Leading a high school team may be difficult, but junior Biehvana Castellon wakes up at 6 a.m. prepared to lead the San Leandro High Color Guard team to victory in their next competition. As captain, she meets with them at school early in the morning to catch their bus, encouraged to rank higher than they’ve ever been. 

Many people don’t realize the difficulty of color guard as various students avoid recognizing its importance in precision and competitive aspects. Over the years the team has improved tremendously regarding competitions, as they have ranked higher with the support of the captains and coaches. Junior Keira King, who is currently in her third year of participating in color guard, believes the welcoming environment of the team has aided her and the team to do proficiently over the course of years. 

“I joined color guard because it’s a really good community and it’s accepting of everyone, and while it can be challenging, the people involved always make it easier for you to pick things up without making you feel bad,” said King. 

A variety of high school teams lack a supporting environment, but the team values mistakes as a crucial factor for learning and improvement. Due to the difficulty of color guard, the environment and support of team captains makes members feel more accepted despite their errors encouraging them to do better for competitions. 

“I simply stepped up and took responsibility without being told,” said Castellon. “Like staying after practice with other members, helping clean up equipment, debriefing with coaches, helping catch up [or] teach other people and such.”

Captain Castellon had no need to attend an interview to receive her position as an official team captain as she was prepared for the leadership position and willing to help her team learn and improve. 

“Not to mention we more than doubled in the size of our team in a year, and a guard show looks super good with that many people synchronized,” said Castellon. “We all bond over this sport and share that thirst for victory, so this year our instructor Doug, helped us get into award-worthy shape.”

Castellon has been on the team for three years, where she gradually saw several students pursuing, growing and representing their hard work throughout the season. Despite the team not doing well its fall season, it gained numerous experiences by attending competitions as well as practices and are motivated to win. 

“The competition we did best on was 100% the Central Valley Band Review that took place last Saturday, November 8th,” said Castellon. “ It was our best run we have ever done which was super clean with no drops, and I had the absolute honor of accepting two trophies for San Leandro’s name.”

While the team has competed often, the Central Valley Review competition yielded major results: a 4th place trophy for Color Guard and a 2nd place trophy for Marching Band. This victory was a hard-won reward, putting their countless failed runs, quiet rides back home, and disappointment during practices into perspective. 

“I joined at the end of winter season in my freshman year, and the guard was still very small and at a beginner level,” said King. “We didn’t place well in competitions and needed a lot of work done.”

During King’s first year of color guard she noticed the team wasn’t ranking well in competitions and required more synchronism. Starting from there, the team gradually progressed with their performances mastering their moves during practices.

“When there is an upcoming competition, it doesn’t get more difficult, just more of a test,” said Castellon. “This is the week to show you can prove yourself, prove you deserve to be out there that weekend, and to treat every single run like the actual performance.”