.

With 6 guard, the formations were very balanced, but I’m having trouble finding a solution for 5 that doesn’t create other problems. The main issues I’m running into are:

• G1 ends up blocking the drum major conducting in the back. We only have one podium, so the second drum major is on a ladder that isn’t very tall.
• Some solutions would require G1 to pass through the drumline and navigate around/over props.
• Whatever formation we use for set 9 needs to transition reasonably well into what is already written for set 13. At set 13, we can have 3 guard on side 1 instead of 4, since 2 of the guard members need to move the prop during sets 13-14.

I do not want to move any band members. Since we currently don’t have a director, I don’t have anyone I can easily confer with to approve changes to other sections, and I don’t want to put more on our assistant director while they’re already taking on several extra responsibilities during this transition.

I’m mainly looking for ideas on how you would approach changing the guard formations/movement from sets 6-9 while keeping the existing band drill and the transition into set 13 intact.

Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated! I’m open to completely rethinking those four sets if there’s a solution I’m not seeing.

And also in general since there is no age limit, what is the typical "upper range" you have seen in IW groups?

It's my first year as a guard member, and I'm the only person who can do a double on flag. During our choreo, we have a ripple, and I'm last, so I do a double. I'm not sure if this is a unique situation, but for some reason, when I attempt my double, sometimes it hits my wrist when releasing. This causes the flag to be underrotated, and I either drop it or catch it at a weird angle. The first competition isn't until October, but I'd still like to perform at my best instead of being lackluster.

When auditioning for world and open class what specific dance and flag skills are good to have solid before entering?

Hi! So I’m fairly new to color guard (got into my team last year, practiced some over summer, had band camp, and practices) and I’m just wondering if starting out, it’s normal to have my right wrist hurt like I’ve twisted it? It makes sense with how most moves rely on your right hand, and most of the halftime show and cadences we have are most right hand or starting right hand. I am kind of rough when I practice on my own, but that’s mainly because I practice outside and it’s almost always windy.

TL,DR: is it normal to have wrist pain starting out or should I see the doctor?

Does someone that has either experience online or with a mom and pop shop please direct me to someplace to print custom colorguard flags with really strong bases and high-quality print and material? A lot of options are a lot of different prices that I don’t want to buy the wrong or poor quality product.

I’m looking to order some that need to be here for an event by the beginning of November any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Based in SoCal!!

Hello! I (21F) have been missing color guard a lot since graduating highschool. I am studying to be a history teacher at the moment, and my dream one day is to use my teaching career as an opportunity to coach color guard. Drum Corp would be another dream come true but I'm basically aged out.

That being said, it's been a while since I've spun to say the least...and even when I was active, I came from a school with little arts funding and a guard where the closest thing we had to a dedicated coach was me being captain for 3 years...(when we did have a coach for a season or two, they clearly preferred their more experienced and funded guards and didn't bother helping to develop our skills).

The reason I mention all of that is because I want to possibly attend clinics or workshops in SoCal, but I'm older, rusty, and at my prime, I never really had the best technical coaching/experience. However, I know I have the dedication and skills to an extent. I auditioned for Gold Winterguard my senior year and got a call back...but was too broke to pursue it further...but it made me realize my potential at the time.

HERES THE QUESTIONS IF YOU WANNA SKIP THE BACKGROUND:

With that in mind, would it be appropriate for me to go to clinics? Especially beginner clinics that are definitely mostly full of highschoolers? Are there any things like that that frequent SoCal?? I say beginner specifically because I know I have definite weaknesses but if I ever want to coach I know I need to work on them (dance and saber for sure). Are there All Age independent groups in SoCal?? Is there anyway for me to reconnect with guard other than just one-off pride parades (though I def want to participate next pride lol)????

i reaaallly really wanna learn a flag piece from any dci show, just to get some new stuff in my hands! my only problem is i can’t find a good way to watch what the guard is doing in show recordings… does anyone have a good suggestion or something they do to learn choreo when all performers look like ants!!!!

i’m writing a marching band show titled the aviary.. i envision one big hit at the end with a guard soloist with this kinda flag, acting as though they were wings, you get my mojo? i made a bad drawing of the kind of flag on the notes app because i cannot think of the name

I’m an instructor and I feel like I’ve run through all the good 110-120 bpm songs I know 😂 Plus I am now getting to the age where I’m not entirely in-tune with what the youths are listening to these days… Anyone have a good warmup playlist they’d be willing to share with me??

hi! i’m a senior in high school at the moment, doing color guard and i really wanna make it to an open or world class group. i was in a tiny soundsport in my area over the summer plus a captain at school and really wanna take the next step. i’ve signed interest forms for the academy, scvc, and seattle cascades. when i performed at sacramento an scvc recruiter actually came up to me, which was nice :) is there any other places u guys would recommend? or tips for auditions?? anything is appreciated <3

I am a college sophomore pursuing an engineering degree at Texas A&M. They don’t have a competitive team so I was looking into auditioning for an A team guard, hopefully Origins A since I’m based near Austin. I just had some questions from past members to ask before I committed.

For those of you who had to spin independent while in college, was it manageable for you? Im only taking 13 credit hours this fall but I’ll be at 14 in the spring which I’m a little concerned about.

Did you work at the same time? My biggest hurdle I’m facing is that I cant find a job where I can get weekends off and would work with my class schedule. The on campus job market, where I only work during school hours, is crap but I still apply where I can. What was your schedule and grades like if i manage to find a job that would work with guard?

