dugg Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Then one night a fairy delivered news to me in my bedroom. gee,the same thing happened to me.........on several occasions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quegrawks Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 gee,the same thing happened to me.........on several occasions! HA HA HA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quegrawks Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 High School. Some of my friends were in the colorguard, and my sophomore year they invited me to go see this "Indoor Guard" thing. I was pretty bored until my high school took the floor-- WOW! They were throwing tosses and synchronized like no one else I had seen that night. One of my best friends was in the group, and I hadn't even known it existed! My HS team was state champs for 2 years in a row, and I didn't even know about the group! So I decided to try it out my junior year. I wasn't allowed to try out for marching band guard, because I played horn and they needed me to march that spot, but I auditioned for indoor guard and was offered an alternate spot. I just kind of learned some drill and helped during rehearsals. Then, after 2 competitions someone on rifle line quit, and my friend was moved from flag to rifle, and I was moved to flag. I was scared immensely! They bandaged my arm so that I couldn't spin for our first show. I had to learn an entire show worth of work in 3 weeks, and I did my best. We ended up winning KIDA states that year for the 3rd year in a row (Blue division), as well as kicking some butt in NJA (now TIA) and WGI competitions. I learned about independent guards, but there were none near me, and I kind of got out of the activity for a couple of years when my HS's indoor guard folded my senior year, then found myself thrown into the colorguard instructor assistant position after marching drum corps, and kept going with it. Ended up marching guard in corps and have stuck with it ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musical_Spinner Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 gee,the same thing happened to me.........on several occasions! I woke up the next day and was wearing glitter eye makeup and rouge. I was a bit sore about the whole thing. (yeah, I went there) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitzamous rex Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 wow you guys are some hard core vets. i am just a senior in high school, hoping to make it in the dci scene. wow if any of you could give advice, it would be so much appreciated. my lame story compared to all of yours: our family started out rather low income and i was like a MAJOR guard fanatic but from the sidelines because i could afford it. i didnt get to start guard until last year but am one of the fast learning in our band. our band last year didnt even get a whole show on the field and performed twice the whole season at halftime, getting booed off the field both times. this year, im the senior member on guard taking on many protegees and we won superior at all three comps we went to. yay! yeah a lame marchin band story, no good dci story or anything. thats it. its lame but im trying super super hard. seriously, if any of you vets have advice, im a rook looking for someone who i can be an aprrentice to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinmomma Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Born into it: Dad is a High School Marching Band director. Started twirling baton when I was 6. Twirled till I was 12 and KNEW that I wanted to be on the majorette team at my dad's school. By the time I got to high school, majorette teams in So Cal were out of fashion and since you had to be a sophomore to be on the team anyway, I tried out for guard "just for my freshman year." That was the last year of the majorette team, and by the first football game I wanted to be captain of my colorguard anyway. Did guard in the fall, played flute in concert band in the spring (we didn't have a winterguard :( ). Coached a rival high school my first year out of high school, then spent 5 years coaching for my dad. Moved away, spent 10 years watching, keeping up with the times, and now I'm a :gasp: judge. LOVE IT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBrancheau Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Learned to twirl a baton and was very good at it. Also was an "Indianette" (pom pom girl) at my junior high, and wanted to dance on the dance line in high school, but wasn't "pretty enough". Didn't know they also had a color guard. I heard about it at the end of sophomore year and tried out. Twirling a baton previously certainly helped get me onto the guard! So, I marched junior and senior years in high school and 3 years in college. LOVED the skill and discipline it took to march, spin, dance. Miss doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 (edited) I was older than the average beginner -- 19 -- when I started. Before I marched Oakland in 1978, I'd never touched a flagpole in my life (though I had marched clarinet in marching band since junior high). Probably not the smartest move I've ever made, to join a corps with guardwork that was somewhat involved for its time, but I did. Story of my life. Anyway, a friend of mine from high school, Beth, had been marching guard in Phantom, but had to quit. She was a university student majoring in music, and because of her very involved schedule, plus all the expenses, she couldn't make all the camps. Before joining Phantom, Beth had written to several corps, including Oakland Crusaders, and it just so happened that shortly after she left Phantom, Joel Alleyne called her, asking if she wanted to march. She accepted. Joel told her to bring as many friends as she could, as there were still a number of guard spots open, so while she was home on break from college, she asked me if I wanted to march. I said, "Sure, why not?" That's how it started for me. Edited October 28, 2008 by byline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitzamous rex Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 you started at 19? wow i feel alot better. i thought ppl who started late didnt really get far. i know ppl who have done it for 8 years and i felt pretty bad about my chances to make dci/dca. i really a have a passion for it and was hoping that it would affect it. you guys are so hardcore. youve been doing this for so long, i hope i can make it in the dci/dca world. :) with luck and ALOT of practice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 Yes, I was old as the hills, LOL! And not very coordinated, to boot, so it was a really rough slog for me (and for the guard techs who had to work with me). But that's part of what made me a good guard instructor. I was a musician, so I thought musically and seemed to have a pretty good grasp of interpreting music visually. And then I understood full well what the "weak" guard members were going through . . . because I'd been there, myself. But because I had been there, and had overcome it, I expected them to do the same. So I think for many of those folks, I was their worst enemy because I didn't let them get away with any excuses. I also never accepted the wailing, "But I can't do that!" Because guess what I wailed, relentlessly, all three years I marched (and to three different guard styles). You got it! And I managed to execute all three guard programs, despite my protests. Imagine that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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