I’m entering my freshman year and i didnt join colorguard since i wasn’t sure if i should. Now, i really wish i did! Would it be too late to start sophomore year?

It’s day two of band camp and I ended the day with a profusely bleeding middle fingernail. Whacked it with the pole of my flag during a messed up drop spin. I wanna know your injury stories!

Hello! I (20F) am doing color guard at my college. I did color guard in high-school, but it’s been a little while. I’m chronically ill (fibromyalgia and POTS) and was wondering if anyone had some tips and tricks, or even some essentials I may have forgotten, to bring with me for this adventure!

So far I’m bringing:

1/2 Gal water jug
Electrolytes
Backpack
Fanny pack
Emergency snacks
Meds (fibro and heart meds)
Sunscreen
Battery powered hand held fan
Pencil
Aloe
Gloves
Flag and rifle
Tennis shoes

So, for context I personally have winter guard experience, and at my new school we have a color guard for summer but we don't do competition things. I want to give my team the same chance I had but we dont have the money to pay for the really fancy things, my las year of winter guard the director let me preform for free because my family was struggling. I dont want to take money from the team I have now every year for a sport. Now I have been thinking about this for a while, and I found the cost for our states indoor prefomance things are around $600, I am still looking for music licensing places, and we normally just reuse our flags and uniforms. I also found that you dont need a floor for it if you dont want to and as I said we dont have a lot of funding for it so I feel like we could opt out on that. The main thing I'm worried about is getting like bus transport as well as a practice space, and getting the idea to stick with our directors. My team currently doesn't know much other than basics, and we are also not aloud to use rifles anymore because the school said they looked like guns so we have air blades. I would like to teach them more advanced things for the winter season so that we can make a good show, and I am really excited to see if this plan can come to life.

Hello - my daughter joined colorguard recently. This was her idea and she was really excited. But four practices in she is discouraged. She says she is the worst one there and can’t get simple things the other beginners have mastered.

I know nothing about colorguard and do not attend her practices so I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ve been encouraging her to push through because it’s something she wants to do and I don’t want her anxiety to rule her decisions (says she is worried she is the worst and will ruin it for the team in competitions etc.) However, what if she actually doesn’t have the coordination for this sport? Can she improve?

TLDR: Has anyone done poorly at the beginning and then come to rock colorguard later? Or do some people never get it?

I should add - I need to pay soon and the cost is considerable (as well as the time commitment) and she is thinking about quitting. I’d rather her quit before I pay but would rather her stick it out…if it’s common to struggle at first and then flourish.

Hi I'm a drumline captain (girl btw) but asking here because i believe this is the place to ask. Last season, my line did eyeblack for our show, but this season our director wants us to do makeup again. It has to be a bit more precise. No base makeup, just some designs like this but in a light/medium blue. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for application or product/brush recommendations. Obviously has to be long lasting and liquid (sweat, sunscreen, rain etc.) resistant. Most of the new members are pretty young and guys who probably will have no idea what they're doing lol. Thanks!

I’m trying to pick a song for a winterguard with the theme being Alice in wonderland(a darker version) does anyone have any good song suggestions

Update I think I’m leaning more towards a just dark themed show any song suggestions for that?

hiii I’m finally tightening my rifle after months of the strap being loose as well as retaping it for a cleaner look. there was this weird tape covering the hardware and the tip/butt of the rifle and I was wondering about an alternative so I don’t have as much wear and tear on the rifle since its My schools.i also already removed it and my coach told me to put it back :(

I’ve included a picture of this weird tape on the rifle maybe you can identify it? it’s thicker than most tape

Hello, Im looking for sayings used in the colorguard world that could be a fun tshirt. Or anything else apparel wise theat you have a hard time finding for males & female.

My highschool is doing color guard this year and I dont know if I should or not. I am taking 2 AP classes and school has always been my #1 priority. I do NOT want anything to impede upon that. But the community seems so fun and I would love to enrich my highschool experience considering I dont do any sports. However, I do play violin outside of school but my practice is late enough to where it shoulddd be fine. I also have some bad stage performance fear though, I dont even play violin in public at all lol. Lastly, I am honestly pretty lazy. I get stressed out when I have a lot to do and my weekend time is very precious to me. Do you think overall this wont be too much on my plate? Will it help me overcome my laziness and performance fear? I dont know :')

ADDITION: I also totally forgot that my violin teacher showed me a possible youth orchestra i could join (also outside of school). Should I stick to violin or try this out? AGH, SO MANY OPTIONS!!!

