Sportsmanship

[Capella Winterguard]

In any competitive activity, there are occasions, when the pressures of competition, can test the character in all of us. I would like to share my story, of sportsmanship, at its finest.

I am the Director of the Capella Winterguard, which competed in the Independent A class at World Championships, this past weekend.

When checking in for our semifinals performance at the Nutter Center, we were pleased to see our friends from The Mark of NSA. They were performing right before us. It was their words of encouragement that helped our performers feel at home, and eased their pre-performance jitters. Thank you, Mark and congratulations on your finals performance. You are a credit to the SCGC.

We were elated to be named an Ind A finalist, and entered the UD Arena, with great anticipation, and excitement. My husband and I took the floor to the ready area at the arena, not knowing what to expect, as we had never been in the backstage area before. We do not have a floor crew, other than our 14 members and 5 staff. As we looked down the tunnel, into what I can only describe as, the scariest thing I have ever seen, we looked at each other, without saying a word, and took in a long deep breath. I thought to myself, how embarrassed my members would be, to see me roll down the hill, and land in a heap, at the bottom. I frantically scanned the area for the freight elevator, as the sweat beads began to form on my upper lip.

We were fortunate enough to be lined up behind Northgate Independent, who had parents there, ready to wrangle their floor, down the steep hill. Upon seeing our dilemma, the Dad’s promised that they would come back to our rescue, once their floor made it down to the first level. They returned just in time, to help us with the daunting task. We were safe…so I thought.

There are two levels to this thrill ride. Once you get to the first level, the guard stops and waits for their turn to proceed. The ramp then makes a steep curve, and descends deeper to the performance floor below. When it came time for this next move, to our relief, one of the Dad’s had returned to our rescue, and helped us get down to floor level, in time for our unit to enter for its performance. Because of his selfless act, he watched his daughter’s Finals performance with Northgate, from the wings, with us, their competitor.

As if this act of kindness was not enough, the Northgate guard members appeared from backstage, after our finals performance was completed, to help snake our 350 pound monster, back up the tunnel. They knew that our members and staff would, literally, have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Looking back on the week, and all that we accomplished, I must say that my fondest memory, will always be, The Mark of NSA, Ginger Armstrong and Northgate Independent, their parents and staff, who came to our aid, when it would have been easier for them, to look the other way.

Thank you, Northgate and Mark. You are the true champions.

Emily Abramson - Director

Capella Winterguard

[TrishDish1002]

Emily,

That's a really great post! The "tunnel" at the UD Arena is one of the most amazing places in the world! However, you're right it is a pain to get a floor off and on from!

I hoped that my kids would get to stand in that tunnel, but it just wasn't in the cards this year. Every year that I get to stand down there it brings back every year of being a member/instructor that I have stood there and I am glad your first time down there was such a successful one!

Congrats to all of the competitors in the Independent A Class and thanks for showing such amazing sportsmanship and dedication!

Trish

Delazure (University of Delaware) Winter Guard

[justgin]

Emily.....you didn't tell the other side of the story!!

We arrived at the UD arena on Friday and had to immediately send parents to buy extra armbands since we were a couple short of having enough to get all of our parents in for finals. We got into warmup, and got a frantic call from the dad standing in line. There were still approximately 60 people in line in front of him, and they would not let him in to help with the floor until the armbands were purchased an on their arms. I left body warmup and ran around to the prop area to see if there was anything I could do from that end. My other parents immediately started telling me that this wonderful lady had GIVEN them the armbands we needed.....she was the director of Capella Winter Guard. They didn't have many people with them and didn't need the armbands. Emily's help to us was the only thing that allowed us to have all of our parents be able to see their kids on the floor in finals. The very next thing out of my main floor dad's mouth was, "We're going to help them with their floor....they have extra armbands because they don't have many people, but that means they're going to be in BAD shape getting down this hill!!"

We got outside and were putting our floor on the cart and realized that if they couldn't get in, they were going to have trouble also getting out. I talked to the kids really quickly, and there wasn't even a thought about it....they took off running and headed back in. They laughed later at the confused looks on the Capella girls' faces when they saw us coming back in the exit door. We were just glad we could be there and lend a hand.

