Color Guard Working Hard to Earn Respect

Forget the bobbing pompom girls, the baton-twirling dancers and the stiff marching musicians who signal the arrival of nearly every school band.

It’s the members of the color guard--with their bright, flowing flags and banners--that really make the band swing.

At least that’s the opinion of the students who make up the Emerald and Jade teams of the Thousand Oaks High School color guard.

“We add visual effect,” said 17-year-old Sarah Zumaris, a senior at Thousand Oaks High School and a member of the Emerald Guard. “If you just watch a band on the field, it is just them marching and playing music. We add more excitement.”

Sarah was among two dozen students from the school practicing Wednesday for a regional competition against other teams from 35 high schools across Southern California.

And after spending 12 to 18 hours a week practicing, she and her flag-waving peers think the pizazz they add to band performances deserves more respect.

“People think that if you are in the band you are a band geek and if you’re in the color guard you are a color guard geek, while the cheerleaders are kind of elevated,” said 14-year-old Shannon Freudiger of the Emerald Guard. “But it is hard work, so I think we are right up there with the cheerleaders.”

Color guard instructor Joe Paul agrees, saying the band’s flag bearers usually get short shrift.

“Everybody knows what the cheerleaders are, what the dance team is, but nobody knows what the color guard is,” he said. “So a lot of students think it is weird.”

Paul and his students hope to raise the profile of their efforts by inviting the public to Saturday’s regional competition staged by the Winter Guard Assn. of Southern California. The organization, with a membership of about 200 high schools, sponsors about 30 regional competitions and a grand championship each winter.

In addition to Thousand Oaks High, local high schools planning to compete include Simi Valley, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Agoura, and Royal in Simi Valley, whose color guard team last week placed first in another Winter Guard regional competition.

Contrary to popular thought, though the Emerald and Jade teams’ names refer to their school’s green and white colors, their job is not really to carry the symbolic hue. Instead, they perform with colored flags that match the mood of their music and use other props such as fake rifles and swords.

Thus, the Emerald Guard, dancing to two songs from Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” soundtrack, will use bright magenta, turquoise, orange and yellow flags.

The students are set to compete Saturday at the Thousand Oaks High School gymnasium starting at 3:30 p.m. An awards ceremony will be held at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $5.