lol what do you mean it’s a thing? It’s called colorguard or flag team. They’re usually out at halftime with the marching band as well, but they also have their own performances and competitions when football season is over. It’s actually really fun and not nearly as easy as it looks.

They really did but if you take one thing from them (and idk if your coach even teaches yall this) but watch your “free hand” notice when they toss both of their hands are up waiting for the flag, all of them did it. My coach was very strict about how we would toss with our right hand, it stayed straight up in the air and the left hand or free hand immediately goes down by your side touching your leg, as soon as the flag comes down then you can move your hands accordingly to grab the flag usually the free hand would be grabbing the pole end and the toss and would be grabbing the flag end. My coach was a former lsu colorguard alumni so she taught us the collegiate stuff. Go watch some videos of collegiate flag teams and notice any of the good ones are going to have their free hand by their side not up in the air. It looks sloppy if you don’t put the free hand down, my coach used to say we looked like a T. rex with our left arm bent up like that. It truly does make the performance look so much cleaner and more professional, and that’s how they’re gonna do it in college. So if your coach isn’t teaching it already maybe bring it up to her (watch a few videos to see what I’m talking about you will notice a huge difference) and it will help y’all so much if y’all are in any competitions. Good luck! I hope you enjoy color guard as much as I did! Don’t blink it goes by so fast!

Mine too. And it’s been like 19 years for me lol I really wish I could just buy a flag just to twirl around in my yard

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it! My school started a team when I was going into 7th grade, so there was no halftime show. Then in 8th grade I was cocaptain with another 8th grader and the high school team didn’t have enough people so they pulled the two of us and one other 8th grader to be on the high school team so that meant we suddenly had to learn marching band stuff, that’s where it’s hard. But they take it slow with you. You will have flag practice where you learn the routines to the music, then you will start having practice with the band (and dancers if y’all have those) and yall will be on the field just marking spots, no music, no flag work, just learning where to stand, where to walk, where to go with counts. Then after a while of that practice will start involving the band actually playing and you actually doing the flag work. The hardest part is just the fact that everyone is moving around all over the place, sometimes walking backwards while either twirling a flag or playing an instrument. But I promise it becomes second nature to you. After a few practices you can do it in your sleep! My suggestion is bring your flag home every day and practice. If you can get a copy of the music practice with that. Also your coach may not talk about this (because none of the people in this video did this, not a single one!) but when you toss with your right hand it should go straight up in the air when you let go of the flag but your left hand or “free hand” should immediately go down by your side touching your leg. As soon as the flag starts to come down then you move your free hand to catch the pole part and your toss hand catches the flag part. My coach was an LSU color guard alumni so she taught us all the collegiate stuff and LSU and a lot of colleges are very strict about free hand, and they will be at competitions, they take points off every time a flag girl/person doesn’t have their free hand down by their side…. Unless it’s a specific type of toss like we did one where we stuck our left arm straight out and tossed the flag around our left arm. That was one exception I can think of. But for just normal regular right hand tosses always watch your free hand otherwise it looks sloppy and you look like a T. rex 😂😂😂 good luck at try outs. When you go to try outs and they teach you the routine go home and practice practice practice! I promise you will love it. Friday nights out on that field were my favorite. The adrenaline was always pumping. We used to get Ina. Circle cross arms and hold our flags and drop them all at once (after we prayed) so that would be “the only drop of the night” and I’m telling you when that last note plays and the halftime show is over you’re filled with so much dopamine, like you will seriously have the time of your life. Plus the colorguard and band will literally become your second family!

They were pretty amazing except for their free hands on their tosses. Not a single person had their hand down by their side like they’re supposed to. The alumni in me cringed cuz I can hear my coach yelling “free hand!!!” Because competitions take off points every single time someone doesn’t put their left hand down by their side during a toss. But literally other than that they were amazing!!! And I love the way their classmates got so excited every time they did a toss!

You’re gonna love it! Make sure y’all’s coach teaches yall about your “free hand” because no one in this video did it. When you toss the flag your right hand should be straight up in the air and your left hand or “free hand” should immediately go down by your side touching your leg, until the flag comes down then you can move your left hand to grab the end of the pole. It looks so much cleaner and more professional, and that’s how they do it on collegiate teams. And if y’all are ever in any competitions they will take off points every time someone doesn’t mind their free hand. My coach used to constantly yell “free hand!!!” Or tell us “Laci fix your free hand you look like a T. rex!” She drilled it into our heads so much that by the time football season started nobody made that mistake 😂😂😂😂

Congrats!!! It’s definitely not as easy as people think it is. At my school we were kind of made fun of, but then when they started seeing us at halftime shows they were like “holy crap!” Not to mention when someone would be like “pshh that’s easy let me see your flag “ and they would pop themselves right in the head , end up with bruises, they would be like “I take it back” lol, plus once you get started it becomes second nature! You get to where you could do the routines with your eyes closed! But like I’ve been telling everyone make sure y’all’s coach teaches yall about your free hand. Don’t do like this team and have both hands in the air when you toss. Toss with your right, keep it straight up in the air, left hand (free hand) immediately comes down to your side touching your leg, when flag comes down you can move your left hand to grab the other end of the pole. Competitions will take off points every time someone doesn’t mind their free hand, plus it just looks sloppy without it. It looks so much cleaner with it. My coach used to say we looked like a T. rex when we did our free hand up like that. Just watch some college color guards and you will see what I mean. Watch what they do with their left hand during most tosses. (If they’re a decent team) and if your coach isn’t teaching you that she should be!

Some dancing too. Mainly just flags but during marching band there’s usually some dancing there’s even times when they put the flags down for a short dance part. But at my school we had a dance team on the field with us so we just did small things here and there. Like leaps and stuff like that

Do it! It’s so much fun. I would give anything to go back to high school and do color guard again! My brother was in the marching band so we were out there every day for practice and every Friday night for games together, but really the whole band and color guard were like a big family! It will be difficult at first because you have to learn the routine to the music, then you go on the field and learn your spots with counts, but without your flag and band won’t have their instruments, then once y’all learn that well enough they add in the instruments and the flags, then you practice slowly part by part of actually having them play the music and y’all doing your routine while also moving all over the field. That’s the hard part is everyone moving around and each other sometimes you’re walking backwards while twirling a flag or they’re walking backwards playing instruments, but by the time football season starts you will know that halftime show like the back of your hand. You will be able to do it with your eyes closed! And the adrenaline of getting out there on the field right before it starts omg… your heart is gonna be racing but when it’s over you’re gonna be so happy cuz you’re gonna have a blast. And then the second half of the game everyone is gonna be in such great spirits cuz yall killed it at the halftime Show!

Agreed with everything but they didn’t put their free hand down during any of their tosses. I didn’t see a single person put their free hand down. Maybe that isn’t a thing everywhere but in college it is, and at my high school and every competition we were in it was very serious. They would take points off anytime someone had their left hand up during a toss rather than flat by their side touching their leg, until the flag came down.

Girl same!!!! Now at halftimes shows our school definitely cheered but if it was just us like in this video we got some claps but nothing like this! We were definitely considered nerdy. We used to have to practice in the hallway to the gym or if the weather was nice we practiced in the courtyard. But we didn’t have any actual normal practice space except for when we had field practice with the band, we had a practice field we all used. But that was only when the whole band/ color guard/ dancers were practicing together