2022 WGI Discussion Thread (Non-Face-Mask Edition?)

[Rubisco]

If you liked what you saw from the color guards on the field this marching season, you'll want to see what happens when the guards move indoors this winter. That's when they pull out all the stops. The WGI season doesn't kick off until February 5th, with the San Antonio Regional, but I thought I'd go ahead and create a space to keep the discussion alive. Last season, WGI was completely virtual. Groups that participated submitted videos and received ratings from only 2 judges. Assuming the Omicron variant doesn't squash any plans, this season's contests should be in-person.

The following Texas winter guards have signed up for the WGI World Championships, to be held in Dayton, Ohio on April 7th-9th. Texas will be well-represented.

Scholastic A

Bridgeland HS

Friendswood HS

Katy HS Varsity

Klein Oak HS

McKinney HS

Mount Pleasant HS

Pine Tree HS

Southlake Carroll HS

Westlake HS

Scholastic Open

Coppell HS

Dawson HS

Eastlake HS

James Bowie HS

James E. Taylor HS

Klein Oak HS

Moe and Gene Johnson HS

Scholastic World

The Woodlands HS

Independent A

Glory Independent

Omega

UA

Independent Open

ATX Winterguard

Mirage Performance Ensemble

ORIGINS Open

Redemption Guard

Undaunted

Independent World

Invictus

ORIGINS

Based on what I saw on the marching field, this will be a rebuilding season for many guards. Some have dropped to lower classes this season, and others, if I'm being honest, probably should have dropped to lower classes, but are still competing in the same class as usual. (I'm not going to name those guards.) It's a little disappointing to see previous top-notch World Class groups like Lyman HS and Trumbull HS competing in the A Class, but you do what you gotta do. Also, fewer groups have signed up for the World Championships, which is understandable. That's a trip you save for when you're well-prepared.

Flower Mound is now in the World Class with The Woodlands and Dripping Springs. I think Flower Mound was among the top-ranked Scholastic Open guards nationally in 2020 before the season was canceled, so it's not surprising to see them in the World Class now. Based on what I saw on the marching field, I think they'll be more than fine. Sometimes there is a little bit of an adjustment period when you move up a class, but my feeling is that they'll do well right off the bat.

The Woodlands is one of a very small number of groups that looked significantly better than usual this marching season. They made World Class finals last time they attended, in 2019. If they actually end up going to the World Championships this year, I suspect they'll place in the top half of finals, a finals which will probably contain all of the competing World Class guards -- only 16 of them, I think. The Woodlands has a deep bench of talented guard members this season, but the big question is whether their staff can design a show (with the depth of skills) that can compete with Carmel, Avon, Center Grove, and Tarpon Springs.

James Bowie and Marcus have both dropped into the Open Class, which I think is a perfectly fine place for them this season. Hopefully they can build back up into the World Class soon, along with some of the other top Open Class groups. Eastlake, for example, often seems to do really well in the Open class at the World Championships, but has never quite made that final push into the World Class. I think Coppell and James E. Taylor also received recognition during the virtual season, so they could be ones to watch this season. James E. Taylor in particular was singled out at the end of the season, if I recall correctly.

I thought Seven Lakes was in the Open Class last season, so this may be another reclassification, but I'd have to look that up. I remember that Prosper was a finalist during the virtual season in the A Class, so maybe they'll be in good shape this season. It's hard to tell. Guard programs in general have a habit of instability.

Anyway, I'm celebrating the start of the season by watching my favorite show from the 2021 Virtual Season, Center Grove's The Sound of Rain. It was an elegant little Chopin show. Along with Avon, Center Grove received straight 1s from the judges in virtual finals. This is an earlier video; just imagine an umbrella at the end and some glitter in the air, like Fantasia's 2007 show. This production featured a really great blending of movement with equipment skills -- skills which were often very difficult, requiring great ambidexterity, with the girls spinning the equipment pretty much all over their bodies, tossing and catching in a variety of unique ways, and making use of all levels, from the ground level to up on top of benches. The guard never seemed to stop moving, and everything was executed with such grace and clarity. Loved it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clc6k9p5DNw

[LeanderMomma]

I’m planning/hoping to be at the championships in Dayton to watch in person if at all possible!  

