Winter Guard dancers set the gym floor at La Quinta High School to perform their winter season show “Mon Amour” for one of the last times. Little did they know that they would step off the gym floor as champions.
For the first time in Walnut history, Winter Guard performed at the Winter Guard Association of Southern California (WGASC)’s second round; there were two rounds of the competition, with the first round being hosted in Westminster, California and the second round at University of California, Irvine on April 18 and 19. Winter Guard placed first overall in the competition’s first round. In the second round, they placed seventh place.
“This will impact [Winter Guard] greatly by putting Walnut’s name in Color Guard history for something very big in the competitive season of Winter Guard. What I will miss about this season is my team and how I won’t be able to ever perform with them again with the exact same [team] and with this exact show, [which] has really impacted me,” captain senior Jasmine Ting said.
Leading up to the competition, the guard had weekly practices, with the occasional Saturday practice where they focused and centered around cleaning and refining the show. Additionally, there was a lot of prior excitement regarding the Winter Guard’s attendance for WGASC.
“I feel like our training has been a lot more rigorous. I’m really excited because this is the first time Walnut has ever been able to make both the championship day and the finals day in history,” lieutenant sophomore Alice Liu said. “[Having championships] experience is going to give us the experience we need to continue improving and going up in divisions. Placing so well at championships shows how much all of us have grown as performers.”
Additionally, Ting believes that Winter Guard’s placement at championships highlights how much the team has grown the past season.
“This winter season definitely made an impact on the Color Guard team in general. Our show is completely different compared to any other show we’ve ever done [at] Walnut and I think this show is the starting point of better shows in the future,” Ting said.
Winter Guard coach Nikolas Matsamura considers championships as a culmination of the Winter Guard’s hard work and dedication for their entire season.
“We never dictate the season on what the championship score or placement is but this season we got first place,” Matsamura said. “It was an exceptional championship as it was our first time having the two day event and performing for the first time at UC Irvine. It was amazing to see the performers have such an amazing time [at] such a large arena. We couldn’t have asked for a better championship.”
Matsamura hopes that for the next season, Color Guard will continue growing in not only numbers but also in skill and performance wise.
“We will continue to keep pushing for new standards and increase our education within the arts. We hope that we can facilitate a program with kindness and passion to fuel us into the next seasons,” Matsamura said.
