Hand-eye coordination is a difficult skill to perfect. From catching a baseball in a glove to hitting a golf ball off a tee, it’s needed in a lot of different activities. Students involved in color guard need to have advanced hand-eye coordination in order to toss (and catch) six foot flags and roughly three feet long sabers and rifles.
In a typical color guard performance, students coordinate dance steps and flag tosses to create an entertaining performance.
“What makes color guard unique is that it combines elements of both sports and arts,” said North Penn junior and second year member of the North Penn Visual Ensemble, Sarah Butz.
The Visual Ensemble is formerly known as the Indoor Guard. Just like today, the team wore elegant costumes, perfected their pieces, and performed in various competitions. This year, the Visual Ensemble is set to compete in World Guard International (WGI) competition in Dayton, OH. The Indoor Guard team also competed in Dayton in 1985.
The team practices for weeks in an effort to make their routine competition ready. The long hours of work push the team members to improve their color guard skills, but also their confidence.
“[Color guard] has taught me that even if I’m having a bad day, I can come to practice and just let everything go. It pushes me to not only be a great performer but also a confident person that won’t let anything get in my way,” explained sophomore and second year Visual Ensemble member Jenn Weasner.
Through all of the practices and competitions, the team becomes family.
“Color guard is family,” remarked sophomore and second year Visual Ensemble member Madison Joyce “We’re one big team who loves each other, and we learned to not only spin to win, but spin to have fun.”