On March 14, Liberty High School would have been hosting its first winter guard competition of the season. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the show has been canceled. The season has also postponed by the Mid Continent Color Guard Association.

In a statement released by Mid Continent Color Guard Association president Duane Williams on March 12, he stated that “Our main priority is the health and safety of our performers, staff, judges, and community. Keeping this in mind, the decision has been made to cancel the remainder of our season events. This was an extremely heartbreaking decision to make for all of us, but given the current situation in our world, we feel it is the best decision to make.”

Usually when a winter guard competition is coming up, the team practices Monday and Thursday from 4:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Friday from after school to 9 p.m.  

“Competitions are stressful because if you drop [the flag] you can bring the whole team down,” says Madison Hankins, who is new to the winter guard team this year. 

These competitions include lots of flag twirling, saber throwing, and rifle tossing excitement. Students on guard are taught to act and use lots of facial expressions as they perform their routine. The theme of the show for this year is jailbreak and it is called “I did something bad” ; they are using the music of Taylor Swift.

“Seeing other guards perform during competitions is really fun and you see how other teams do the same moves in a different routine,” sophomore Anna Morrison said.

Competitions are one of the most stressful parts of winter guard. One wrong flag spin or step and you can block the path of another teammate. Judges can be harsh on how much emotion is in the performance and how well each member can do the dance moves. There would have been 50 teams involved in the competition and it would have been LHS hosting a winter guard competition for the first time.

“This season has been great so far. Last year the team won gold (first place) at MCCGA Championships (our competition circuit),” coach KC Welch said. “When you medal, you are automatically bumped up to the next highest class the following year. So, the kids are competing in a new, more challenging class and are doing very well for themselves. Between their first and second competition their score jumped up by 10 points. I expect they will keep growing and will be even more successful, come the end of the season.”