Things you need for summer spins

summer is here and there are many things you need to have before you start, so I decided to make a list of 10 things you need for the long summer days of Colorguard.

• workout clothes

remember to keep it light, tight and looking alright! always pick light clothes so heat would reflect not absorb and keep it form fitted because you don't want to feel heavy.

• shades

you will always need to throw some shade, I'm talking about glasses and visors here. Sunglasses and visors will help you from being blinded by the light and they're very versatile so you will always look good. 

• running shoes

running shoes are much needed because your toes will thank you for treating them with respect by putting them in a shoe that's not only comfortable but breathable

• A FAN

if you have one, you know how helpful they are because your AC unit and your ceiling fan are not gonna cut it by there selves

• your hair in a ponytail or braids

 

YOU WILL NEED TO LET YOUR SCALP BREATH, TRUST IT HELPS!!!

• sunscreen

 

Now you definitely need this because the sun can cause a lot of damage unless God gave you the gift of lovely melanin but, also as a black person myself, we still don't want dry cracked skin so, I suggest getting some Ambi cream for my melanin brothers and sisters , it works wonders. And after everyone's day is done, rub some coconut oil on your skin so you can enrich your skin and so it can be healthy and silky smooth

• pain killers

 

 

You're going to need this....PERIOD!!! There is nothing like popping some pills after a long practice and by that I mean pain killers LOL. also, invest in some products by J.T. Watkins because it works wonders and all athletes use his products. 

• kick butt attitude

It will get rough so BE POSITIVELY POSITIVE

• patience

 

to quote one of my fav songs by Drake

"just hold on we're going home" so, have patience

• WATER!!!!!!!

 

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU NEED

 

 

I hope I helped you guys, if you have any question don't be afraid to ask

insta: @__itsaguardthing__ 

Flag day!!!

Happy National Flag Day You Guys, and to celebrate, lets talk about the different type of flags  because there are actually so much to know about flags just alone in colorguard!!!

 

 

So with guard, you have multiple styles of silks

 







 

Wing flag



about a 3 ft. pole with the silk is attached. It kind of resembles a cape but more rounded

Chain flag

Those metallic looking flags that you see? They're made with a heavy metal chain, allowing someone to grip and use the flag easily 

Half and Half flags

 

lets Puts this in laymen's terms ............ its the shorts poles with the giant flags on them, not connected  together and not to be confused with the wing flags but, they are similar

    Butterfly flags -

they are the same as wing flags but are made to look like two different flags like butterfly wings

    T flags 

 

 these are your basic silks, there the giant flags where the pole makes a T and a long silk is attached at the top part of the T that make it parallel to the ground

 

Regular flag

 

 

these are most likely your practice silk, they are made from one color and one type of material. they are also very, very, very bland but, also very noticeable

Design print silks



 

they are obviously regular silks made by printers and portray realistic art work or a colorful design, they can even print a picture of you on them

Ribbon silks

 

those small, barely noticeable, long pieces of silks that's like a ribbon (lol to be blatant)

 

and with these silks comes different poles such as

•  6' foot
•  5' foot
•  3' foot
•  PVC piping
•  fiberglass
• aluminum
• copper ( yes, some do use copper)

And This is not the most of it, there are so many types of silks we don't  even know about.

Hopefully you learn a little bit about flags and what we use and I hope you had a very awesome Flag Day!!!

Guard of the week- Grass field High School

This week's guard of the week is...

 

 

Grassfield High school

from Chesapeake, Virginia 

 

 

 

Grassfield is a widely known guard from Chesapeake, Virginia that has a vase amount of history as a guard. Started in 2007, the guard has been spinning and competing in many competitions and took home countless of awards including:

• 5th out of 20+ bands at the 2014 the Parade of Champions competition at James Madison University
• straight superior ratings for multiple years (basically since the school has been opened) including 2014 & 2015 VBODA (their assessment) 
• 2015 Charlotte WGI finalist (varsity guard
• AIA state champions in class scholastic regional A2 2015
• WGI Norfolk Regional placed 8th out of 20 and made finals in 7th place
• AIA Powhatan high school 1st place
•  AIA Mount Vernon high school 1st place
• AIA Atlee High School 2cd place 
• first place at Virginia Beach Sports complex in their class and best guard
• AIA Virginia North State Championships 4th place
• won all caption awards in their class At Tallwood invitational, first place in their class, and ended up  getting second place overall
• won all caption awards (best music, best guard, best visuals, best general effect, best percussion....) in class, won first place in class, and ended up winning all of the overall titles and grand champions for both 2014 and 2015 seasons At Cavalier Classic
•  State Champions at ODU

