Mahomet-Seymour Winter Guard captures State Championship
There have been a lot of reasons to make excuses in 2020 and 2021.
But the Mahomet-Seymour Winter Guard team did not want to make any excuses.
That mentality led the Bulldogs to their second consecutive IDTA State Championship.
“Even with marching band in the fall, our focus has been to continue training,” head coach Kari Marino said. “I also wanted to be sure they had the opportunities they had previously. We are grateful to the school to allow them to participate with safety protocols in place.”
The protocols limited the 14 member squad along the way, though.
“Guard camp in the fall typically lasts 5 hours, 5 days a week,” she said. “This year we were split in 2 smaller groups and each group had 2.5 hours, 2 days a week. We went from 25 hours of technique and choreography training to 5 hours. Our show was significantly shorter and less demanding than a typical show, but there’s quite a bit of technique training that I had to pick and choose what to focus on.”
Those practices were broadened to once a week with the woodwinds when school started, then moved to twice a week by October.
That technique work continued to gain steam with the Winter Guard routine and drill sets practice twice a week.
“We had a few practices in and were required to take the next week off,” Marino said. “We came back for another week and then were indefinitely paused in late November due to new COVID restrictions.”
Those new restrictions over the holiday season put time together on hold. It wasn’t until the end of January that Mahomet-Seymour was able to have some sort of normalcy.
“We did have a revolving door of students out on quarantine, but quite often our practices were on Google Meet so those at home could watch/learn/participate,” she said.
Learning to roll with the punches of the COVID-19 pandemic is just something students and athletes have grown accustomed to.
“We had no choice but to roll with it,” Marino said. “They knew we were going to have ups and downs, but we moved on, modifying what we need to. It’s how the last year has gone for them. They knew to adapt and move on.”
Every Mahomet-Seymour team was in the same boat trying to get in practices and competitions when and where they could. For the Winter Guard, this made recording videos for the IDTA competitions difficult.
Marino credits Mahomet-Seymour Athletic Director Matt Hensley for making everything happen.
The Bulldogs placed second in their first IDTA Competition, then third in the second. Third place was enough to make it to the IDTA State Competition, where they eventually won.
“The team was very excited to receive their state qualification. It was an uphill battle and they needed a score of 75 to qualify,” Marino said. “They scored a 75.1 at their last competition. They were 7 points behind the 1st place team. They knew they had work ahead of them, but we also had 2 practices before a recording practice. We re-wrote the ending to add in a new flag with hopes of increasing our general effect score.”
The team danced to “Foolish Games” by Molly McCook. Marino added “rain” to the beginning and the end as the Bulldogs used umbrellas as a prop.
“The song is about the games people play and realizing how sometimes those you think you need aren’t good after all,” she said. “I edited the music a bit to add in rain at the beginning and the end.”
Of course, there were rifles and flags, but the Winter Guard also added a tarp into their routine; not only to protect the floor, but as another visual element that can be used for years to come.
“Each competition we used a new recording as we were continually improving and adding to our performance,” Marino said. “They worked SO HARD between each recording. As we lost members to quarantine, or gained them back, we modified the forms so we wouldn’t have holes in the drill.”
The upperclassmen were used to making the small adjustments needed to win between performances.
Marino credits section leaders, Emma Beddow, Sophie Deck, and Mallory Fonte for their continued perseverance to motivate the team and make sure those that are quarantined are able to connect to Google Meet to watch the practice.
“However, not getting in the real competition experience for new members made learning (from a mistake) different,” Marino said. “In a normal year (fall and winter), when a mistake is made on the field in a live performance with an audience, it’s a learning opportunity for them. What did they do, how can we adjust it so it doesn’t happen again? We watch video and analyze it so they know for the next time. However, in a virtual environment, when we were recording, if a mistake was made (yes, we addressed the mistake), we could record again. Sometimes our practice time ran quite a bit over – trying to get that ‘good’ recording.
“This also goes back to their potential. I know their potential; they know their potential. But, when they fall back on “we can do it again”, it gets hard. The HS gym was quite often warm, and they were wearing masks the entire time. It was not uncommon to go outside for a few minutes between runs for fresh air and to cool off. This group worked hard and their effort in the end paid off.
Marino sees that the success of the young Winter Guard program is layered.
“Winning it this year was such an accomplishment for this group,” she said. “We graduated an incredible group of seniors last year, but this group stepped up to the challenge. Winning it twice now is a statement to the commitment of MSHS and the music/fine arts program and their ability to provide students with the opportunity to participate in activities that foster growth through performance.”
Now, Marino is thinking about the future. Winter guard auditions might be held later in April to allow for the team, which followed COVID-19 protocols closely, to be outside.
“We are still optimistic that our fall season will happen as planned,” she said. “I am sure there will be changes to the fall marching band competitions, but I think everyone is hoping we can return to business-as-(somewhat)usual next year.”