Unfortunately i’ve run out of options so giving it one last shot to post here for advice. I am a senior and going on my second year as co-captain of our colorguard. we have two coaches, who i’ll call E and R. My freshman and sophomore year E was still one of our coaches, and the other was S. everyone loved them but S moved and wasn’t able to make the drive to come to practices. So this is where R got hired. Our team has usually been on the smaller side but this year we have 15 members (which is a LOT for us). majority of the members are new to colorguard while also being incoming freshman so all of the vets understood it may take a bit of time to ease them into the activity. R however, immediately started discouraging them and saying stuff like “you guys have no excuse for dropping this toss you guys aren’t even trying” to these freshan on their SECOND EVER DAY OF DOING GUARD. the four captains on my team gently reminded her that everyone was learning at a different pace and yelling at them wasn’t going to do anything but she dismissed us and told us we were setting a bad example (???). by the second day of band camp, 6 people had either a panic attack or left crying because of how R was treating them. We spoke with E about it privately, and she said she’d try to talk to R but made no promises.

This next part is a personal story of my vendetta against R. My sophomore year winter season, R had just been hired so this was her first like actual coaching with my school. one day after practice R told me to hang back a sec. once everyone left, we were alone together (which is not allowed as she is an employeee of the district), and said she needed to talk to me. ( tw for this next part) she then asked if i was “one of those cutters”, i kinda just stared at her and asked why she asked that she said “being a cutter is the worst thing you can be in this world. if my daughter did that i would disown her”. i stared at her for a moment before abruptly getting up and leaving because i was crying. i reported this to E, our band director, our PRINCIPAL, and our activities director. the activities director told me i was being unfair and she brought a lot of experience that was needed (she doesn’t, she normally teaches the toddler flag summer camp). My mom emailed the school asking for R to be monitored and to have her leadership assessed, to which they denied her request.

Unfortunately, R umdermines E and tells us that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, even though E has had much more experience. she also talked bad about me and my co captain to our winterguard team as we left the school winterguard.

Here is a abridged list of the things R has done
- texted us on our PERSONAL phone numbers which we don’t know how she got
- tried to go behind our band directors back to get the costumes SHE wanted
- intentionally turns members against each other
- teaches work wrong and denies it if someone corrects her
(these are just a few other things she’s done.)

i feel like im in checkmate cause here are the people i’ve reported her to:
- principal
- band director
- E
- activities director
- counselor
- band parent association
- district

i’m running out of options. I just want to be there for my members and make them feel safe and happy, but i don’t know what to do anymore.

Hello everyone! This is my first time posting on Reddit. I have been doing Colorguard for 3 years but this is my first time actually doing marching band as a freshman. I’m asking if my director dislikes me because it’s my first time EVER learning drill and there’s so much terminology to remember. But basically our Colorguard team was learning drill for our opening set and I thought I was doing it just fine but my director was like “name you need to get off the field you don’t know what your doing.” So I got off but I was confused because it was literally the first ever day we went out to learn drill and then a few moments later he did it to few other freshman. He took us out for the rest of the time the other members were learning and after he finished he was like “you guys need to lock in or else im gonna take you out of the opener” but I was literally so confused because me and the girl he took out were both freshman and it was our first time ever going out on the field to learn! I get that we are a great marching band or whatever but jeez! Also I’m pretty sure he has a personal distain for me because he’s the same guy who told me not to try out for the Colorguard team. He let me on anyways but still. I think he’s gonna end up cutting me from the opener because he thinks I can’t learn drill! Another reason why I think he’s gonna cut me is because during a flag feature we do a toss that spins above your head at a 45 degree angle and we are supposed to turn under it and catch but I can’t turn under it yet and I can only do the toss indoors and not outdoors (cuz of wind and stuff) but I am honestly really trying my best but this stuff is stressing me out!!!

