Chronicles of the 2008 Winter Guard Season
SMB thanks the author - SMB board member and photographer extraordinaire Larry Chang - for this account of the 2008 Winter Guard Season!
January 12: Evaluation at Gilroy High School
The Winter Guard Evaluation at Gilroy High was a success! Our students qualified for the AA classification, and Dario is a happy camper. The audience aahh'ed and oohh'ed with fond recognition when the music transitioned from Dr Martin Luther King's speech to Beatle's Hey Jude. Our students worked hard to perfect the theatric drama during the crucial first minute of the performance.
Our students loved the lunch prepared by Jenette Wheelwright and Monica Sakamoto. We heard many compliments for the Barilla penne salad, the fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and the fresh baked cookies. Many students came back for seconds. We noticed that the popular egg salad and the cookies disappeared rather quickly. Thanks again to Jenette and Monica.
During the evening performance, I counted 21 parents, family and friends from Saratoga enjoying the show.
January 19: CCGC at Homestead High School
A sense of nervous excitement floated in the air because this was the first competition for all the winter guard teams. Saratoga High performed courageously. The theatrical performance of the conflict between the police and the peace demonstrators was believable. They danced and twirled four minutes of what will eventually be a five minute show. Most important, our students felt great after the show!
Approximately 17 parents, family and friends were in the gymnasium cheering for our team. The winter guard team members were very excited when they greeted and hugged John Zarco (our beloved music and band guru), Lawrence Choi (2007 marching band drum major), and Abby Conroy (2007 winter guard, 2007 marching band).
January 26: CCGC at Live Oak High School
Saratoga Winter Guard performed beautifully tonight. The piece is titled "A Protest for Peace". It combines a famous speech by Dr. Martin Luther King with the popular Beatles music "Hey Jude". Our students danced, twirled flags, tossed rifles and flipped sabers with heart and courage. There was many "firsts" at tonight's performance:
- The full team of 28 students performed together for the first time. No injuries. No absentees.
- In the bleachers, a record high 28 parents and friends cheered loudly for our students.
- Saratoga Winter Guard earned their first trophy of the young season.
Mr. Boitz rushed back from his San Mateo conductor series to observe our guards practice and perform. He was impressed with the excellent progress made this early in the season. He is looking forward to attend the WGI Regional Competition at San Diego, another first for our Winter Guards.
February 16: CCGC at Leigh High School
The cozy gymnasium at Leigh High School was filled to the brim last night. We were entertained by 25 teams performing an incredible variety of creative and colorful shows. Forty-three Saratoga parents, grandparents, family, friends, marching band alumni, and winter guard alumni cheered loudly for our students. The sea of waving metallic red pom-poms has become a recognized symbol of our support. Our students requested them: "Are we having the red pom-poms next week?" When the red pom-poms went up in the air, two moms from Independence San Jose quipped: "Here comes Saratoga!"
March 1: WGI Regional at San Diego
All of your students are enjoying their San Diego trip immensely. Ask them about the bus ride down to San Diego ... about that creative DVD game that they played for over 2 hours, led by Katherine Green. Rumor has it, Mr. Boitz, Dario Ramos and Alex Conway got so involved that they refused to stop playing!
Jenette Wheelwright and Kathy Fetsch have been tireless, always sitting patiently near our students every minute, making sure everything is taken care of.
Our team performed their best today, practically error free, and with lots of excellent play-acting emotions. Most of the students felt everything clicked. It was their best performance ever. We finished #4 in our pool of 9. We finished #19 out of 36 teams in our Scholastic AA class. Although we missed the cut-off for the finals, the students are very excited. They loved the experience. They will have free time Sunday to watch all the top 15 Scholastic AA teams perform their finals. Team Saratoga will be awesome when they return to compete in the remaining 3 Bay Area events. Watch out CCGC!!
Although the Saratoga fans in the bleachers were small, they were noisy. Up went the red pom-poms as soon as our Saratoga Winter Guard entered the gymnasium. There were 2 grandparents (Lilith's), 12 parents and family (Jenna's, Kevin's, Taylor's, Sayumi's and Nikki's), 2 chaperons, 4 staff members, and 1 drum major (Lawrence Choi). I predict pom-poms of different school colors will show up prevalently in next year's WGI Western Regional.
Our plans for Sunday: Watch the top 15 finalists perform in the morning. Move up our departure time by a couple of hours because traffic between San Diego and LA has been heavy and slow going. Hopefully the bus carrying our students will arrive safely to Saratoga High one hour earlier. Please expect calls from your students 30 minutes before their arrival to SHS.
