SHERBURNE – A Preview of Champions color guard competition kicks off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Sherburne-Earlville High School gym with 11 teams participating, including the joint Oxford-Norwich Ensemble, Union-Endicott, and Laurens Jaguars, and color guards from as far away as Pulaski.
An intermission will be held midway through the competition with concessions available in the high school cafeteria and an awards ceremony is scheduled for later Saturday night, at 8.
Sherburne-Earlville Winter Color Guard was established 48 years ago and is one of the founding groups of the Mid-York Color Guard Circuit, which currently boasts a membership of more than 40 different guards in the Central New York region. The Sherburne-Earlville program is one of two color guards still active in Chenango County, the only other being the Oxford-Norwich Ensemble. The Sherburne-Earlville Winter Color Guard is currently in the process of rebuilding its program after the majority of its members graduated last year, so it is currently classified as a scholastic mid-level beginner group. At the moment the program has 11 members, four of whom are returning veterans while seven are newly inaugurated sixth graders.
“It really is a new beginning for us,” said S-E Color Guard instructor Becky Jantzen.
Jantzen is a veteran of Hamilton Central School District’s Color Guard, and after graduating from college, she returned to lead the Hamilton guard as an instructor for three years. In 2001, Jantzen began instructing Sherburne-Earlville’s program.
Saturday’s Preview of Champions competition is one of the only color guard home shows still being conducted in the region. Aside from the Oxford-Norwich Ensemble, the next closest competitions are in Homer and in the Binghamton and Syracuse areas.
“It’s really an all day event for the competitors,” said Jantzen. The teams taking part in color guard home shows arrive at the host school well before the event. As per tradition, teams are given a classroom to practice their routines for the remainder of the day. Participants also have a chance to observe other teams practicing their own routines before the competition begins.
“We went to Homer this past Saturday for a competition and it was a good, 12-hour day for our guard,” said Jantzen. Teams classified in higher brackets need even longer to prepare for an event.
The color guard season begins with training in September and the competition period spans from January to April. “Color guard is a pretty big commitment, from both the students and their parents,” said Jantzen, pointing to the long season and rigorous practice regimen.
Despite the long hours spent practicing, members find color guard to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
“It’s really fun,” said 7th grader Millie Relyea, who is celebrating her second year as a member of the S-E Winter Color Guard. Aside from giving Relyea a chance to get out of her house, she sees winter color guard as a way to express herself. “Winter guard is my life ... I love it, and I love everybody in it.”
The Sherburne-Earlville color guard, along with the rest of the teams competing this weekend, will be endeavoring to put on a spectacular show for the audience. Jantzen hopes many of the S-E alumni will attend Saturday’s Home Show so they can see just how much color guard has changed over the years. “A lot of the military orientation has been taken out. It’s not just about how high you can throw your rifle any more, and there is a lot more dancing and gymnastics,” said Jantzen.
“I am excited and nervous about this weekends event,” said Relyea, “but it goes away when I take deep breaths and I know that I am going to do well.”