Music, colour and dance filled the Tom Karren Gym Saturday as Spirit of Alberta Colour Guard held their annual Winter Guard Gala.
Winter guard teams from Calgary and Edmonton came to Magrath Feb. 4 to compete in the first show of the season in Alberta. The nine teams competed in six divisions: Independent Word, Independent Open, Independent A, Regional A, Scholastic A, and Novice.
Preliminaries were held in the early afternoon, with final competition following. Spirit finished in fourth place overall, second in the Scholastic A division.
First place overall was taken by Escalade Winter Guard of Calgary. The team’s Cait Grant said they always look forward to coming to compete in Magrath, and these shows help bring awareness to the sport.
Their team, however, has seen a great deal of changes in their membership and are working on developing an interest in students who can join in the future.
“We try to spread the word as much as possible and are going into the schools, educating kids and encouraging participation in dance classes, arts and marching band,” said Grant.
The director of Spirit Colour Guard said the Magrath competition, and touring, helps her team learn new things and grow.
“They see things and say, ‘We need to do that’,” said Heather Nemeth. “Especially in Utah. They were seeing teams that practice four hours a day. To compete with those groups ad score well is phenomenal for these girls.”
At the Utah competition last year, Spirit finished in second place.
Spirit is looking forward to competing in Edmonton later this month and traveling to Utah for another competition in March.
The junior high and high school students in Guard also grow throughout the experience, said Nemeth.
“Confidence-wise the girls grow in leaps and bounds. They start off a bit shy and quiet in Grade 7 and become the life of the show.”