As the Winter Guard season draws near, Winter Guard members enter the competition with new themes and surprises, their spirits flying as high as their tosses.

Varsity and junior varsity Winter Guard have been working on their routines since the end of winter break. Many members of Winter Guard also participated in Color Guard, whose first season involved performing with the Blue Thunder Marching Band on the field. January marked the beginning of their second season, and their first competition was on February 4 (Results were not available at press time).

“I’m a little nervous in general but I’m really excited this year because seeing everyone grow with me, it’s really fun. I think things will go well this year,” junior varsity Winter Guard captain sophomore Jasmine Ting said. “Everyone in Guard is really determined. Everyone has that motivation to try their best to make the most of this season.”

Varsity Winter Guard’s routine is inspired by a spy theme. Their choreography features red ribbons as lasers and a large, shiny gem in the middle of the floor that the Winter Guard members are trying to steal. On the other hand, junior varsity Winter Guard’s theme is centered around a restaurant environment. The team dances to “Le Festin,” a song from “Ratatouille”, dressed up as waitresses serving out menus to their customers.

“I’m having a really fun time with this theme. This year’s choreo is really fun and entertaining. It’s very different from last year’s 80s workout theme for varsity because we’re going from this really fun, energetic and unserious tone to one that’s more serious and emotional,” varsity Winter Guard member junior Chloe Anne Cayaban said. “I’m really excited to see where the show’s going to go by the end of the year.”

The process of bringing their routine from the practice room to the competition floor is not an easy one. Within just a month, Winter Guard members must learn the choreography for the show, refining the routine and doing multiple full runs to practice setting their positions on the floor. When the time to perform arises, the team heads over to the competition site, warming up their bodies and concluding with one final full run before heading to the gym to compete.

“We definitely put in a lot more hours and I think we work a lot harder than people know. We don’t get as much performance time at school and we travel a lot so nobody really sees the end result of our shows very often schoolwise,” varsity Color Guard member senior Natalie Garcia said. “Not a lot of people see how much work we put into our shows. I wish we had more opportunities to show that here on campus, but it’s still amazing and fun and so rewarding.”