WHS Winter Guard: What to Expect from Them in the Coming Months

Staff Writer: Emily Hammond 

Winter guard is an activity that involves dancing, exercise, and equipment—flags, rifles, and sabers—that are all spun to make a visually appealing show which is performed to music. These shows are presented in competitions.  

The entirety of the Winter guard season is spent learning choreography and working towards perfecting their show.  

Members of the teams spend hours at rehearsal learning new techniques, choreography, and drill (the places on the floor where they are supposed to hit when traveling/places where they are meant to hit and/or stop). 

Woodstock has two winter guard teams- a JV team which has twelve members and a varsity team with sixteen members. 

The JV team is the perfect place for beginners who are new to color guard and the techniques learned over many years of practice. The current JV team is made up of most notably freshman, however there are sophomores and juniors on it as well. 

On the other hand, the varsity team has no freshman, and is mostly seniors, with a few sophomores and juniors as exceptions.  

“I’m looking forward to our competitions. I’m excited. I like being able to spend all day with my friends,” said Hailey Heneghan, a member of the JV team. 

The JV team’s theme for this season is Golden Hour. They are performing to a song of the same title by an artist called JVKE. 

The Varsity team’s show theme is ABBA. Their show song will be a remix of about ten songs, some of which include Voulez-Vous and Lay All Your Love on Me by ABBA.  

“I like making friends and spinning, seeing everything put together. It’s so pretty to watch,” said Ivy Lamar, a freshman on the JV team. 

The JV and Varsity Winter Guard teams participated in a bingo night on February third, hosted by the entire band program. They sold baked goods at a bake sale.  

“My favorite thing is the friendships I’ve made, and I think others should join because it’s a lot of fun and everyone apart of the program is amazing,” Kadence White, a sophomore on the varsity team. 

The Woodstock High School Winter Guards are performing in many competitions this season, their first being on February 4, 2023, and their second competition just a week later, on February 11, 2023. 

The biggest competition that Woodstock High School’s Winter Guard is preparing for is the Southern Association for Performing Arts, or more commonly known as SAPA.  

At SAPA, Winter Guards from all over the southeast United States come to perform their show they’ve been preparing for upwards of six months. Last year, both the JV and Varsity team made second place in their division at SAPA. 

“My favorite thing [about winter guard] is definitely the environment and the people, on top of that I love having something to work towards and achieve. I’m really looking forward to winter guard comps because it’s new to me and it’s really exciting,” said Madelyn Singletary, a freshman that is in her first season of winter guard.