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| In its first year, the Oakland University Winter Guard club sport took the state championships. |
A mix of dance and equipment, Winter Guard uses flags, rifle and sabres in a competitive setting. The team was formed in October 2013 by senior sociology major Laura Coan, who had participated in a Winter Guard in the past and wanted to be part of a team again at OU. With the help of a few other dedicated friends, she decided to do what it takes to get the new club sport started.
“From there it was a lot of hard work to get things going, finding a reliable group of girls to help me form a team and finding events to perform at to get started,” Coan said.
The first season was an active one. In February the 18 Winter Guard members competed in the Winter Guard International (WGI) regional. They placed second in the preliminary round, which advanced them to the finals later in the day for the regional, where they placed third.
Due to it being their first year, Coan said they opted out of going to finals in Dayton, Ohio, but the success was still a sweet one.
“That was our first big victory,” Coan said.
Next was the Michigan Color Guard Circuit (MCGC) in March. It was a rough start, Coan said, but as the team pulled together it achieved first place three times, bringing the team to second in the state for quite some time. There were seven other teams competing in the same division, and over 160 teams overall.
Then, the week before state championships, OU’s Winter Guard pulled into first place.
At the state championships competition the team was able to bring home the gold, becoming the 2015 MCGC Independent A State Champions on March 28.
“It was amazing for our first year,” Coan said. “I mean, talk about rookie of the year.”
The season is over now, but Coan and her teammates are going home proud and ready to work off of their strong start. Coan said she would love to see even more members come and grow with the team.
To learn more, visit their portal on GrizzOrgs.