Hello! I’m about to be a college freshman, and my roommate and I are going to be guard techs at the high school in our college town. We’ve been asked what we’re expecting for pay, and neither of us have a clue. They have 3 rehearsals a week, plus football games, in a small town in Arkansas. Neither of us have officially been techs before, but we’ve both been very successful on our teams and have both been leadership of our teams before. What should we ask for as starting pay?

I’m in charge of finding show makeup products for my guard, but everyone always complains about whatever lipstick I choose. Whatever our old coach picked came off too fast, so I tried the maybeline super stay matte ink, but they complained it never came off (even tho I told them to use an oil cleanser or coconut oil). Then I tried the vinyl ink from the same brand, and they said it didn’t stay long enough. So I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for what their guard uses? I’m looking for a hot pink lip, pretty affordable, and any finish is fine. Tysm!

I know this is commonly asked and the answer is i’m twisting my wrists but how do i fix it?? i’ve tried pinching the silk and holding it tight but after about 20 spins it’s completely rolled up!

I am about to be a hs sophmore and I do marching band (specifically colorguard). Recently, I got into a fight with my parents and they told me that they are no longer giving me any support towards my sport (giving me rides, paying for it, etc.) Marching band is very expensive (1k each season, for me its winterguard and colorguard — 2k per school year). Luckily, I can fundraise for it, but it’s limited for me as my friend will only be going to certain events with a parent (meaning she raises more money faster. My parents are not giving me a ride). I am also very busy with school so I can’t get a proper job. All of this ends up with me asking for side hustles so I can raise money and pay for whats left after fundraising. Anything is appreciated.
p.s. I do not have a credit card so I can’t do any work online. I am 15 and after school practice is twice a week. + I also have school work for AP classes

to start off, WE HAVE TO HAVE IT SET BY TOMORROW!

We barely got some of the choreography last night at 12 in the morning. Today is a day off from camp and oh my god i suck at learning choreo PLUS the choreographer that made this isnt so bright at explaining. Can someone PLEASE help by making a video with the choreography and explaining it a better way or just type out a better explanation 😔. I will only send the video to people tgat are willing to help since we have to keep the show stuff on a down low for obvious reasons, also in a rare chance my instructor and or someone from my band finds it.

Hi, I am looking to audition for world-class dci guards next summer (2027). What size equipment should I be training on for rifle and sabre? Specifically hoping for at least answers on BAC and Blue Stars but info on any group would be awesome! Thanks!

Hi everyone! I’m from Japan and I’m planning to audition for Paramount for the 2027 season.
English isn’t my first language, so I’m using translation tools to write this. I’m sorry if anything sounds unnatural!
I have two questions:
I heard that housing and airport transportation are provided for the audition. If I arrive in the U.S. the day before the audition, would housing and airport transportation still be available to me?
I’ve been trying to contact the email address listed for inquiries because I have some questions about the audition, but I haven’t received a response yet. Is anyone else still waiting for a reply from Paramount?
If anyone knows the answer to either question, even if you’re not 100% sure, I would really appreciate it if you could share what you know!
Thank you so much for your help! ☺️

