As both a sport and an art, color guard competes in competitions to show their skills in performance methods such as gymnastics, dance and flag work. On March 8, the Carlsbad High School band and color guard are hosting their first ever Colorguard Tournament which will include groups from all over Southern California.

“Our competition is an all-day event being held in the new gym,” junior and captain of colorgaurd Katherine Randall said. “There is going to be almost 700 performers alone followed by all of their family members that come to watch them.”

Color guard is currently in their winter guard season. Winter guard is performed indoors with recorded music rather than with a live band or orchestra. Different kinds of flags are used as well as rifles and sabers.

“Color guard groups can range from small to large,” freshman Adrienne Lunneberg said. “We have a small group here at CHS of only 10 people. There can be up to 40 people in a color guard team. Independent teams are not attached to a school.”

Carlsbad’s color guard will be performing alongside other groups from Southern California. The tournament is co-hosted by VOX Artium who are an independent group and famous in the color guard world.

“We will have award ceremonies periodically for different divisions going on,” Randall said. “I am going to be giving out the awards alongside VOX Artium’s two captains during the competition day.”

The awards are based on different categories such as performance, general effect, equipment and body movement. These criteria are scored on a range of a 1-5 point system.

“The competition is judged by several well-known guard judges from all around,” sophomore Kyleigh Kelly said. “There are different types of judges for individual categories ranging from equipment, vocabulary, feet and body.”

Spectators can enjoy up to around 65 color guard groups at the tournament with a variety of routines and performances; gourmet food trucks and local arts organizations will be present as well. More than 1500 spectators and 500 local North County residents are expected to attend the first competition at Carlsbad High.

“I heavily encourage people to come in and view the shows,” Randall said. “Not many people fully understand what Winter Guard is about. This is an excellent opportunity for them to come by and see. It also helps fund our program. Our show is completely finished with everything written, and now we just need to perfect it for the competition.”