Winter guard is an indoor competitive sport where performers combine flags, rifles, sabres and dance to perform choreographed routines to music. Here at Lake Shore, our winter guard team just wrapped up their fourth season.
This year, the Lake Shore Winter Guard performed a routine titled No Going Back. It was to the song “Dark Horse” by Sleeping at Last. In contrast to some past shows, like Jazzercise and Hearts in Flight, No Going Back featured a dark aesthetic and ominous story.
Senior winter guard captain Abby Smith said, “I think that this year our winter guard show was one of the most innovative winter shows we’ve done thus far, because I think we had a lot of very strong components within the show. I think the flag feature at the end and some of our flag features throughout it was the most in sync we’ve ever been on this team.”
“I really loved the idea of creating a show that tells a story. Being able to create characters and take the audience on a journey was one of my biggest goals for this season,” said Lake Shore Winter Guard coach Mia Chassar.
Putting together a winter guard show is no easy task; it involves creating a story, choreographing, picking out costumes and props, and most importantly, learning and perfecting the whole show. The Lake Shore Winter Guard had three rehearsals weekly since they began their season in November, where they practiced movement, flag and rifle work and dance choreography tirelessly to create a captivating show.
Since its beginning, the Lake Shore Winter Guard has competed through the Michigan Color Guard Circuit (MCGC). This year, they competed in 6 competitions through MCGC at different locations throughout the state of Michigan, including Belding High School, Novi High School, Belleville High School, Stoney Creek High School, Troy Athens High School, and Lake Orion High School. At these competitions, they earned some of the highest scores they’ve ever gotten.
Smith says, “We have not scored this high ever. We have improved a lot technically as a group, and we’ve seen a lot of the younger team members step up and start caring about things like being technical and caring about knowing the routine, which is why we’re starting to score higher, which is great for them all.”
In addition to these competitions, the team also competed at the MCGC state championships at Michigan State University, where they got 6th place in their division and earned a score of 66.36. The night before championships, the team stayed at a hotel in East Lansing, where they took part in some fun team bonding end-of-the-season activities.
Freshman Zoe Camden said, “I loved going to the hotel for championships. It was super fun, and I made a bunch of memories.”
Shortly following the end of their long, successful winter guard season, the Lake Shore guard will kick off the 2026 color guard season with spin clinics on May 18th and 19th, and auditions on May 20th, 4:30-6:30 pm.
