Nutley Winter Guard Kickstarts Their New Season

After a successful marching band season, the NHS winter guard is ready to jump right into its new indoor show. 

Winter guard is generally the indoor sport and performance art, emanating from military ceremonies. Winter and color guards utilize flags, rifles, dance, and sabers to carry out their performances. It was first founded on May 15th, 1977, by Winter Guard International. Today, competitive winter guards can be found all the way from elementary schools to colleges, as well as devoted independent groups. 

Now that Nutley’s winter season has once again started up, the NHS winter guard group has returned to their Monday, Thursday, and Saturday practices every week. This year, the group has rounded up a total of eighteen participants, nine of those members being new. 

Olivia Rodriguez, a two-season captain, disclosed she strives to make new additions to the team feel as comfortable with a flag in their hands as possible. “I feel like [the main setback] with newbies is their mental block.” Both captains have made it their mission to make the flag come naturally to them, as this is what is going to sell the show as a whole. 

“I think that the newbies are doing really great so far and putting in a lot of effort,” said Abigail Puleo, also a two-season captain. “I can’t wait for when they get the confidence and push past those mental blocks they’re carrying with them.” 

After recent meetings, it was revealed that this year’s show will be about the struggles of PTSD that some veterans face after returning home. Winter guards are not afraid to take on controversial issues, like PTSD, because selecting these topics helps to keep people talking about issues that require sensitivity and understanding. 

“In the past, shows on this topic have been performed,” said Puleo, “but they’re usually a hit or miss. Because a lot of the time coaches will have it at the bottom of their list and say ‘Well, I didn't like any other ideas so I’ll go with this one.’”

With this in mind, Kimberly Furtado, NHS winter guard’s head director and coach, strives to make this show as respectful as possible. “The last thing we mean to do is offend anyone with this show.,” said Furtado, a NHS alumni. “I want it to come across as we actually care rather than it being seen as a last-minute idea. To do this I’m really putting in the work to avoid any offensive or stereotypical themes by doing some research.” Furthermore, Furtado explained that she planned to have a veteran guest speaker from the YWCA, Lucy Del Guido, to talk about her struggles after coming back from her time served in the military. 

During their meetings after school, Rodriguez explained her thoughts on the show. “Honestly, my first thought was blind excitement,” she said enthusiastically. That's because, in our last show, “I loved performing the ballad, which was meant to be emotional and thought-inducing.” Rodriguez has always been a big performer. She jumps around with graceful intent and stretches her smile wide to give her audience the most she can. 

Although the show remains unnamed for now, coaches have already begun to flesh out the core of the show: the choreography. Abigail Puleo, also a two-season captain, says she’s pleased with what they’ve accomplished so far. “At first I was a little hesitant about performing a slow-beat song, but now that I’ve had time to think about the different things we could do with the show, I'm really excited about it.”

This season, students have a plethora of locations they will travel to join in competitions, along with a trip to Philadelphia for this season’s regional competition. During their competitions, they are expected to cleanly set up their floor, perform, and clean up in the same orderly fashion as setting up. They are judged on a point-based system just as any run-of-the-mill physical activity would be during its competitive season. 

This team, although only having a few practices under their belt, has already shown remarkable progress in the making of this show. “It’s not much yet, but I can already see so much promise with what these kids have shown me they can do,” said Furtado. Coaches and captains alike have shown their anticipation to finally knock the final nail into the foundation of the show.