[Rubisco]

Looks like Seven Lakes might have withdrawn from the World Championships, but Friendswood has been added to Scholastic A in their place. Klein Oak is currently on the wait list for the Open class.

Also, it looks like WGI will be hosting a virtual season alongside the regular season, and the virtual contests will accept junior groups (middle school and junior high), like last season. Junior groups aren't able to sign up for in-person WGI events, so that's a nice addition. Competition can be a great motivator.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 12/6/2021 at 3:19 AM, Rubisco said:

Looks like Seven Lakes might have withdrawn from the World Championships, but Friendswood has been added to Scholastic A in their place. Klein Oak is currently on the wait list for the Open class.

Also, it looks like WGI will be hosting a virtual season alongside the regular season, and the virtual contests will accept junior groups (middle school and junior high), like last season. Junior groups aren't able to sign up for in-person WGI events, so that's a nice addition. Competition can be a great motivator.

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I would love to see more Junior groups for sure!  And a virtual competition makes it so much more accessible for these groups as well!

[Rubisco]

I was watching a Little Elm show from a few years back that was very nice and noticed that it had gotten a medal at WGI, so I decided to go through some records on Texas guards that have earned a top 3 placement at the WGI World Championships over the years. I may have missed some, just because some of the guards have strange names, and I might not have recognized all of them.

Gold Medalists

1986 - Odyssey - Independent Open (highest class at the time) - 96.250 (*tie for 1st place*)

2004 - The Woodlands HS - Scholastic Open - 98.350

2007 - Code Black - Independent Open - 98.500

2010 - Little Elm HS - Scholastic A - 97.550

2011 - Oak Ridge HS - Scholastic Open - 94.450

2013 - Identity - Independent Open - 93.450

2014 - Spring HS - Scholastic Open - 96.150

2017 - Klein Oak HS - Scholastic A - 97.640

2018 - Leander HS - Scholastic A - 99.400

Silver Medalists

1994 - Klein Forest HS - Scholastic A - 71.800

2007 - Americas HS - Scholastic A - 97.100

2012 - Dekaney HS - Scholastic A - 96.550

2013 - Code Black - Independent Open - 92.700

            Claudia Taylor Johnson HS - Scholastic Open - 94.950

2015 - Eastlake HS - Scholastic A - 93.975

2018 - CGT Denton - Independent Open - 96.900

            Black Gold A - Independent A - 95.445

Bronze Medalists

1984 - Odyssey - Independent A - 86.200

            Main Event (South San Antonio HS) - Scholastic Class (only scholastic class at the time) - 77.700

1997 - Klein Forest HS - Scholastic Open - 94.200 (*tie for 3rd place*)

2001 - Winston Churchill HS - Scholastic Open - 94.950

2003 - Insignia - Independent A - 94.300

2010 - Code Black - Independent A - 93.550

2011 - White Gold - Independent A - 92.450

2014 - Little Elm HS - Scholastic A - 93.310

            Brenham Independent - Independent A - 94.525

2015 - Marcus HS - Scholastic Open - 93.550

2019 - Dripping Springs HS - Scholastic Open - 96.100

[Rubisco]

Here's a video of that championship show from Odyssey in 1986. West Side Story. The guard was from Arlington, Texas, under the direction of the legendary Karl Lowe, who I think consults with the Blue Devils these days. Lowe's 2008 show with Fantasia (from California) is still the best winter guard show ever -- although I also love the striking originality of Santa Clara Vanguard's 2015 program and Onyx's 2014 show, which seems to me the peak of a show Onyx has done a few times now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtAqc4e4zr0

It's fun to watch dance enter the winter guard activity throughout the 80s. At this point, guard is still rather marching band-ish, with a militaristic attention given to the staging (read: drill). That loosened up throughout the 90s, as movement became freer and more complex. Actually, it's fun to see how ahead of the curve winter guard has been. I feel like it's the testing ground for a lot of innovations that later appear in drum corps and marching band. That's part of what makes the activity interesting. Sometimes, it's like looking into the future.

