After five years as Color Guard instructor, Tony Crapo has stepped down, and the group is now instructed by Joey Kidd.

Crapo announced at the Marching Band Kickoff during the summer that he had stepped back from teaching the guard because his second job as a journalist was getting too time consuming.

Kidd, a tall blond with a crew cut, pierced ears and a five o’clock shadow from being “too busy to shave,” left his job at River Ridge High School in Georgia to teach the Color Guard. He moved out to Roseville, three hours from Saratoga. Kidd began to teach the Color Guard during band camp, which was held from Aug. 4-15.

At the end of the first day of band camp, Kidd expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome he received.

“I didn’t really feel lonely here, even though I moved,” he said. “They were just so friendly and nice to me that I felt that I was already home.”

Color Guard members had a strong first impression. Senior co-captain Vicky Fontanilla said that she feels that she can ask him just about anything.

"[Kidd] understands that people can't get something perfectly on the first try," she said.

Fontanilla added that Kidd brings new ideas and creativity to the team such as additional tricks with the flag.

Although Kidd has transitioned smoothly, working with the music program took some getting used to. First of all, the music program at Saratoga is much bigger than the one at his old high school.

In addition, the way that guards from the different parts of the country spin their flags and other equipment differ. For example, tosses thrown at a 45-degree angle as well as hand changes are popular on the East Coast, but not usually put into place on the West Coast.

"I love [45 tosses] a lot," said sophomore Brittany Sample, "although I did have to get used to hitting myself on the head when I first learned them."

The guard is improving rapidly. He continuously praises members on how much they have improved over the course of four weeks.

“I’ve been taking videos of them and sending them to my friends and they respond back, ‘They look like that before their first football game?’” Kidd said.

Along with coaching the Color Guard team, Kidd is also a part of Drum Corps Associates, a program that “provides thousands of people musical education and performance opportunities throughout the United States and internationally.” During the second week of school, Kidd flew back east to perform in the Drum Corps Associates Finals.

Kidd has hopeful predictions for this year’s Color Guard performance, which is called Sacred Geometry, a routine in which the 38 members of the guard dance and spin rifles and flags to many reimagined works of Bach.

"I can't wait to see how these guys do on their first performance," Kidd says. "They're so good already, and they're getting even better still.”