Winter guard is starting preparation for their upcoming tournament on Jan. 28. The team has to work together in order to choreograph a routine to go along with a song using flags, rifles and dance.

“The competitions actually went really well last year. We started actually placing higher than we ever have in the past couple years,” winter guard captain and senior McKenna O’Connor said.

Winter guard demands a lot out of the team members; hours of dedication and hard work are necessary for them to be prepared for their tournaments that will take them all around the region. They have tournaments on Feb. 11 and 12, Feb. 25, March 3-5, March 18 and April 1. 

“The most difficult part is trying to instill the work ethic,” winter guard coach Brady Eaton said. “We’re really fortunate that a lot of the team that we have already has a really strong work ethic, but not everyone has that already.”

Eaton is going into his second year coaching and is making sure that the winter guard team is going to be even better than last year. The team plans on practicing their choreography until it is better than perfect. If they do well enough, they are hoping to progress to the Winter Guard International championships.

“Our show this year seems really promising, even better than last year, and the team also is very promising as well,” O’Connor said.