[Rubisco]

WGI is featuring the Palm Desert Charter Middle School winter guard on their homepage. I figured that meant that the guard is probably very good, and oh my, yes they are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Y5rQvUpH8

Middle school?! Absolutely unbelievable. In early February of 2020, before COVID shut the season down, Palm Desert MS competed at WGI Riverside and won in the Scholastic A class, competing against mostly high school varsity groups. And they scored a 75+ division I score, which placed them in the top 5 scholastic A groups nationally at the time. Frankly, some of the stuff in this show looks Open class. Insanely advanced equipment and movement skills for a middle school group. And even more than that, the show doesn't feel like it was designed as an afterthought, as a mere pedagogical exercise for newbies. There's some real thought and artistry put into the content.

Yeah, definitely the gold standard middle school group.

Palm Desert High School has a Scholastic World guard, which cracked a 70 at that early season regional in February 2020. Gotta wonder if that group is going to shoot up to the top of the world class soon. They've got some reaaaaally talented freshmen entering the program.

[Rubisco]

Ah, they also won WGI San Diego, which is where that video was taken. 83.720 on February 22nd. Big score for February. Over 4 points ahead of the high school group that was in 2nd place. Insane!

[J-Mike16]

  On 12/25/2021 at 10:33 PM, Rubisco said:

WGI is featuring the Palm Desert Charter Middle School winter guard on their homepage. I figured that meant that the guard is probably very good, and oh my, yes they are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Y5rQvUpH8

Middle school?! Absolutely unbelievable. In early February of 2020, before COVID shut the season down, Palm Desert MS competed at WGI Riverside and won in the Scholastic A class, competing against mostly high school varsity groups. And they scored a 75+ division I score, which placed them in the top 5 scholastic A groups nationally at the time. Frankly, some of the stuff in this show looks Open class. Insanely advanced equipment and movement skills for a middle school group. And even more than that, the show doesn't feel like it was designed as an afterthought, as a mere pedagogical exercise for newbies. There's some real thought and artistry put into the content.

Yeah, definitely the gold standard middle school group.

Palm Desert High School has a Scholastic World guard, which cracked a 70 at that early season regional in February 2020. Gotta wonder if that group is going to shoot up to the top of the world class soon. They've got some reaaaaally talented freshmen entering the program.

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They are one of my ALL TIME favorite guards ever! Super impressive for their ages and would destroy a lot of very good programs here in Texas, in my opinion. 

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

I’ve watched that 2020 show.  It’s jaw dropping what level those kids were at!   Definitely amazing! 

[Rubisco]

Texas Color Guard Circuit contests begin tomorrow with shows at Dripping Springs HS and Dawson HS (moved to Turner HS). It looks like both will be streamed on FloMarching along with some WGI contests, which start next weekend with WGI San Antonio.

TECA and NTCA held their first contests last week. I'm not sure they're being streamed. NTCA has a contest at Red Oak HS tomorrow, but it's not listed on Flo.

Not sure I'll be watching this weekend. I usually don't until March-ish. This is sort of the equivalent of having contests in August in the marching band world. I doubt there will be that many complete or clean shows, but it could be interesting to see what the groups are aiming for.

[Rubisco]

Some Independent World show announcements are listed on Flo.

The always excellent UCF Pegasus is doing "Kubrick", which could be cool. We sort of got a Kubrick show from Carmel last season at BOA.

Pride of Cincinnati is doing "Adiós". Music is by Benjamin Clementine. Not familiar with that composer. Should be interesting.

