Commitment and hard work wins gold at Winter Guard Championships.
Winter Guard season 2012 has come and gone, but the team’s success won’t be forgotten.
The 20 girls that make up the Eureka Winter Guard performed their show for championships “Life as a Work of Art” and won first in their class, Scholastic B, with a score of 75.55 out of 100 points, March 24.
It wasn’t easy to get to the top of their class, however. The girls had to work hard to reach first place.
“Their success is directly related to their commitment,” Dr. Jason Green, activities director, said. “The girls are taking it seriously, they want to get better at it, and they’re motivated to do well.”
Dr. Green has witnessed the growing commitment level in Winter Guard over the last three years.
The newer members know in order to be on color guard and do well, commitment is required.
“We have to remember we can’t just win, we have to work for it,” Katherine “Katy” Humphries, Winter Guard member, said.
Ms. Joy Eslick, Winter Guard director, holds Winter Guard practices Mondays and Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m., but often you can find them in the gym on Saturday or Sunday rehearsing their routine.
“We all put in a lot of extra time to improve together,” Kristen Arata, co-captain, said. “And we’ve gotten a lot better at building each other up.”
No matter how much time is spent rehearsing, the nerves don’t go away for the girls.
“I still get nervous even though it’s my last year,” Alyssa O’ Neal, co-captain, said. “I just try to take deep breaths to calm myself down.”
The cause may be the standard this year’s team had to live up to. Last year’s winter guard won first in the Scholastic C Division.
However, the 2012 Winter Guard did win first in an even higher classification this year and hope to move up to the Scholastic A Division and place first next year.
“I’m really excited about their potential success in the future,” Coach Eslick said over a phone interview, April 1.“Next year I think they’re going to kick it up a notch again and be even more amazing.”
