The Taylor High School Color Guard returned
from the Marching Auxiliaries National Championships in Fort Worth last weekend
as the National Team Flag Champions. The local guard competed against eighteen
other finalists to win the first place trophy.
“It was a blasty blast,” said color guard
coach, Marcie Svatek. “This is the first time that Taylor High School has
received such an award for their color guard. The girls have worked really hard
to make this a winning team.”
Just before stepping in front of the judges for
what would be the top performance of the entire competition, Svatek said nerves
suddenly took over during the last few minutes of practice in the warm-up room.
“It was a hot mess,” said Svatek. “But then it was like, ok, we
are going to count and we are going to yell the count and we did and it all just
came together.”
Team members say they were most nervous about a part of the show
involving tossing the flags in the air and catching them.
“What if we drop it, and what if the judges look at us,” Yaret
Zamora said she kept thinking before the performance. “Then I saw everybody
caught their flag and I almost started crying in the middle of performing.
After we got off I was shaking and the girls were like, ‘Yaret, did you mess
up? Did you hurt yourself?’ And I was like, ‘No, we caught the flag, and I’m so
proud of y’all’.”
Rachel Stabeno said it didn’t take long to realize just how well
they did during the performance.
“As soon as we were done I was asking everyone, ‘Did you mess
up? Did you mess up?’ And then Yaret was crying and I thought something was
wrong and I started crying. But we all knew we did really well. We were really
happy and jumping and Mrs. Svatek was so proud of us.”
“We were ecstatic,” said Emma Chapman. “We knew we did good.
Yaret started crying and Rachel started crying. Everyone was crying and we knew
we aced it.”
Svatek said knowing they had done their best was what mattered
most.
“When we went to the performance it was just pretty and perfect
and when we got through everyone knew they did so well,” she said. “They were
so happy that some of them cried because it was so fantastic. At that point the
results didn’t matter. They knew they
did the best that they could do and that’s all that mattered.”
When it came time for results to be announced, the nerves came
back, but the team was hopeful.
“When they started announcing, I was so nervous,” said Jennifer
Lopez. “They called out 6th place, and it wasn’t ours. I thought if
they didn’t call us by third place, we were not going to be in it. Then they
said first was Taylor High School. We were the quietest group, and out of
nowhere we screamed and were so happy.”
“There was immediate screeching,” said Stabeno. “I was the one
that went up and accepted the trophy and as I was coming back everyone was
hitting the floor with their hands, hitting each other with their hands because
they were so excited.”
The decision made during the hot mess to focus on counting is
what team members believe put them over the top. In addition to winning the
first place trophy, the Taylor Color Guard also received a perfect score on
precision.
Aside from competitions, the Taylor Color Guard had some time to
experience downtown Fort Worth and celebrate their big win together.
“It was more of a bonding kind of thing for everyone,” said
Svatek. “We became even more of a team
than we already were.”
