Colorguard: the Sport of the Arts

This sport comes from around the American Revolution when soldiers carried a nation's colors into battle. Later, this changed into something for entertainment purposes, and now you can commonly see a colorguard on a high school football field during halftime.

During the non-football months, colorguard becomes more competitive. The only differences between colorguard and winterguard are that winterguard is indoors and without a band. Members of the guard use specialised equipment - shorter flags called "swing flags", five and a half foot flags, six foot flags, rifles, sabres, and the new air rifle - to illustrate the music to which they perform.

There are several levels of competition, ranging from Cadet class to World class (either Scholastic World or Independent World depending upon the age of the participants). WGI, Winter Guard International, sets down specific guidelines for each classification, with Cadet being the one with the most lenient rules and World having the most strict rules.

Every year, regional contests are held, and at each contest, the guard has the opportunity to advance a level all the way up until Independent World. Then, WGI holds a three-day-long event in which colorguards from all over gather in one spot to perform and try to best each other for the first place title. Championships are generally held in Dayton, Ohio.

Colorguard members perform on what is referred to as a "floor". The floor is a large tarp placed on top of a gym floor. They generally wear costumes that relate to their show (eg. a show about the moon might have its members wear all white on a dark blue or black floor). The most common practice is to go barefoot, but some colorguards wear jazz shoes, dance shoes, or Foot Undeez.

Colorguards generally function on the same UIL-type policy of "no pass, no play". They have rehearsals just like any other sport, and contests as well.