Onyx is doing "Sure on This Shining Night". Poem by James Agee, of course, but I'm wondering what the music will be. I can think of a couple of composers who have set it to music, including Morten Lauridsen and Samuel Barber. I definitely prefer the Barber. Lauridsen's is pretty, but in a more generic way.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SwjQi0Urpuk

[Rubisco]

Some fine shows today, although most were pretty incomplete. Lots of black leggings/leotards/whatever and standing around before the music was over.

The Dripping Springs TCGC show streaming quality on Flo was one of the worst I've ever experienced. I was watching on my phone, and it froze every few seconds. Often, the quality dropped to sub-720p. Also, the oblique angle of the filming was odd. Must have needed to make room for judges or something, but it was pretty awful.

Anyway, no big surprises about who came out on top. I thought Westlake was excellent and was happy to see them in 1st in the National A class at Dripping Springs with a 70-something score, especially since they'll be attending the world championships this year. I was surprised that Cedar Park wasn't closer. I thought their show had better clarity than some of the groups that beat them (and was more complete), and the 66 to 70 score gap seemed a tad too big. I enjoyed the skydiving show from Rouse (I think). Looked like they had some kids behind the set pieces making the sky appear to drop. I thought that was clever. Very reminiscent of Shenendehowa's world class show from a few years back. When the kids got on their stomachs on the floor with their arms and legs in the air like they were skydiving, I just started chuckling. Open class, Johnson definitely impressed. Clear first place for me, too. I thought Bowie had a neat concept and engaging set design -- some playground pieces on a trippy floor -- but the performance excellence wasn't quite there yet, which, considering it's January, isn't at all unexpected. I enjoyed Invictus, and they gave an impressive performance, but like last season, it was maybe a little too Onyx-y. Like, I want to know, what is Invictus' style. What makes them unique.

The Dawson show streaming quality was much better. Bridgeland, like Westlake, was excellent, got 1st place with a 72-something in the National A class, and will be attending the world championships this year. It'll be exciting to see how they do. I'm gonna hold off until I see how these two groups perform at an actual WGI event before I get too excited. TCGC can be kind of... off... in their scoring.

Both groups from The Woodlands were outstanding. Their JV guard won the Scholastic A class with nearly a 70 and should probably be competing in the National A class, seeing as they got the 3rd highest A class score across these two contests. Didn't quite understand the show thematically. Wayfaring Warrior...something like that? They're re-using an old world class floor. I'm wondering if it's missing some set pieces. I'm not sure a whole lot of effort was put into the design, but when your massive JV group is doing all these unexpectedly advanced and well-executed skills, the effect is significant. That sudden opening ensemble flag feature was goosebump-inducing.

The world class show was pure fire. I thought it was very exciting. It's called The Doors Are Open, which seems somewhat poetic considering the weakened Scholastic World field this year. Set pieces are white outlines of doors reminiscent of the pieces used in Pride of Cincinnati's Look Up show. Very colorful, 60s, psychedelic floor with a soundtrack that's a strange, but appealing mishmash of classic rock pieces. No costumes, but they wore headbands, like maybe they're going to be hippy rocker chicks. Actually, it reminded me of Leander's BOA show. Wondering if they've switched to a Vanderkolff design. Anyway, just insane energy, speed, and density of skills. The group rifle toss in the opener with the touch to the ground made me say "wow" out loud, as did that entire sequence in the top left corner with all the on-the-move tosses over the "doors". Like, you think it's over, but then the flags whirl up again and we get an ensemble butt-first rifle toss caught vertically followed immediately by a big ripple toss with the girls all catching the rifles in different positions. Just so exciting. So many tosses! The crowd went wild. The guard ended up with a 66.6, much better than usual for January. I would have scored it juuuust approaching a 70. Some ensemble clarity issues, and it was only like half a show (about 3 minutes), but overall, I was very impressed. And hey, Center Grove just scored a 66.1 in the Indiana circuit, so there may be more wiggle room than expected. Or not. We'll see.

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

I always love to hear your feedback on the shows Rubisco!!!   
 

