WGI
I heard a song on the radio that took me back.
Way back.
Back in to time.
In high school, I was a member of the Color Guard (The flag ones not the military ones). The thing that made us stand out was that instead of us being the lame people who just wave flags around, we were throwing our flags and rifles halfway to the moon and catching them.
We were so hardcore, we would be at practice all bruised up with broken fingers…broken teeth…all kinds of stuff…and our instructor told us to keep on marching.
I remember she was really hard on us. When the rest of the band took a water break, we were out there doing pushups or running laps…it all paid off though. I was in the best shape of my life during those years.
One day, our instructor approached us about starting a winterguard group. Winterguard is like indoor colorguard, except you do routines to a song rather than to a band. We were like, “sure whatever,” but we had no idea what we were getting into.
We though she was working us hard before? Winterguard is 1000 times more serious. Not only is it indoor colorguard, but there is also a separate section for indoor percussion as well (think Drumline during that one part at the end…there is actually an entire section of sports devoted to stuff like that), AND they compete internationally.
After months of practice, we went to our first competition and KILLED IT! Our flags were in sync, we were throwing quads and pents on our rilfes with ease, and people were so shocked they didn’t even know what to do with themselves we were done!
All they said was, “where are THEY from?!?!”
I think I still remember that show too…
Anyway.
I just want to encourage everyone…if you ever hear that a drum corps or WGI (Winterguard International) competition is nearby check it out! You will be amazed at the amount of showmanship and creativity of those young people.
I almost wish I was still involved myself…