 Grassfield show last year called "House of Cards" included Four movements (Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades...show was about the battle for the house of cards) and went undefeated with best guard, winning best guard at every show. The guard has also hosted numerous of things like the WGI Norfolk regional in 2015 and 2016 and still hosting, with their band, their very own marching festival called the Grizzly Marching  Classic

The group use to have a JV and Varsity indoor guard in 2015, but ended up realizing they were better together and decided to come back together as one team during our 2016 indoor  season to compete in the AIA and WGI in scholastic A1 and hope to move up to open class for winter guard in a couple of seasons. Grassfield has also been to WGI Championships a couple times, and plans to go back this upcoming season (2017) and planning on going to BOA in Delaware at Delaware University.
 

 

Even the coaches have a lot of experience in guard. One of the coaches is spinning with Carolina Crown for her second year this season, the other coaches, performed with Crossmen, have helped write shows for Phantom Regiment and Carolina Visual Production (CVP) winter guard, and have also wrote drill for high schools in Texas and other schools all over and one coach has even been teaching guard for 37 years.
 

Not only does the guard program over achieve, but as well as help bring guard to their community. The guard program has started Great Bridge Middle School Guard where the coaches go to that school and work (write their show and teach them)  with the middle school kids. Many of the kids at the middle school end up coming to Grassfield to spin with them and  Many of the Grassfield  students also help coach the middle school team as well. 

They also created the Chesapeake colorguard summer camp, which is opened to anyone and everyone. It offers help in all areas from beginners to advanced. Grassfield High School marching Grizzlies  has also traveled a bit too, Performing at Disney World multiple times including last spring in the electric lights parade (in magic kingdom) and also participate in the city's Christmas parade each year. During our winter guard season, the school host a "friends and family show", where they invite other schools in the area to come out and perform their show just for fun. There are no awards, just guards doing what they love. This event allows the coaches to explain the show to the audience, and allow other guards to watch other shows.

Overall, the guard has accomplish more than they know and help create a guard program for a team. This guard has major goals and other things they want to achieve and will definitely  be doing it pretty soon.

Guard of the week

Grassfield High School

 



 

Check them out in action:

Guardie of the week- Tatiana

This week's guard of the week is....

 

 

Tatiana

from California

 

Tatiana joined guard her freshman year because she wanted to learn more dance techniques and also thought when someone threw a toss on flag that it made the coolest noise (when the silk whips)

 

"when I saw my guard perform at my junior high I knew it was what I wanted to do."

Tatiana is apart of the West Ranch Colorguard , where she spends her time bonding with her friends on Guard. Her absolute favorite thing about guard is performing all the time with her guard family

 

"Honestly I couldn't be in guard without it. it makes all the hard work pay off"

 

Her absolute favorite toss is a backhanded 45 from the hilt on sabre and stays dedicated to guard because she loves guard , the team aspect, and no matter how bad a practice can be, they all come together to perform there best and work together day in and day out.

 In the future, She sees herself hopefully spinning with an independent open winterguard and hopefully performing in WGI finals with her guard next year.

 Congrats Guardie of the week

Tatiana

J-sette Auxiliary

In the world of Colorguard, we focus more of the aspect of guards that have the same style ,such as lyrical, jazz, and cotemporary. But, there are teams out there, who are unique individuals that do both dance and spin. Their style is called J-sette. Now, j-sette has been around for years, originally started by the JSU Prancing j-sette. J-setting is a style of dance known predominantly in the Black community that feature  majorette sette drill dance formations and usually uses the aspect of the follow-the-leader method, were the captain serves the sette and the group follows along. You may have seen this style on the hit Lifetime show, Bring it, and the show ,Step it Up. Also, Many artist such as Beyoncé (in which she uses all the time while on tour and in her iconic singles ladies video) use this style of dance that shows off their attitude, dynamics, skills and sass to everyone watching but, you've never seen it like this. This one of the biggest known guards I've seen use J-sette and guard together and trust me, there are many more teams out there

North Carolina A&T Auxiliary