The “is it a sport or not?” debate vis a vis everything from women’s skiing to cheerleading has been ongoing for some time now … and there’s pretty much universal support for the fact that it is, at least when you’re considering teams that compete, not just shake pom poms around at a football game or something.
Which leads me to winterguard, a primarily female activity that’s become increasingly popular both in American high schools and at a competitive level.
When my daughter announced to me last year that, as a high school junior, she wanted to join her school’s winterguard team, I was pretty flummoxed. For one thing, I had only the haziest idea of what winterguard was … namely, girls dressed in odd-looking costumes waving flags around.
I soon learned that it was more than that. Much more.
For one thing, it entailed three hour practices two nights a week, daylong practices on weekends, and eventually competitions every weekend. Oh, and countless hours spent in the backyard practicing flag tosses.
The end result of all that practice, the concussions and chipped teeth and bumps and bruises collected by this team, looked something like this.
I was blown away every time I watched that show, and on a personal level, watching my daughter, who has a tendency not to try something if she’s not going to quickly and easily excel at it, blossom into a confident performer through an activity that was incredibly challenging both physically and emotionally was powerful beyond words.
She also dropped something like twenty pounds over the course of last year’s season, and she wasn’t a big girl to start with. The physical demands of winterguard left her not just bruised and battered, but buff as well.
But does that make it a sport?
Well, what exactly constitutes the word “sport”? According to an English teacher I know who specializes in …
… Sports Literature, an activity must have the following components to be considered a sport:
1) Centered around at least one physical skill
2) Fixed set of rules and an enforcement thereof
3) Competitive element that includes winning or losing (or rankings, as the case may be)
Using that criteria, winterguard more than fits the bill.
The physical skill involved in the various flag moves, not to mention the even-more challenging tosses of sabres and rifles as well as the accompanying complex dance routines, is intense.
Winterguard teams are scored by official judges who critique everything from technical difficulty to overall effect. They oversee the rules of what fits into the definition of winterguard, and performers are assessed by those rules.
Finally, each competition ends with an awards ceremony where each “division” receives both a numeric score and a ranking.
I mention all this because I spent today at a winterguard competition. While there, I heard people discussing the merits and weaknesses of each performance. I even heard the “this isn’t a sport” statement more than once, and it really got me thinking.
Perhaps most compelling to me, though, was the dismissal of my daughter’s team by some of the other spectators. My mother overheard the most damning statement directly, and it took everything she had not to turn around and snap at the rude commentary. I probably would not have been able to keep my mouth shut.
“Don’t bother watching them … it’s completely stupid, just like reality television.”
The combination of artistic impression and athletic prowess present in this year’s show completely wowed me, and my daughter’s presence had nothing to do with that. The show is impressive, plain and simple (although, to be fair, its focus is on secrets, gossiping, pain, and such).
So while I have a personal investment in winterguard as a parent and am aware of the intense physical work that goes into it, its presence is not going unnoticed, both locally, where New Hampshire’s television station WMUR did a feature on my daughter’s team (which has gone undefeated in competition for six years, a point that has been made at numerous school pep rallies), and nationally.
I say that winterguard is definitely a sport, and an exceptionally challenging one at that.
What are your thoughts?
I was in winterguard in high school and loved it (even captain my senior year!!). I also marched during the fall and played flute during the rest of the year. I can say that winterguard, for me, was more challenging than fall marching season. The show itself was more complex and the tricks were much larger and flashier (no wind!! Yaaay!!). I can’t tell you how many times I smacked myself in the face with my rifle and ended up with a busted lip a so much so that I named my rifle “pimp” (not going to lie, little embarrassed about that now). I loved performing and loved excelling at something so physically demanding. Would I call it a sport? Hmm, that’s tricky. I think of it more like an art. You can learn how to play a sport, but having the rhythm and coordination for colorguard/winterguard is something else entirely. I also don’t think it needs to be considered a sport to receive respect…but some may discard that notion without really getting to know what’s involved with preparing for and performing well in guard. I know this growing up in N. TX where football is king – and going to a high school that was known for its excellent marching band (what’s up LD Bell?!?). Guard never got respect until we came home with a multitude of awards from area contests.
Sweet fancy Moses, that seems soooo long ago. Crap, I’m old. But those memories were fun to relive!
I’m so glad to hear your (mostly lol) positive memories…the thought that my daughter will one day feel the same is just wonderful! Thanks for sharing <3
I loved colorguard and winter guard, I did colorguard for 3 years and winter guard for one year. My senior year last year, Class of ’11, at Katy High School in Texas (yes the football school) we finally got a winter guard after not having one for the previous 10 years. Everyone would always comment on how colorguard was so easy and that it was no big deal but it was pretty cool to see some band girls do it because they realized that it was harder than it looked. Our winterguard/colorguard didn’t really get any respect but that’s because our school is mainly about football, while I love football I really loved my colorguard girls. We were finally given some respect when we came out and won state for TCGC 2011 Novice Championships it was the greatest feeling ever. Just this past weekend my girls went back to state in Scholastic Regional A and won state champions again. Needless to say, I think that my colorguard is finally getting some respect. I most definitely agree that it is a sport in a way but it’s also an art. There are some people who are just not capable of tossing a quad on rifle while spinning then catching it perfectly. Colorguard was the greatest thing that I could have ever been introduced to.
Hello, I am a dad of two Winterguard guard members in the Lowndes County Ga area. I too am with you and many other parents that this event is definately a SPORT by not other word. I have seen my two daughters do things that many young men (and grown alike) would not and could not do. The many hours of practice and the bumps and bruises say alot. But above all the confidence and physical endurance growth has made it so worth it. We are headed to Championships this weekend in Chattanooga, TN and just found out that our guard ranked 6th in their division in the nation and this being only their second year performing. Wow, what a sport! I don’t really care if others don’t see this as a sport, we involved do and that’s what matters. What a wonderful experience this has been for us all. I strongly encourage any young lady to get involved in their school Winterguard and experience this wonderful Sport!
I was in the winterguard that the author speaks of about 15 years ago. I saw your post and it was interesting to me since you said your two daughters attend school in Lowndes COunty GA. My father lives there and I went to school in Hahira many moons ago. I never knew of color guard then. I am so glad to see that it is exciting all over the country!
Congrats to your girls and their team.
I was never in color guard, but I did do marching band for 4 years and had a lot of friends that were in guard on the field with us. It never occurred to me to NOT think of guard as a sport. If gymnastics and dancing are sports, it seems logical to me to count guard in there as well. Oh, and as a side note, I had to do marching band for TWO years to get a letter for my letterman jacket… and every other “sport” took only one year. That always bugged me, and I think it was the same for guard too. I’d love to know how they think that only counts as “half” a sport.
That’s awful, Lynne :-( I’m at NESBA Winterguard Finals right now (my daughter isn’t on until 7, but I’ve become a huge fan of this sport), and my awe has grown even deeper as I see kids of 8 or 9 showing a degree of physical and artistic dedication that is just remarkable…
I think predominantly female activities always get less attention and respect. But any sort of sport always gets more respect than any other activities in high school Try being a music “geek” or a theater “geek” and spending equally long hours, all year round (though without the physical exertion to the most part) honing your abilities just to be completely ignored or even ridiculed. Truth is, if you aren’t on the (guys’) football, baseball, or basket ball teams, you might as well not exist.