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Health & Fitness

OCHS Winterguards to Compete March 23rd at Forsyth Central High School

The Warriors' JV and varsity units will be among 50 indoor colorguards competing.

Note: The date of the competition has been corrected.

The Oconee County High School varsity and junior varsity winterguards, under the direction of Leslie Rogers, will travel to Forsyth Central High School in Cumming, GA to compete in the Sawnee Mountain Invitational Color Guard Contest on Saturday, March 23rd. The contest is sponsored by the Southern Association of Performing Arts.

The “Winter Warriors'” 3rd meet this season will include units from all over Georgia and the Southeast, and include junior high, high school, college and independent units (those with no school affiliation) in several ability groups, or “classes.” In all, 50 guards will compete, including units from Coosa Middle School, Mill Creek and Collins Hill high schools, as well as guards from Berry College, Jacksonville State, and Georgia State University.

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A 6-judge panel will award scores and placements in each class. The morning portion of the contest will begin at 10am in the Forsyth Central gymnasium featuring units in the lower classes, with an awards ceremony following at 1:45pm. The evening session begins at 5pm, with awards presented at 8:30pm.

Admission is $8 per person for the entire day’s events, and concessions and souvenirs will be available for sale. For more contest details, including directions and specific unit showtimes, please visit the show’s website.

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        Click here for more information on SAPA's many sponsored events.

The contest will be the Warriors’ final tune-up of the season before heading to Chattanooga, TN on April 6th for the SAPA Color Guard Championships. Many of the units they will face in the Sawnee Mountain Invitational will also appear in Chattanooga, filling out a scheduled field of more than 80 competitors.

The OCHS winterguards are a part of the OCHS Warrior Marching Band program directed by Mark Provost, though membership in the marching band is not required to participate. Any Oconee County High School student is eligible to audition for the guard program as long as academic standards are met and organizational rules are followed.

The varsity “Winter Warriors” are in their 3rd competitive season and 4th overall, while this is the very 1st year for the JV guard. The varsity guard boasts 8 seasoned performers co-captained by juniors Madison Smith and Leslie Ware. The 11 talented girls of the JV guard are led by Elizabeth Shugart and Emily Benford.

        Click here for more information on the OCHS colorguard.

Colorguards originally grew from the tradition of military units carrying national and unit flags into battle, and have long been a part of the marching band activity. Today, spinning flags, tossing ‘rifles’ and ‘sabers’ and performing interpretive dance to the music on the field have become an integral part of marching band, pipe & drum, and drum & bugle corps performances.

The indoor renditions of these traditionally outdoor units are called “winterguards.” Performing in a wide variety of costumes to pre-recorded music, winterguards typically field from 6 – 30 members, and are generally open to both male and female membership. A number of units boast some of each gender, though both of the OCHS winterguards this season happen to be all-female units.

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