March 15: WGI Regional at Hayward College
A couple of our guards reflected: "We performed better during the preliminaries than we did in San Diego." "We stepped up and performed even better during the finals!" "We noticed the other teams also got better!!" Thus, our students learned firsthand the realities of a competitive world. To compete successfully, one must continuously improve … again, and again.
After a long, long day that started well before 6:30 am, and ended well after 12:00 midnight..... Team Saratoga had a successful experience. We placed #6 out of 24 teams competing in the Scholastic AA category. There were teams from as far away as Seattle Washington and British Columbia Canada.
Thanks to our parent drivers, most of whom stuck with the team all day. Hope you had the opportunity to bond with parents, guard directors and our students. Thanks to Yi-Ping for coordinating the delicious lunch. She provided extra food based on Kevin's recommendations, enough for both lunch and dinner. Our students devoured every morsel.
There were at least 24 Saratoga fans throughout the day cheering for our students. We met new baby boomer parents from Leigh and Homestead High Schools, and they commented: A Protest for Peace and Hey Jude triggered fond memories for us, yet sent shivers down our spines". They enjoyed our students' show.
March 22: CCGC at Dublin High School
Bruno Tonioli of Dance War would have shouted: "Team Saratoga danced their hearts out! It was their best performance!! You all should vote for Team Saratoga!!! Go Toga!!!!" Yes, the Dublin performance was indeed Saratoga Winter Guard's best show. We earned the highest score to date and our students were awarded the second place silver trophy out of 8 teams in their Scholastic AA class.
Creative Convincing Award goes out to Mr. Boitz, who successfully lobbied the CCGC to move the Saratoga performance up to 5:00 pm so that three of the guards could attend the Saratoga Junior Prom that same Saturday night. Mr. Mike Chen (Dennis and Christy) braved the traffic, arrived at 5:00 pm sharp, and whisked the three students to the Junior Prom in his magic pumpkin carriage.
Thanks to our dedicated directors, Dario, Katherine and Alex, for teaching our students the fine art of Guard Visual Ensemble.
Be sure to ask Patty Buchanan, Shina Lin, John Buchanan and Larry Chang about the local Dublin dive where they shared and enjoyed a vegetable crepe, a Nutella banana crepe, and blended mocha ice coffees. On second thought, don't ask!
Next Saturday, March 29, is a bye. The last performance is on Saturday, April 5, at Independence High School in San Jose. It is the California Color Guard Circuit Finals; therefore, many fine teams will be competing. Be sure to catch your students' final performance of "A Protest for Peace". Don't miss this one!!!
April 5: Rousing Winter Guard Season Finale at CCGC Independence
The Winter Guard season concluded tonight with a spirited and heart-warming celebration in the Choir Room back at the Saratoga High School. The students surprised Dario, Katherine and Alex with a funny but respectful video parodying their unique teaching styles. The six seniors (Dennis Chen, Jessica Ye, Kevin Chen, Laura Lin, Lilith Schneider and Stephanie Cheng) shared their thoughts and related their appreciation for their winter guard experiences. The guard members presented each senior with a special waste basket filled with college necessities such as aspirins for long study sessions, special cures for hangovers, and soft toilet papers for soft touches. The Guard Directors also surprised the seniors with personalized collage of pictures commemorating their past seasons with the Guard and the Marching Band. The hugging and the chatting continued into late evening because no one really wanted the season to end.
Earlier today, Team Saratoga was recognized for two notable accomplishments. We received the third place trophy for the CCGC Finals. The excited Bruno Tonioli of Dance War would have jumped out of his seat and shouted: “Are you on rocket fuel today? Everything clicked! Deliver. Deliver you did!” An even more important recognition Team Saratoga received was the “Most Entertaining Award” out of 55 performances. The straight-shooting Carrie Ann Inaba of Dance War would have said: “Passion and drama! Fire and ice! I feel totally immersed and entertained.”
No one could miss the sea of waving red pom-poms as represented by family, fellow music students, friends and music directors supporting Team Saratoga. From the inaugural short version back on January 12 Gilroy Evaluations to the full blown drama unfolded on April 5 CCGC Finals, Team Saratoga has come a long way, learning and improving on each and every step of the journey. A Protest for Peace is now a fond memory, a growing experience in the development of our students, a piece of history. The team of 47+ pom-pom waving supporters could not have been more proud!
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