Winter guard offers students an all-inclusive sport

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Molly McCorkle, 16, joined Owensboro Catholic High School’s Winter guard four years ago to make some friends and to join a group that wasn’t a typical sports team. When she joined, that meant her parents joined as well.

Bill and Darla Wimsatt, parents of Jessica Wimsatt, another OCHS Winter guard performer, have been helping Catholic Highs’ Winter guard team for four years. Parents help move props and load the trucks before and after shows, as well as make the costumes, flags and backdrops.

“[The performers] take it real serious and put a lot of effort into it,” Bill Wimsatt said. “It’s just kind of contagious.”

“Joining Winter guard was how I made most of my friends,” McCorkle said.

Winter guard is an offshoot from Marching Band. The Color Guard and Percussion section of the Marching Band, during the winter season, compete with local Winter guard teams from other schools with dance routines, incorporating flags and other props.

The Owensboro area is home to four Winter guard teams, Owensboro Catholic High School, Owensboro High School, Henderson County High School, and Kentucky Wesleyan College. KWC’s Winter guard team is an independent team, which means their team is comprised of students from schools other than just KWC.

According to Michelle Jones, KWC’s Winter guard director, “We will let any other high schools that do not have a Winter guard organization at their school perform with our Winter guard.”

KWC’s squad is comprised of five Wesleyan students and six non-Wesleyan students from Ohio County, McLean County, and Apollo.

According to Winter guard International’s (WGI) official website, Winter guard is a world wide sport, held in Canada, Holland, Japan, England, Korea, Germany, Ireland and South Africa as well as the United States.

Unlike other sports, Winter guard is a more artistic sport.

“It’s a little more open to interpretation,” Jones said.

“Other sports you don’t have emotion,” McCorkle said. “We present ourselves and our feelings; it’s raw.”

“The one thing that stands out to me,” Bill Wimsatt said, “is how friendly and encouraging kids are to other teams. When one squad passes another, it’s not uncommon to hear one of them say ‘good luck’.”

Winter guard is not just a girl’s sport either. Several guys compete as well. Catholic High’s team has three.

“There’s actually a lot of guys in the guard,” Paul Brown, eighth grader, said. “It’s not a lot different from band.”

The Winter guard competitive season lasts from January to mid April. According to the WGI’s official website, there are 29 regional competitions and World Championships, as well as over 600 local contests. The local Championship that KWC, HCHS, OCHS, and OHS will be attending is in Union County, KY on April 2.

KWC will not compete against the other three since it is in the independent class.

OCHS is one of the few bands at the competitions to play their own music, composed by Ed Hauser, Winter guard director, and Nick Warren, percussion instructor.

“We chose to do this for many reasons,” Hauser said, “mainly for the challenge of trying something that we have not tried before. I also had the visual image of the show before the musical image. I figured it would be just as easy to write the music as to find something that matched what I had in mind.”

“The best thing about Winter guard and band in general,” Bill Wimsatt said, “is they’re all-inclusive; they’ll take any and all students who want to be on the team.”

“I think Winter guard is a really good sport for people to get into,” McCorkle said, “especially if you don’t fit into the whole football or basketball scene.”