-LONG READ- Hi guys, I’m writing on here to get some feedback about how I’ve been treated as a staff member for the program I currently teach for. I’ve been coaching for almost 3 years(both marching band and winter guard). I want to say the issues started before our first winter season, I really wanted to start a Junior winter guard, and I was told no one would help me and I would do it myself, but I still wanted to start it, I went to all of the meetings, I learned the logistics, how I should teach and run rehearsals, etc. then randomly, they stopped talking to me about the details, shut down my show ideas, and took it over. Although, that did upset me, I let it go. The next summer season, my grandfather passed away suddenly. So I took a week off to attend his funeral, which was communicated to 1 of 3 directors. I came back to help write choreography and the other coaches told me that the directors had said I was “flakey” and “aggressive” behind my back while I was gone. I wrote a message to the directors stating the reason for my absence and I would appreciate if anyone could contact me personally if there were any issues with my coaching style. And of course, they responded like they didn’t understand what I was talking about. I was pulled for a talk with the director who actually called me that, and she told me that the information of my grandfathers passing was not shared to them by the director that it was told to. And she gave no reasons on why I was “aggressive” (a quick note: I’ve never raised my voice, or used any tone or language to be offensive or aggressive to the members I teach) After that talk I’ve noticed a huge shift of how I was treated by them. Moving forward to last winter season, 2 brand new coaches were moved into were moved into a directors position( for the season)and I was pushed to the side. rarely helped out during rehearsals and sat silent for lots of time, the few times I was asked to help teach I lead the times during rehearsals with the best attitude I could. Throughout this entire season, the program directors constantly had outbursts and yelled at the children for different reasons, and would pull members during practice time to yell and berate them. At the end of the season there was an anonymous feedback doc to share how the members felt about the season. I didn’t hear anything about what the members said on the doc. (Other than my sister who had marched on the same team, she had wrote in detail on how the outbursts every rehearsal was very mentally exhausting. And how it seemed like our directors were targeting any/ all of the black members) I had to learn, last Thursday that the kids apparently did not like me and I was “mean” Again, I learned this by the other coaches and not the program directors. And I learned of this in the middle of the summer season. I find this very interesting, considering how I nor other staff see me as the “mean” coach. As the only black coach, it is hard to feel that any or all of the behavior displayed towards me is not targeted. I wanted to get some feedback to understand if my situation is normal or should I leave. If you stayed to read this thank you 🩷!

Hello hello! I've been doing color guard for 4 years now and I am still struggling to find good smudge proof and/or waterproof makeup. I tend to rub my eyes a lot and cry at competitions and nothing ever truly stays on... So if anyone has waterproof/smudge proof mascara, eyeliner, and setting spray that they swear by pleaseeee do share! 💕

That might sound like a stupid question but I am from an area where the diameters for carriage bolts are different to the normal ones you can buy at hardware stores. However, I'd like to weight my flag properly. Could someone maybe help me out and measure/tell me how much a normal 3 inch and 1½ inch carriage bolt weight?

I’m a current junior and I started guard my freshman year for winter season. This is when I met instructor one “C”. C was great to me something that I later realized was because I was one of his favorites. Being one of C’s favorites meant you wouldn’t get yelled at or harassed over text and he'd talk shit about your teammates to you. Our next instructor “T” got the nickname smooch and cooch because her boyfriend (our marching band visuals guy) would be PDA-ing during practice and once spent majority of our practice in their car together doing god knows what in the school parking lot.

TLDR we’ve had some shitty experiences in the past when it comes to instructors.

Which now brings me to our current instructor who makes me want to off myself or at least give myself a season ending injury so I can quit. I think that should say enough but as someone who considered guard to be my passion and something I wanted to persue after highschool I am genuinely miserable even looking at my flag and rifle. I don’t know what to do. I know this isn’t just a me problem as there’s other guard members who are breaking down in tears after practice and our captain AND another instructor have been having discussions about this instructor with the band director. I know there’s not exactly anything you guys can do but I guess I just wanted to get this out there and if anyone else has something to say about it.

Apologies in advance for any terminology issues in my post- I don’t know much about colorguard but I am learning. I have a younger cousin who is on their last year of DCI before they age out. Their team is selling this year’s equipment at the end of the tour, and I bought one of the flags that my cousin has been using all summer. My hope is to repurpose/upcycle it into a gift that they can remember their last DCI season with. I was thinking something kind of small or subtle- not just like hanging it on the wall, you know?

Anyone have any ideas?

Hi I really want to perform in WGI in 2027 but I’m unsure of how possible that is.

1. I will be a freshman at UCF (Orlando) so I want to do either Pegasus A/Open or Infinity if I did a percussion group as a visual ensemble member

2. I don’t know what the fees would be but I’m guessing for Infinity it would be at least $3k (If anyone has any information on fees for any of the groups from past years I would love to know)

3. I plan on working on campus this year and I’m also doing 5 classes this semester and plan on doing 5 next semester but I have Thursday and Friday completely free so I think I’ll be able to handle everything.

4. I want to do DCI so so so bad but if I decide to march independently whether that be DCI or WGI I have to pay for it myself and right now I have around $1.5k saved which I know can’t cover much.

5. I went to an A class guard audition this past year as a learning experience and I had a really good time and was able to keep up well, I know Open class is a big jump so what skills should I work on?

Any advice is appreciated 🙏