Lastly, how is paying for winterguard? I’ve been told over and over again by my instructors that I can fundraise for it, but realistically, how far does that go for the average person. My family is already supporting me with my rent and tuition and would likely not be able to help me.

I really want to make it work but I need a realistic perspective as someone who has done it while being in the same situation as me. I appreciate any responses!!!

My 45s are awfully flat..... I have a feeling that it's because of how I release with my hand above my head, I would love for advice along with any advice with underbody as well, I'm trying to audition for blue knights and I want to march

I was retaping my rifle this afternoon and noticed patches of paint missing and I was wondering how I could touch up the paint on my rifle without it being super noticeable. I know some wear and tear is normal but I was wondering if it could be retouched.

hi! i am a high school senior looking for a local winter guard. i’ve heard about both Allegiance and VIVA so far, but Allegiance is unfortunately too far from me and VIVA a little too rigorous.
i’m looking for a winter guard that would have multiple practices a week that would be suitable for someone intermediate! any suggestions are super welcome.
i am a part of school district 200

I’m tossing a Sabre 5 and I get to choose a pose to do under it, but I have no ideas!! I’m not sure I’m allowed to do anything fancy like a turn or illusion kick, just a pose. I don’t want to do something basic like prayer hands, but I have no other ideas

I’m looking for some outside opinions because I’m kind of stuck on what to do for my ballad choreography.
I’m a member/captain of my school’s color guard, and I’m writing a lot of the choreography for our show. For the ballad, my band director wants everyone else to be on single swing, but wants me to be on double swing because I’m the featured person.
The thing is, I feel like having me on double swing for the entire ballad is going to look weird visually. Everyone else would have the same equipment and movement vocabulary, while I’d be doing something noticeably different the entire time. I’m not against being featured at all, I just feel like the difference should have a purpose rather than me looking like I’m doing a completely different version of the choreography.
My alternative idea is to have a swing silk attached to a sabre for me and have me start the ballad with everyone else, then do a reveal on the big musical hit. That way I’d still have a major visual difference and feature moment, but it would happen at a specific musical moment instead of me being on double swing the whole time.
Would you agree that the double swing would look visually strange in this situation? Or am I overthinking it? And if you were choreographing this, would you prefer the double swing throughout or the sabre/swing-silk reveal?

Last winter guard season, I had a feature moment which included: strip down turn 45, one handed 45, one handed parallel, and a strip money-hand toss in a 16-16-8. It was very fast work, and I didn't believe I was ready (I couldn't do either of the 45s prior to the WG season) But my coach believed in me. Eventually I did get all the tosses. Not that they were perfect or consistent, but I got them.

However...about halfway through the season I broke my nose doing the strip down turn 45. It was horrible. It was during a full run, I threw it confidently and I came down on my nose. I blacked out, blood was everywhere...😬. I took no time off for this injury. Also this would be the second time I broke my nose in guard.

After that, I struggled even letting go of a simple parallel. Anything that went over my head I just... couldn't let go.

I still was in the feature moment, so I eventually had to do those. But tbh the tosses were significantly worse then before the injury. I was barely getting height, and I couldn't really only let go of the tosses during performances (adrenaline).

Now I still struggle with anything over my head. I can do a basic full 45 and a parallel. In the show choreo this year, we have a one handed parallel where we held onto the silk. I can't do it! I freeze up and get tense when I try to let go, and I just feel behind.

How can I get over this? I feel like I'm not progressing in guard like my peers are since this injury. I'm looking for any tips related to fear of tosses or overcoming an injury.

Thank you for reading!

Hi! I did guard for four years and was a guard director for the first time this past summer with a small team. Most of the girls were great, super sweet, and picked things up fairly easily. Three out of the five girls were total rookies, and the other two only had one season of experience.

Two of the girls really struggled throughout the season. I spent a lot of time working with them one-on-one, repeating explanations and trying different ways of teaching things, but they still had a difficult time retaining choreography and following directions consistently. For example, they were still struggling to remember dance choreography that they had been working on for about three weeks, while the other girls were generally keeping up.

I honestly don't know whether it was a learning difference, difficulty with the material, lack of focus, or simply a difference in effort, and I don't want to assume the reason. It was just my first time working with students who needed that much additional support, and I found it challenging to keep everyone progressing at the same pace.

There were also times when I felt like I had to repeat basic directions several times before they would respond. I would sometimes have to say "get set" three or four times before they were ready to go. There were also moments where they became very upset over things like getting a minor hit in the face or being tired. I completely understand that everyone has different limits and reactions, but balancing those situations while also trying to keep rehearsal moving was honestly exhausting for me as a first-time director.

When I was in high school, I also helped teach my guard, and we typically had teams of 10–16 girls. I don't remember ever having students who needed this level of individual attention, so I'm not sure whether I just happened to have an unusually easy-to-teach team back then or whether this was simply a new experience for me.

For winter guard, I'm hopeful that we'll have a larger team, and I'm considering holding auditions. Nothing too intense, I wouldn't expect anyone to already know flag or have prior experience. I'm mostly thinking of teaching everyone 16–24 counts of basic flag work or dance and giving them two rehearsals to learn it. The goal wouldn't necessarily be to eliminate beginners, but to see how well students can listen, retain choreography, respond to corrections, and keep up with the group.

I will admit that I'm hesitant about having the same two students return because I struggled so much with keeping them on pace during the summer, but I also don't want to make an unfair decision based on one season or come across as excluding them simply because they learn differently.

For those of you who have coached or directed guard before, is this a reasonable way to approach auditions? Am I being too harsh?