Were/are you in colorguard(flags)?

Question

I need tips! on how to toss, and drop spin. And anything else. like which is the best deordorant to use? lol no, seriously tho.

Answer 1

oh, how i do miss guard!! so much fun! anyhoo. really, the best tips you can get for everything is to take every skill slowly at first, step by step, making sure you hit every point and then slowly speed things up. the biggest mistake you can do is rushing things. many a concussion has happened because of not paying attention when practicing. also, don't be afraid of any of the tosses you're going to do. that is the one thing that will hold you back from learning any toss and perfecting it. everything will seem hard at first, and it is, but you will develop all the muscles that you need and strengthen others as you go.

for the tosses, when you start learning them, don't try and catch them right off the bat. just learn the toss up to the release and practice that. then once you are comfortable with that, release the toss, but don't catch it yet. toss, then step out of the way of the flag so you don't get hit. if you do, shake it off and don't let it affect you. fear WILL affect your performance. then once you have the release down, learn the catch. then you do the toss completely. seriously, nothing beats nailing your toss.

you'll start off with single rotations and then move on to single and a halfs and doubles. you achieve those with more height muscles and time. those also depend on what height of flag you're using. 5 footers are usually the smallest you go with tosses. those are the easiest to learn on and toss. 6 footers are the next common. those get harder to toss when you're a shorter person like me. i'm 5'2". you run the risk of hitting it on the ground before releasing.

also, weighing the flags with weights in the flag poles give a much better spin in the toss. it's amazing! the feel is totally different, but good.

for your drop spins, timing and hand placement pretty much sums it up. when you learn them, learn it slowly, practice it slowly. that's the only way you'll gain the muscle memory correctly and keep it there. learning it right the first time prevents any needing to go back and correct old skills. as you gain confidance in the spins, speed them up, but slolwly. practicing to a metronome is the best way. the shape of your flag will determine what kind of drag it will create, thus determining how much muscle you will need to spin the flag. i've found that flag with round end, like a P, seem to create the most drag. the easiest ones are the ones that have the rounded tails.... like a flame with the tip of the flame curving, if you get what i'm saying. most guards have practice flags they use at practices, and most of the time they're the regular rectangle shaped flag. those are a happy medium with wind resistance.

i hope this has helped! being in guard is so much fun!! there will be plenty of late night practices, early morning practices, practices where you're so cold you can't feel the pole, bumps, bruises, calluses, sore muscles and ones you didn't even know you had. but when you perform, and compete, it's all worth it. just the rush you get from being out on the field performing your heart out is amazing!! so i hope you have a great season!!

Answer 2

Have you looked at DCI or WGI sites? They usually have very helpful hints with drumline. You should check it out, just dci.org and wgi.org.

If you google it even, one of my friends did a project on colorguard and she managed to find a site. Like this has various Q&A

http://colorguardcorner.tripod.com/colorguard/id14.html

And this has quite a few pics

http://www.angelfire.com/band/truecolors/tips.html

But again, www.wgi.org or www.dci.org may have stuff.

Haha, the guard at my school last year glittered the bathroom...someone dropped a bottle all over the floor...band director got mad and all the section leaders had to go clean up. And then we found a bra in a stall. Stuff like that makes them seem ditzy, but I think it's just the young grade.

Answer 3

Your idea of color guards and mine are totally different. During my Army career I served in the Honor Guards or the Color Guards, which, of course, tossing and spinning were out of the question--unless it involved the rifles we carried.

Answer 4

ooh im going to be in colorguard next year. ill star this question :D