Friday night games are where you will see Chamblee’s color guard team, out on the field performing their halftime show or on the stands cheering the football team on alongside the marching band. Many do not know this activity and think that it includes students throwing flags up in the air.
“Color Guard in my own words is dancing, but dancing with equipment like flags, sabers, and rifles,” said Emma Mandujano (25’).
However, for the girls on the team, it is more than the activity itself, it’s about the community. Nobody made that more clear than Rachael Staskiewicz (26’).
“Those girls are some of my best friends, and I talk to them all the time. So it’s a sense of community in this,” said Staskowitz.
Kaley Puri (26’) agreed with her teammate.
“[Color guard is] really meaningful to me because it gave me a community. I never really felt like I was connected with my school and my peers. So when I joined color guard, I felt like I had a big community,” said Puri.
Many of the teammates’ first thoughts on color guard were what others also thought about color guard, which is that it’s a bunch of dancing and throwing flags. While watching a video on color guard, Mandujano’s interest in color guard began.
“I saw a video in seventh grade. I thought to myself, that’s what I want to do in high school because it looks so cool,” said Mandujano.
Similar to Emma, Mariana Linares (25’) was introduced to color guard but had an aspiration to add more to her dancing routine.
“When I was first introduced to it, I saw people throwing flags and they were doing really cool things with flags and fake weapons,” said Linares. “I thought that was really cool and I already really liked dancing, so I was thinking maybe I could add some things to it,’’ said Linares.
Color guard is more than just flag-throwing, it is a shared community and it’s an activity to grow as a person. Not only physically but also mentally. For many of these girls, joining the color guard was a gift and a reward for them. They grew a community out of color guard and it has been very helpful to them Linares has grown mentally through her journey with color guard.
“Although it looks a lot like physical exertion, it’s truly more of a mental sport than a physical one. So to me, it is a place where you can grow mentally more than physically,” she said.
Nonetheless, the color guard members would love to grow their community as there are only 11 of them on the team. As to when tryouts there is no certain date but all members encourage students to join color guard.
“It’s so much fun. Since there are only 11 of us, the more people that we have, the more fun it can be because we can do cooler stuff. But it’s an exciting environment,” said Staskiewicz.
Not only are the members asking for students to join for a bigger community but they assure a judgment-free environment, even if you don’t have any experience.
“I want students to join the color guard because it’s an amazing experience. You don’t get judged for your lack of experience, because I started with nothing, and I’m where I am because of that,” said Mandujano. “I’m able to develop my skills, because of that and the environment is just really nice.”
However, the question on everybody’s mind: Is Color Guard a sport? Many of us think that color guard isn’t a sport but for many of these girls, color guard is harder than other sports out there. They consider color guard more than just dancing or throwing flags; it is a sport because of how much physical exertion you have to do! Or at least that’s what Linares stated.
“I do [think color guard is a sport] because it’s a lot of physical exertion. It’s more resistance in general, and endurance, so it is a sport because you are doing it, too. like, a physical activity,” said Linares.
Mandujano agrees with Linares, however, for her, it is more about how they have to run on the field than the exertion.
“I feel like color guard is a sport because imagine doing a nine-minute show, and then you’re tossing equipment and dancing at the same time, and you have to, like, run across the field to get to a certain place for you to start your choreography, or you’re doing the choreography while running to a certain spot,” said Mandujano.
So whether it is you are looking to try something new or want to add more to your dancing as many of these girls have, color guard is the perfect fit. Nevertheless, it can also be something fun for school or to interact more with peers and do something for the school. The color guard team encourages anyone to join next semester and be a part of the community that grows not only physically but mentally, and to make friendships!
