By: Jayden Montgomery
Are you curious about what the winter guard is up to? Read on to learn more!
The Salem Lions winter guard will have its first competition of the season Feb. 10 at Henryville. So, what is happening right now to prepare?
Winter guard members admit that the beginning of the season can be not very exciting since members are settling in and not practicing, but once practice starts, it's more challenging.
“At the beginning of winter guard, they were kinda boring with all the new team members getting used to the flags, but now we are working on doing a show and it’s more exciting to me,” freshman Madison Setser said. This is her second year in the guard.
Setser said new members can be different each year, which can be a challenge.
“Over half the team is new and never have done winter guard before, so because half the team is new, we’ve been working on the basics more and getting people used to the flag more,” she said. “There’s some people who think that they are better than others and they're not and it’s trying to find trust and balance in between how good you think you are, compared to other people. It’s okay, but it could be better.”
The team has 12 girls and three boys and is coached by Steven Satterfieild and Malachi Eddings.
“I’m very excited for the winter guard to start competing and for the community to see the show,” said Eddings. “Our guard consists of students from 6th grade to seniors, so there are varying levels of maturity and guard experience; despite that, this group works very well together and is always on top of everything. There are many cool moments in this show that feature different skills like dancing, rifles and flags. They have been working hard since late December and I’m excited to see where the season goes.”
The winter guard this year is adding more things to their shows, along with the theme.
“We're doing more rifles this year and we're going to learn how to saber and we have pretty uniforms,” said Setser. "Some people probably don't find this interesting, but after I perform shows and look at the others, I really look forward to watching the other winter guards.”
Right now the winter guard is in the middle of preparing and wrapping up before the show; this can be the most challenging part of the season for the members. The theme this year is Cry Me A River.
“It has good buildup and I really like it,” said Setser.
She said practices are important for members to show up and to get the show right. The team must support and help them to build up their skills.
“Since some of the players are new, they don't count and if they don’t, it can mess up the whole show,” she said. “Because they don’t know what to do and also because they’re new, they get confused.”