guard is... family. it's spending more time with these girls and
guys than you do with your parents and siblings. it's giving up weekends and holidays to work on this show with your friends.
it's knowing when to jump off the bridge and when to be at the bottom to catch. it's what happens to your stomach when
you see another guard girl/guy hurt themselves. It's putting up with the drama EVERY SINGLE DAY because you love each person
so much.
guard is... passion. It's putting 110% into each performance, even
when you look like a complete idiot with the faces you make to get the judges to look at you. It's leaving for practice earlier
than your parents even wake up and seeing your friends with curlers in their hair and in t-shirts and pants that they'd never
be caught dead in outside of the guard room. it's finishing a show even when you can't breathe or your knee is killing you
because you know that you have to finish the show. it's nearly dying behind the backdrop but putting on your best smile as
you chasse` out.
guard is... tape. Lots and lots and lots and lots of electrical tape.
Which, incidentally, fixes everything. backpacks, jeans, very talkative freshmen....
guard is... love. It's loving every single toss you throw and every
single one you catch and every single one you drop. It's picking up a flag or rifle or sabre and just knowing that this
is perfect for you. it's loving every bump and bruise becuase you know where and how you got it, and if you don't, you know
it was doing something that you love. guard is getting up even when your muscles are screaming and going to practice just
because you know it's another day that you get to do guard. it's love from your toes to the top of your head and the feeling
you get when you perform your heart out at a show and when they call out your name for your well earned award. it's watching
other guards perform and cheering as loud as possible because you know how hard they worked to get there and just knowing
that even if you hate them, there is a bond because they have the same tape, love, passion, music in them somewhere, even
if it's different. you either love guard or you don't and if you do, you feel it all over.
guard is... music. it's moving your body and your equipment
in different ways in order to look like you're flying or twirling like nothing else before. it's floating like a butterfly
and stinging like a bee! it's listening to the same beats over... and over... and over every day. every single day. every
single freakin day of the week until the music stays in your head FOREVER. or at least... until the next season's song.
guard is... pain. enough said.
guard is... a way of life. it's giving up weekends, holidays, mornings,
fingernails, fingernail POLISH, and a heck of a lot of spare time in order to perfect that horizontal or seven on sabre
and the other thousand moves of the show. it's passion, music, pain, family, love, and tape all rolled into one lifestyle
of dedication because without all of those things, you'll never really be a guard girl.
