Thump.

This is what we worked for y'all!

Thump.

This is our time to shine.

Thump.

Make sure to preform!

Thump.

Y'all got it!

Thump.

THIS IS IT.

Thump.

"Ladies and Gentlemen we would like to introduce (name of school) winter guard to the floor. (Enter School name again) winter guard you may now present your program." As the speaker amplifies those words, you know it's game time. This is it, this is the 10 minutes we have taken to perfect over the past three months. This is our time to show what we've got... and that's all we need.

Ever wonder what goes through a guard person's head? A LOT. You have to make sure you smile, point your toes, preform, catch everything, be on time look at the audience, look at the judges, and get all the choreography straight. Plus, that's only some of it.

What winter guard teams put out on their floor is their work. Their sweat, blood, and tears all go into what they make look flawless. Long hour practices on weekends, and long hour practices in the week. I know all of this because I am on a winter guard team, and let me tell you. We may make it look easy, but I have gotten so man bruises and dropped so many flags that I have lost count. We TRY so hard to make it look easy, perfected, and beautiful.

This year alone I have had to put in more than 60 hours into our show. We've had all day Saturday practices, I think one Sunday practice, multiple late nights, and you can't forget the practicing by ourselves. I think as a whole we try to putting as much as we can into our practices (sometimes) so we can get the most out of it. We want to succeed. I feel like no one in the Winter Guard world goes to competitions and tries to fail. We want to perfect everything, we want to be the BEST. And yes our coaches and sponsors tell us its about having fun, I feel like in all of us there is a little, or a lot, of competition raging in our blood.

Competitions. That's a fun time. I love the adrenaline rush we get before we go out. The performance quality my team and I have when we walk through the hallways. All the memories. I love watching the shows, but I also like pointing out what people mess up on. Like, I know that's mean, but I point it out so I try not to make the same mistakes as they did. I don't want to be early, I want to preform, I want to make those connections with the people around me. Competitions can be fun, or scary. Just depends on how you look at it.

In the end, the life of a Winter Guard member is never done. We are always doing something. I can't remember the last time I was off from either winter guard or my work. As winter guard members we dedicate our lives to this. It's what we enjoy and love, so why not?