Color Guard coach Sarah Abdulal had been checking the forecast two weeks prior to the tournament, reassuring herself repeatedly that “we’re fine.” However, at the first Winter Guard tournament hosted by Westview in 15 years, it began pouring rain, April 2. 

The performance mats were beginning to get wet and competitors couldn’t practice. According to the contest director for the Winter Guard Association of Southern California (WGASC) Lori Aguirre, Westview parents and students were quickly mobilized.

“When it started raining earlier today, we asked [Westview] to help us set up extra E-Z ups, extra tarps, and we opened up the dance room so that they could fold the corners [of performance mats] inside,” Aguirre said. “They were really great [about] being flexible in jumping into action when we needed that flexibility.”

Despite an unexpected obstacle, 34 teams attended the competition.

According to Westview GOLD Booster Vice President of Events and Activities LeAnn Erimli, planning for the event began two months ago. Although Westview hosted the tournament, Erimili said that the program is run by WGASC, which provides a list of requirements that need to be fulfilled prior to the event. 

“I wouldn’t say it was seamless; it never is,” Erimili said. “But we worked out everything that came up. We actually talked to Mira Mesa [High School], their booster president has been doing this for a while, so she sat down with me and went through everything. And the rest [of the information] came from coach Sarah and then WGASC answered our questions.”

Color Guard captain Ella Cuevas (12) said that the Winterguard team arrived at 7:30 a.m. to help parent and student volunteers set up and explained to them how the tournament was organized. They also transported supplies from the band room to the gymnasium and created guard posters, which were hung in the back of the gym, in support of each competing team. 

According to Aguirre, the hosting school is responsible for providing a facility with its basketball hoops up, bleachers pulled out, and the proper sound equipment that they pick up from another school prior to the event. Abdulal added that the space must also have a five-foot clearance around the competition floor. 

Additionally, the school provides hospitality for the five judges and three staff members, such as serving them lunch. They’re also responsible for selling tickets and positioning guards at each door because ticket sales serve as a fundraiser for GOLD. According to Abdulal, more than 500 tickets were sold at $12 each. Westview also opted to coordinate a concessions stand. 

The tournament’s judging panel consisted mainly of past Color Guard instructors with 10-20 years of experience from all over the country. Aguirre said that they judge each team by following strict scoring rubrics. If a team does particularly well, they have the opportunity to move up a division.

“[Teams] can move up a division so that they remain competitive and [all] divisions remain competitive,” Aguirre said. “At the end of the season, they get recognized if they moved up, [because] it’s an honor to be bumped up a division because that shows that their skill level has grown.”

According to Abdulal, Westview has been moved up two divisions since the beginning of the 2022 Winterguard season. They started at Scholastic AAA, were moved up to Scholastic AA, and are now in Scholastic A. At this tournament, they placed second of four teams. 

“I feel like, overall as a team, they’re very shocked that we placed second at our own tournament, because I feel like a lot of us put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Cuevas said. “We all thought it was kind of a bad run, and so we normally don’t get to see the video of our performance until after the entire competition is over, so all of us are just panicked. We didn’t know how it looked to the audience or to the judges.”

After this tournament, Westview now qualifies for the WGASC Championships, April 23-24. 

“You compete in the first round and if you make the top 12, then they promote you to continue on and perform the next day,” Abdulal said. “Instead of it being in a high school gym, we get to perform in an arena at the UCI Brand Center. That’s our goal this season. Our goal when we were in the [lower] division was to win, win, win. And we did that pretty early, so now I’m hoping they can make it to that Sunday performance. And I think if they keep working hard, it’ll happen.”

Cuevas’ expectations have been exceeded this season, and she said she hopes her team can enjoy the remaining time they have to perform the show. 

“I would say my goal is for them to have a good Winterguard experience and have fun performing this show for the very last time, because they won’t be performing it in competition again,” Cuevas said. “I want them to have no regrets when they perform this and put out the best performance they’re able to have. To me, it doesn’t really matter if we place or not because I’ve had a great season up until now. So I’m pretty proud of how far they have come, especially since we’ve promoted to divisions higher than we were originally put in, so all my goals for them are pretty much met, I just want them to have fun.”