On April 21st, Winter Guard finished their season at Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton. This was the MAIN Championships and they finished 8th out of 17 guards in Scholastic AA, earning a season-high score of 80.73. Starting in December, the 14 team members worked tirelessly, practicing twice per week and competing on weekends to earn this accomplishment.
This season they haven’t had any home competitions; all of them have been away. The farthest competition they’ve had this year was at the WGI Regional Competition at Liberty High School in Philadelphia. After giving their best efforts for this competition, Captain Asia Francisco said, “Even after working hard towards the upcoming competition, the results ended up being extremely humbling to all of us.” She said that although the loss was humbling, it ultimately “became the driving force for our future improvement and success later in the season.”
Throughout the season, the team also earned success individually as they were able to gain significant improvements in their own skill sets. Francisco said that each member of the color guard has their “own unique skills and abilities that have been essential” in making their show amazing throughout the season, making everyone equally valuable within the team.
The team’s head coach, Trish O’Shea, always had emphasized the importance of hardship towards their success. Francisco said, “hardship is something that we faced throughout the entirety of the season.” The team would spend long hours at practice repeatedly learning new material as well as reviewing previous work. As they spent long hours together, they bulit their chemistry as a team.
The team was able to form a strong connection with each other due to their multiple team bondings throughout the season. The team has team bonding to “strengthen their bonds and sense of community with one another” Francisco said. Near Thanksgiving, they had “Guardsgiving” where each member brings in food so they could have a small party before practice. Even towards Christmas they would bring in food, celebrate, and exchange gifts with one another. Staff members were also included in their team bonding. Not only do they celebrate for special occasions, they also enjoy going out to eat after some competitions.
The team views the season as a success despite not winning a championship. Francisco adds, “although we didn’t win any championships, we had the best performance ever and we all had a really fun time; that’s what really matters.”