As Amador Valley heads into the winter sports season, winterguard is beginning. The members had been previously featured alongside the marching band in the fall where they traveled to competitions around California. Winterguard stems from colorguard; they use the same equipment, but they have some major differences.

“The group is a lot smaller, so you can make better connections with people. I have never had a conversation with a lot of people in fall guard because it’s like forty people” said Ace Yu (‘26)

In winterguard, they practice and perform inside the gymnasium with a tarp designed to fit their show theme in order to mark their drill, or where they move in the show. They also use their own electronic music put on by speakers. The marching band is one big team, but in Amador’s Winterguard, there are two teams: junior varsity (JV) and varsity, similar to other sports at Amador.

Varsity

The varsity team this year is performing to a cover of the song “Dos Oruguitas” originally by Sebastiȧn Yatra with the cover by Lang Lang. This song is from the playlist of the Disney movie Encanto released this year. The main director of this show is David Ziehm, alongside coaches Ryan Madayag, Julia Tikhonov and Karen Eskaros.

 The team captains for varsity this year are Danica Howard(‘23) and Anisha Madiraju(‘24). Along with Stella Dormer(‘23), they were the captains for the 2022 fall marching band season as well. Captains are usually leaders of technique blocks, exemplary members of how to perform the choreography. They also represent the students at a higher level, conversing with the coaches about how students and staff feel.

“Honestly, this season is pretty different than most seasons, not just in terms of roster, but also show theme. It is going to be cool to explore new themes and new styles of dance and expression that maybe we have not done in prior seasons. I think that it’s going to be a lot of growth for Amador’s Winterguard in general,” said Howard.

Junior Varsity

The junior varsity’s show theme this year is first snowfall. The music they are using is “Shelter” by Madeon and Porter Robinson. This is from a six minute anime short film made by A-1 Pictures. Captains are not yet decided but will be after winter break. Members of the team are currently going through the process of applying to become the team leaders. 

“I know people can grow a lot and learn a lot within a really short period of time, and I am just excited to see how much they can use their skill in dance and colorguard,” said Jeannie Han (‘25).

Both teams will be competing in different classes for Winterguard International (WGI) starting January 21st. Championships are on April 1st, 2023 at Independence High School, where the shows will be performing the final version of the season.