For TWHS, they definitely still have a lot more to be done, but we were so proud of the performances both guards had.    it was a fantastic first show.  

[packwick]

  On 1/30/2022 at 5:57 AM, Rubisco said:

Bridgeland, like Westlake, was excellent, got 1st place with a 72-something in the National A class, and will be attending the world championships this year.

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i saw them at an early football game last year. recall taking note of how strong the guard was. no big surprise.

  On 1/30/2022 at 5:57 AM, Rubisco said:

Didn't quite understand the show thematically. Wayfaring Warrior...something like that?

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Wayfaring Warrior Soul. it is a lyric from one of the two songs featured: "Sylvan Song" and "Dream of the Archer" both by Heart.

  On 1/30/2022 at 5:57 AM, Rubisco said:

Very colorful, 60s, psychedelic floor with a soundtrack that's a strange, but appealing mishmash of classic rock pieces.

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The Doors. all of it i think. floor reads more expressionist, like a painting by Edvard Munch. not a big deal. a little less gaudy than some bright, lava lamp-looking monstrosity.

[Rubisco]

  On 2/1/2022 at 8:31 AM, packwick said:

The Doors. all of it i think. floor reads more expressionist, like a painting by Edvard Munch. not a big deal. a little less gaudy than some bright, lava lamp-looking monstrosity.

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😂 Yeah, I wasn't sure about at least one of the songs, but I recognized the bigger hits.

WGI San Antonio is this weekend and is being streamed on FloMarching. I'm very much looking forward to seeing expanded versions of several of the shows I saw last weekend at Dripping Springs + new faces like CTJ and Reagan, both of which looked very solid on the field last year.

Avon, Carmel, Northview, and Fishers are competing in the Indiana circuit this weekend. Last season at this time, both Avon and Center Grove scored a 72, with Avon getting a slight edge throughout the season. I'm wondering if Avon and Carmel will maintain or exceed that level this year. They both looked excellent on the marching field, but not quite as strong as in the past. Avon in particular seemed to have a smaller weapon line than usual, but the work was high quality, which will matter more in WGI. Actually, the group I'm really really interested in is Northview. They were one of the recognized groups last season and impressed me with their performance, less so with the design (which coincidentally WAS done by Vanderkolff).

I didn't realize it, but West Broward, Flanagan, and Stoneman Douglas competed in one of the Florida circuits last weekend. West Broward won with a 65.7, which isn't surprising based on what I saw on the marching field. But I am pleasantly surprised to see Flanagan and Stoneman Douglas hanging not too far behind, with a 64.7 and 64.5, respectively. Stoneman Douglas didn't quite look world class to my eyes watching the marching show last year. If you dig into these recent recaps, you'll see that SD was over 10 points lower in the equipment caption than West Broward and Flanagan, and was also 3rd in movement, but managed to keep pace with those two because they were 1st across the board in design analysis and effect. That's very interesting to me. It makes me think the show is well written, has an interesting composition, and they're performing it together, but maybe the skills aren't quite up to snuff.

It's so early though. It'll be interesting to see how this season progresses.

[Rubisco]

A video of UCF Pegasus World's Kubrick is available. Brilliant show. Maybe a little too much Kubrick voiceover, but the performance is undeniable. Got a 74.6 last weekend.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GEl_4G84UmE

Looks like Stoneman Douglas competed in both the virtual FFCC and in-person SFWGA premieres this past weekend. Score was 4 points lower at the virtual one, which seems weird to me, since you can submit a video of your best performance. Tarpon Springs submitted for the virtual event and got a strong 67.1 score.

Glad to see Lyman is still doing well. They've dropped down to the A class, but they scored a 71.720. Pretty much anything over a 70 at the start of the season is a very big score for a high school group, both in the A class and especially in the Open and World classes, where the standards are higher and the shows tend to be less complete.

