Freshman excels in first year of Winter Guard

Set in the middle of the floor, freshman Austin Shi — the only male now on the winter guard team — takes a deep breath and starts counting. Five, six, five-six-seven-dip. He then tosses his rifle in the air as the music goes silent for this impact moment. The rifle spins six times in the air and heads back to Shi, who catches it with flair.

Although this year has been Shi’s first year in winter guard, he has been encouraged to pursue higher levels of the activity. In addition to the high school’s guard, he also auditioned in late December and January for the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets and the Concord Blue Devils, two of the top guard teams in the world.

He practiced hard with members in the guard as well as some outside Vanguard members, husband and wife team Todd and Kristi Ryan. Todd Ryan, who Shi had met in middle school, is the main instructor for movement, such as dance, for the Blue Devils while Kristi Ryan has dedicated seven years to Santa Clara Vanguard.

“I asked [Todd Ryan] if he had any tips and he decided to train me,” Shi said. “I would be working with him and his wife for three hours every single Sunday and we would just do a bunch of movement.”

Shi eventually ended up receiving a callback after a few days for both Blue Devils and Vanguard Cadets. He decided to go with the Vanguard Cadets instead, as he received his admittance there before the Blue Devils.

Shi said his friends were a main encouragement to pursue guard.

“A lot of my friends [ask how guard is] and they are sincere in asking.” Shi said. “So I would start talking about it and they would be genuinely interested. Not to the point that they would want to join, but they care about it.”

Shi encourages more boys to look at guard for themselves and to be comfortable with who they are, as he was when he joined the 28-member group.

While guard members have to maintain uniformity, they are able to put their own personality in every motion, allowing him, personally, to be more of an individual.

This year’s winter guard production is entitled “Star Gazing,” featuring a more sophisticated version of the classic nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” While this might raise a few eyebrows at first, Shi says that the way the show has been put together is very mature.

“As our instructor likes to call it, [our show is] a step in a new direction for the entire colorguard program,” Shi said. ”You would think that a lullaby would bore people, but because the tempo is really fast, we’re spinning [very fast].”

The winter guard will be competing at Oak Grove High school in San Jose on March 14.