We all know and love the Marching Dodgers. Their performances are always entertaining and looked forward to during football games or other school events. But what about the marching band members that don’t play an instrument? Who are the people with the flags and rifles, and shiny costumes? They are the Madison High School Color Guard, one of our school’s most underrated teams.

For those of you who may not be well versed in the world of Color Guard, it is the visual effect that accompanies the marching band performance. With the use of flags, rifles, sabers, and intricately planned moves, the Color Guard builds a story to go along with the band’s music and creates an entertaining and impressive visual experience.

Color Guard itself is taxing on both the schedule and the body. Practices last a minimum of three hours during the school year, and during the summer can go as long as 12. This alone takes a massive chunk out of the day, and requires participants to plan around practice times. According to 8th grade band member Amal Fakhar, Color Guard will “rehearse a lot more than the required rehearsals that [the band] attends.” 

Color Guard creates the visual effects through intricate spins, flips, and dance moves. Because of this, the physical demand is intense. Color Guard will learn one routine to go along with the band, and they practice it to perfection. The steps, flips, catches, and more are all practiced constantly in order to keep on time with the music and to ensure they are done perfectly during the show.

Looking deeper into their practices, the members start off with an intense warm up consisting of many flag spins and tosses. Even though the members make it look easy, the tossing and catching takes precise timing and practice.

Although they go very well with the band, they also compete on their own and receive their own awards during band competitions. Amal Fakhar noted that the Color Guard “holds sectionals almost every Friday” on top of practices and performances. Along with their own sectionals, they are also expected to compete with the band’s competitions and the performances during football games. During band competitions, their is an award section specifically dedicated to the Color Guard and their performance, Madison’s Color Guard just took home another win at their most recent competition this past Sunday.

After speaking with many members of the band, the consensus is that Color Guard is integral to the band performance. Specifically, the Color Guard team this year has been particularly impressive. According to band member Luke Deane, this year’s color guard is “larger than in past years.” The talent on the team this year is outstanding, with sophomore Aubrey Chase bringing gymnastics to the table. Chase’s flips during the show drop jaws, and brings something to Color Guard that hasn’t been seen before.

Color Guard can sometimes be overlooked or known just for being a part of the Marching Dodger performances, but they are so much more than that. With the amount of practice, dedication, and talent that the members bring to the craft, Color Guard easily defines itself as one of the hardest working teams in our school.