KristenEmmaMahler

Dr.Presnell
UWRT1104008
22September2015
AlternativeLiteracyNarrative
One thing that I pride on myself is my high level of skill in color guard. Give me a flag and
some choreography, and I will know how to do every move within averyshortamountoftime.
That being said, it took me acoupleyearstotrulylearnhowtospinproperly,andevenlongerto
learn ways to remember set pieces of work. Even though I started my sophomore year of high
school, it took me until the winter of my senior year to really excel at my passion. That is
becauseIstruggledbothphysically,mentally,andsociallyinthesportuntilmyjunioryear.

I started doing color guard in the stickyheatofthesummermysophomoreyear,because

I was too lazy and anxious to start marching myfreshmanyear. Theshowwasaboutagirl who
wakes up in purgatory and reflects on her life, only to end up going to heaven. The most
memorable music phrase in the entire piece was this low note repeated four times by the horn
line, followed by the musical equivalent of a check mark twice, ending with the first note
repeated four times again. I was an alternate, meaning I was technically marching, but I hid
behind props half the time and I was treated like an imbecile. The coach that year was really
mean, and would constantly put down the other alternate andme. Sincesheonlyever criticized
the other alternate and me without ever showing us how we could get better, I could not do a
simple drop spin to save my life. I could not remember any marching drill sets, which lead to
some quite painful encounters with the sousaphone line. I did not do winter guard that year,

however, because even though I asked the other girls on the team where auditions were being
held, they would always change thesubject. CoxMillhighschooldidnothavetheirownwinter
guard at that point, so three girls spun with North West high school, a highly more advanced
group who whipped the students who went intoshape. Thegirlsdidnotwantmetoauditionfor
winterguard,becausetheyknewIwouldntmakeit.

The wretched first coach was fired midway through my first marching season, and was

replaced with a woman who I willdubMrs.B. Mrs.B wasthesameheightasthefirstgirl,they

had the same North Carolina accent, and were from the same town. What Mrs. B had that the
otherdidntwaspatience. Shewassokindanddriven,andwouldbendbackwardstohelpany of
the girls who was having an issue with the choreography. She would explain in detail what
muscles helped what movement, what parts of the equipment can help a certain toss, and how
different tosses should be done correctly. She helped me more than any other person in my
entirehighschoolcareer,evenwhenitcametoacademics.

I decided to buy an old DVD of basic flag techniques andmyownpracticepole andsilk

so I could teach myself how to spin properly before my junior year. The pole was cheap and
unweighted, and the silk was black, so it was never able to be used for anything other than
practice. The DVDs I got were horrid quality and the spinning techniques looked like it came
straight out of the nineties. I worked hard every day on my own with the outdated basics the
discs taught. I also wenttoeverycompetitionmythenboyfriendwasdoing,sincewinterguards
were also competing at the same events. I studied every group, every trick I sawamemberdo,
and I remembered them. I wanted to be stronger for the next year, and by the time auditions
came for junior year marching band, I was complimented onmygoodtechniqueandstrength. I

wasnt on rifle line,norwas Iondanceline,butIwasontheteamfully,whichwasgoodenough

for me. Since I had Mrs. B to help me, I ended up getting finally a little good at what Ifought
toothandnailtobeacceptedin.
By thetimewinterguardstartedthatyear,Mrs.BhadcreatedCoxMillsveryownwinter guard.
I was just as good as the other girls on the team that season. Ispunwiththemthatwinter,andI
loved it more than I loved marching band. Iwasonagroupdancelineoffourgirlsforatimein
this show, but I gave it up when they said oneperson hadtoquitdueto stagingproblemsaftera
boy left the program. I cried, and Mrs. B and her husband saw, which was one of the most
embarrassing moments of that season for me. The atmosphere at winter competitions was
different than at band ones. There were only percussion members and guard people, so we all
had a lot more understanding of what was going on. The competitions were inside, rather than
out onthestadiumsinthefall. Thefoodwaseven alittledifferent. Therewerefunnelcakesand
deep fried Oreos, but also burgers and hot dogs like in marching season. Therewere boothsfor
custom t shirts that had guard and drumming related jokes on them. You could turn around at
any momentandfindsomeonewhosawyourshowandthey would squealandsayOhmygosh,
youguysspunsowell.Ifinallyfeltathome.

By senior year, I gotonriflelineformarchingseason. Iwasexceeding mostofthe other

girls when it came to technique and strength, and I was becoming happier and happier as the
practices progressed. The show was Do You Wanna Build a with music from Disneys
Frozen
. Even thoughIwasgettinghappier,Istartedhatingthatmusicbyabouthalfwaythrough
the season. MymotherandIgrewclosertoMrs.B,andweallstartedsewingshowflagsforthat
season with some of the other mothers. I was not onSabreline,sadly. Mrs.Bandherhusband

saidoutrightthatgroupneededmorepeopleonrifleduringanallweaponsection,buttheydidnt
want mediocre rifle work, sotheyaddedagirlIllcallMs.Sandmeontothatline. ThismeantI
spun rifle twice during that show, and since the second rifle section didnt begin exactly where
the first section ended, Ms. S and I had to spin two different rifles in the same performance.
Unlike Ms. S, I understood why I had to spin rifle, so I wasnt bitter. It just made me want to
provemyselfmorewhenwintercame.
By winter, I had made sabre line. Sadly, nobody else on sabre line practiced, so Mrs. B had to
make it a watered down rifle line instead. The show was a murder mystery about being
reincarnated and trying to find out who killed whom. The killer was revealed at the very end,
and I got the part of the murderer. Theshowendedwithmeslammingadoorandeveryoneelse
falling to the floor. I loved finally doing a dark show correctly. It was the perfect end to my
final year as a high school student and abeautifulwaytosaygoodbyetothescholasticdivision
ofcompetition.

My road was very rocky, but my love and passion for it outweighed the struggles I had

constantly faced. Though I was put through tough situations, I had finally gotten good at the
sportIhadcometolove.