[Rubisco]

Some solid performances in the Scholastic A class at WGI San Antonio a little bit ago. I was able to catch a decent number of them, but not quite all of them. Definitely Westlake was my favorite. It's called The Life I Love. Soundtrack is a cover of On the Road Again. There are some big black steps approaching the top left corner of the floor and a little black stage at the front right corner. Most of the girls start on the steps, kind of looking a little downtrodden, with their heads hanging low. A guy with a guitar case approaches the stage. Really clean opening sabre toss that the guy catches at the hilt. There's such grace and clarity to the movement as the girls peel off from the steps, and when the equipment is added (sabres to start) they're able to blend that movement well with some challenging equipment skills. Some great shapes and uniformity in the ensemble. Control, that's a word I kept coming back to in my mind. There's a level of control to the execution of the equipment skills that wasn't in the other groups. They rarely lose center on the tosses, and when they catch the equipment, which is the vast majority of the time, the catches are clean. Some awesome full guard rifle work towards the end, with a clean rifle ripple a little bit after that. Show isn't done yet, and still no costumes, but Westlake is going to have a very good season.

[Rubisco]

Absolutely loved Cedar Ridge's set design, and they gave a strong performance as well. The show is called The Ruckus. It's a recreation of sorts of the classic detention movie, The Breakfast Club, complete with Don't You by Simple Minds + lockers and desks. The costumes have an 80s look, and everyone looks different, which is something I appreciate. Great rifle toss in front of the desks to a kneeling position with a lunge. Some pretty great tosses in general, like the ones over the horizontal poles of the flags. Not perfect in the catches yet, but they'll get there, and it was a lot cleaner than most of what I saw today. They are doing a really great job maintaining their characters throughout the show, throwing spit balls and whatnot as they sit at the desks. I love how the show just sort of pauses when the principal's voiceover comes in, "What was that ruckus?!" Just loads of fun and loads of energy.

A similar design I also loved was Winston Churchill's. It was another school setting. Something about growing up with an early naughts emo-ish rock soundtrack. They were all sitting at cafeteria tables near the front right corner. Black and white pencil doodles on the floor with a super colorful graffiti background. Just really eye popping and balanced from a compositional perspective. Great energy from the performers, and speed on the tosses, but there were quite a few drops unfortunately. They weren't alone in that regard!

[Rubisco]

Results from WGI San Antonio have been posted! The prelims performances = the finals performances due to weather concerns.

Westlake in 1st with a 75.95, just over a point ahead of Friendswood. I thought Friendswood had a very elegantly designed show. I think it was called The Girl with the Weight of the World in Her Hand. There was a dark blue circular patch in the middle of the floor, kind of like a little lake, with some chairs set around the perimeter. There was one guard girl wearing white in the center (doing the most beautifully fluid movement) and the rest were in black, I think, and at first I thought the production might be a Swan Lake show, or something similar. I was impressed by what the guard was attempting -- very challenging stuff -- but I also thought it was a little bit of a rough run for them. Another thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the focus on the one, obviously best guard girl. I wanted to see the rest of the (very talented) guard rise closer to her level. But I think Friendswood was very, very smart to work it into the theme.

Actually, I'd say that's a blind spot in WGI for me. I call it pedagogical depth. I want to see how deeply you have trained your group. Is it just one soloist doing all the hardest things? Some WGI judges don't seem to mind that as much as I do. I recall we talked about Lyman 2019 on this forum at the start of the marching season. LeanderMomma mentioned how she didn't like how there was a group of girls in that show that never picked up a single piece of equipment and just danced the entire time. I think that's a valid complaint.

My personal 2nd place, Cedar Ridge, ended up a close 4th. A couple of the judges had them in 1st. The movement judge kind of tanked them. Hey, at least they know what to work on!

We didn't get CTJ at this contest in the Open class -- they apparently pulled out -- but the other Johnson was there, and they won! I'm happy for them. I love the show. The King of the World. I just think "United Nations" when I see the setup. The globe floor with the tall, skinny poles sticking up, which remind me of flag poles. Actually, they appear to be the latitude and longitude lines of the globe curving up off the ground and into the air. Very cool!

