Winterguard Competition- March 12

Del Valle High School, El Paso

By Jenna

 

7:51 AM- Well, here we all are, in our cars, waiting in the parking lot for Jason to come and open the band room door. We have a LOT to do and we have to leave Onate before 9!

8:03 AM- Mad rush for the mirror. All I see is a flurry of glitter and black eyeshadow and fake eyelashes and eyelash glue and blush... scary!

8:16 AM- Okay, Stef, come over here and let Val and me fix your hair. It needs to be SCARY. It needs to say UNDERWORLD. It needs to RADIATE DEMON-LIFE!!! So basically, can you take the ponytail out?

8:23 AM- Am I good to go? Top, check. Pants, check. Gloves, check. Show shirt, check. Capezios, check. Black socks, check. Fake hair, check. Makeup, check. Arm bands, check. Gloves, check. Yes, good to go.

8:32 AM- All right here we go. Hey, Val, how many silver flags do we need? Okay I'll count the swing flags, sabres, and the silver flags if you count the green flags and find those feather things...

8:41 AM- No, it's okay, we're used to acting like captains. It's good practice for next year! Hey, did anyone check the rifles...?

8:42-10:35 AM- Time spent bawling out songs with Val on the bus, like Britney Spears, N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, LFO, and any other pop song we can think of. And Selena, Dreaming of you, of course!

10:59ish-11:59ish AM- Watching other guards perform their little hearts out. Awww how cuuute! Wow, everyone is dropping!

12:00-12:38ish PM- AHHH WARM UP TIME! I CAN'T DO THIS! I DON'T REMEMBER HOW TO CATCH MY SABRE!!!! ARE YOU SURE THERE'S A DOUBLE ON RIFLE???

12:39 PM- Oh yeah. I remember now. Deep breath. Here we go.

12:40 PM- Set up set up! Okay, let's go! Pse two three pose two three- Silver flag work!

12:40:32 PM- Run and turn... toss... wink

12:42 PM- Ahhhhhh... okay scramble for sabres! Spread out guys! Don't forget your free arms! Now on to rifle! Damn, I dropped. It's okay, I was back in right away. Then swing flag! My solo... annnnnnnd Leslie's in the cage!

12:44:16 PM- Wow... it's over... grab everything I can and book it outside. YES!! GRR i dropped my rifle, but I've never gotten back in so fast in my life.

12:58-1:57 ish PM- Watching other guards. Wow, Americas Fortisimo dropped 3 times, that's one more than us! We did pretty good!

2:00 PM- RETREAT! Okay our class, novice! 10th... 9th... 8th... 7th... 6th...5th... wait, what do you mean Onate? No, that's too big of a number! That's a whole hand!! Wait, are you SURE it's us? I'm so confused! How did the guard that dropped 7 times beat us? They don't even have sabre! The audience looks confused, too. But Jason's counting for our retreat pose... wow... we got 5th...

2:20 PM- I've never been so disappointed in my life. Lots of crap with the judges. Lots of unfair discrimination. Lots of... tiring BS. We got screwed.

2:21 PM- But you know what? We don't need a trophy saying 1st Place to know what we deserve. We had 16 parents (three from AMERICAS) come up and say how much they love our show and how we deserve first and how the judges must not have been watching the same show as they were.

2:22 PM- And that's almost worth it. The audience... the entertainment... the art... that's what we're doing it all for.

2:23 PM- right?