We were VERY fortunate to have our friends from Atlantis Performance Ensemble there with us at all three of our performances to help us with our floor....WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!! We didn't even know they'd be there for our prelims round......they'd spent many hours stuck on the side of the road with a bus breakdown, and had only gotten a teensy bit of sleep. We really couldn't be more grateful for the help.....and for the fun and friendship all season long!

Edited April 14, 2008 by justgin

[nhsalan]

Emily,

As Ginger said, you guys were the lifesavers for us as well. I'm her husband and the band director at Northgate HS (which sponsors Northgate Independent) and we will be forever grateful for your help. While you thought it was great that our Dad was willing to watch his own daughter from the back side, for a while there was a possibility he wouldn't have seen his daughter at all had it not been for you guys !!

You and your kids have been a class act all year long as the two units have traded victories. As we pulled into the parking lot at finals you guys were already there and some of our kids started talking about how nice your members had been every time they'd had any interaction with them. Even when we had traded victories at the Nashville and Atlanta regionals, they said there was no change in your kids interaction with them. That is the hallmark of class, but unfortunately, something most of us see all to rarely in what can sometimes become a rather "cuthroat" competitive world.

Ginger and her staff work very hard to instill that sense of competitive respect for others (as we do with all the programs at Northgate) and it's obvious you guys do the same with Capella.

It was great "getting to know you" (however briefly) in the tunnel the other night and we'll always look forward to seeing and competing again with an organization that is a class act like Capella.

CONGRATS on a wonderful season and the medalist position at Champs !! Your kids were AWESOME Saturday night.

Take care and we'll look forward to seeing you guys next season, AA

Alan Armstrong

Director of Bands

Northgate High School

Newnan, GA

[Steven A]

capella...as a membore of Northgate Independent it was a pleasure helping yall. You're girls and jose are amazing!!! we stood by them in retreat and while we were lining up they were some of the friendlist people I've ever met!!! I will never forget one of your age outs..."Do you want to go play crochet?" haha so many great memories!!! again as Ginger and Alan said.. CONGRATS on your medal!!! It was a pleasure meeting yall this season!!!!!

[Guard Diva]

and that, ladies and gentlemen, is what this activity is all about! Raising young men and women to have class and integrity!

In 2004, I had 4 perofrmers.............and 19 props, plus a floor........we would have had a heck of a time had it not been for the random competitiors, miscellaneous parents, and other guards who helped us on and off the floor at each and every show!

[MardyBum]

I'm also a member of Northgate Independent, and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed talking with your guard while pulling the floor, and during retreat Friday night!

As we were putting our floor on the cart after our performance, my mom, Ginger, said "I have one more thing for you to do... Capella only has their members to pull their floor..." and before she could finish her sentence, there were lots of "Of course!"s and "Hurry up guys, let's go help them!"

After finishing our SAD attempt at putting our mess of a floor back on the cart, we started running into the arena, passing confused guard members waiting to perform as we did... and made it to the exit about 30-45 seconds before the show was over. As soon as we saw their members picking up equipment, we ran out to help, while some of them just stared at us in amazement. As we began to talk, I found out that the member of Capella standing next to me knew my parents somehow through drum corps, though I never quite understood the whole story(those few minutes were a little hectic! =P). It was a very cool experience to make a connection with your guard, and I will never forget it!

Then as we were lining up for retreat, we got to spend a little bit more time together! It was super awesome to see y'all receiving your medals, and I couldn't have been more happy for each and every one of you!

Thank you Capella, for making such an awesome night even better!

=)

Edited April 14, 2008 by MardyBum

[colormyworld]

You know, I think some people on other threads really need to read this and learn from it. At the end of the day, it isn't about medals, scores, or movement judges...it is about people sharing their love for such an incredible art form!!!

[quegrawks]

I have to say that I saw Northgate members running back across to help with Capellas floor and thought YEAH! That's what this is all about! Great job to both groups, and a wonderful display of sportsmanship and camaraderie! If only more guards and instructors were so helpful!

[GLG_Guard]

This is the type of stuff I love to read and see especially during the week of WGI, or always! It's such a joy to see inter-guard relationships bloom, especially when we all know that this sport can become more than just "competitive" and turn down-right ugly at times. It's such a pleasure to be in the presense of so many friendships being made and reunited during this exciting time. I must have seen dozens of guard members, instructors, directors, etc. from various groups embrace others who must be from across the country, different states, countries, who knows! That in itself was a humbling experience for me