Over at the TCGC contest, Katy Varsity edged out Oak Ridge in the National A class, with both scoring 69-somethings, with Cy-Falls not far behind with a 68. But Clear Brook in the "regular" non-National A class outscored all of them with a 72.94. So yeah, again, probably should be competing with the Nationals-ready groups.

Also, I'm not sure I've ever seen a score over 100 before. McCullough JH Varsity, one of two middle school groups last season to earn the Master designation in WGI, got a 109.4125 in the Cadet class, well over 30 points higher than 2nd place. Apparently, they've started to give a 25% bonus to Cadet groups. (Actual score x 1.25.) Cadet class is scored using the Regional A sheet, which is a high school sheet, so the scores have historically been pretty low in the Cadet class. McCullough's actual score was just below a 90, which is ridiculous for a February 5th show. They'll need to be judged on the regular A sheet, like Palm Desert MS, a group that frankly looks like they could be judged on the Open sheet. These middle school groups, I swear...

[Rubisco]

Speaking of reclassification, I stumbled on this video while searching for TCGC videos. Dale Powers and Karl Lowe of the WGI Steering Committee discuss the behind the scenes process of reclassifying guards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95tF5BNLTmE

[LeanderMomma]

  On 2/6/2022 at 4:20 AM, Rubisco said:

I want to see how deeply you have trained your group. Is it just one soloist doing all the hardest things? Some WGI judges don't seem to mind that as much as I do. I recall we talked about Lyman 2019 on this forum at the start of the marching season. LeanderMomma mentioned how she didn't like how there was a group of girls in that show that never picked up a single piece of equipment and just danced the entire time. I think that's a valid complaint.

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Yep that’s exactly the conversation I was remembering when reading what you said about Friendswood focusing on one elite performer. I get it, I really do, but it’s not what I want to see in this case. It’s a group effort and I want to see everyone shine!  🥰

 

  On 2/6/2022 at 4:20 AM, Rubisco said:

We didn't get CTJ at this contest in the Open class -- they apparently pulled out -- but the other Johnson was there, and they won!

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I was definitely disappointed that CTJ wasn’t there, but WOW this new Johnson high school just keeps getting better and better. I think they’ll be World Class in no time. What are they feeding these kids in Buda, Texas?!

[Rubisco]

  On 2/6/2022 at 1:01 PM, LeanderMomma said:

Yep that’s exactly the conversation I was remembering when reading what you said about Friendswood focusing on one elite performer. I get it, I really do, but it’s not what I want to see in this case. It’s a group effort and I want to see everyone shine! 🥰

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I should clarify it wasn't as extreme as having girls not do any equipment like Lyman's 2019 production. The other members were still very good and deserving of a top placement. It's just that when you dress the one girl differently and give her the focus, I'm gonna be looking at that member a lot and comparing them to everyone else.

[J-Mike16]

  On 2/6/2022 at 1:01 PM, LeanderMomma said:

 I was definitely disappointed that CTJ wasn’t there, but WOW this new Johnson high school just keeps getting better and better. I think they’ll be World Class in no time. What are they feeding these kids in Buda, Texas?!

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There is just some things we will never know about. 🤣

[LeanderMomma]

  On 2/6/2022 at 7:57 PM, Rubisco said:

I should clarify it wasn't as extreme as having girls not do any equipment like Lyman's 2019 production. The other members were still very good and deserving of a top placement. It's just that when you dress the one girl differently and give her the focus, I'm gonna be looking at that member a lot and comparing them to everyone else.

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I’m looking forward to seeing them all in person at WGI Austin!  Although I didn’t look to see if Friendswood is coming. I must admit that they are absolutely one of my favorite guards from the past few years!  
 

Edit: I am happy to see that they ARE listed for attendance at WGI Austin. Now if we can just get that Jr High guard from The Woodlands to come!