Article from the Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia

Winter Guard Group Wants Word To Get Out About Sport

by Charlotte Ferrell Smith
Daily Mail Staff
March 23, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Dressed in flashy costumes, they perform carefully choreographed dance and gymnastic movements to music while twirling colorful flags, rifles or sabers. The Reflections winter guard group is new this year with a rigorous practice schedule and competitions coming up against teams in other states. Team members and their leaders are working hard to make this sport more visible in West Virginia, where only a handful of such groups exist compared to hundreds in Ohio and Kentucky.

"Hopefully, the number of winter guards here will increase so we won't have to go to other states to compete," Jason Meadows said. "We want to get the word out that this is a sport." Meadows and Paul Miller serve as directors and choreographers for Reflections. Weapons choreographer/technician is Maurica Richardson. READ FULL STORY HERE

Article from The Daily Independent Newspaper, Ashland, Kentucky

The Color of Winter

Carrie Stambaugh/The Independent
Ashland January 01, 2009 04:09pm

Winter break is a busy time for booming area Winter Guard teams. The break provides much needed rehearsal time for the various dance troupes to prepare and hone their new routines. At least four area organizations used the holiday break for marathon training and rehearsal sessions, gearing up for a busy performance season.

Ability! Winter Guard, part of the Rivertown Performing Arts League Inc., had a winter camp at the First Church of the Nazarene in Flatwoods while the Raceland-Worthington High School Winter Guard and Expressions Winter Guard, based in Winchester, worked in Raceland this week. The Ashland Winter Guard had its clinic at Crabbe Elementary School.
Winter Guard, a competitive indoor performance art, has gained significant ground throughout the Tri-State in recent years.... Read Full Story Here

West Virginia Winter Guard News

Reflections Winter Guard

A new winter guard has recently formed in West Virginia. Reflections Winter Guard is an independent, competitive performing arts organization made up of young people ranging in ages from 14-22. These performers are current high school students, college students and recent high school graduates. Reflections Winter Guard participates in the Tournament of Bands/Tournament Indoor Association. Reflections Winter Guard is under the direction of Paul Miller and Jason Meadows.

Paul Miller has a combined history of 16 years of color guard and winter guard experience. He has instructed many award winning guards. Paul is also an experienced color guard adjudicator judging many festivals throughout the area. Jason Meadows has been instructing color guards for 15 years in Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Jason is currently the color guard instructor at Sissonville High School. Reflections weapons choreographer and technician is Maurica Richardson. Maurica is currently the Choreographer and Captain of the Marshall University Marching Thunder Color Guard. She has a combined history of 10 years of color guard and winter guard experience. She is a former color guard instructor of several area high schools in West Virginia and Kentucky. She marched with Capital Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, Columbus, Ohio, and Expressions Winter Guard in Kentucky......Read More Here

Spring Valley High School Winter Guard

Spring Valley High School, Huntington, West Virginia, has formed its first winter guard. The guard, under the direction of Dr. Christi J. Frye, will be competing in Class B of the Tri State Circuit of WGI. Over the past 9 years Christi has worked with the SVCG as Caption Head, designing costumes, flags, drill, and routines for competition and sidelines. Her routines are innovative and draw heavily from Drum Corps. Christi recently completed her D.M.A. in Clarinet Performance at the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds degrees from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (B.M. in Music Education), and The Florida State University (M.M. in Clarinet Performance). Additional staff includes Jeanne Chaffin. The guard has thirteen members.

Spring Valley's 2009 show is entitled "Don't Stop Believing". Their competition schedule consists of four performances beginning with East Central High School in St. Leon IN on January 31, 2009. Other competitions include Bryan Station High School, Lexington KY, on February 14, and Butler Traditional High School in Louisville, KY, on March 7. Spring Valley's season will end with Tri State Circuit Championships on March 29, 2009, at Ryle High School in Union, KY. Congratulations Spring Valley on your first winter guard! We wish you much success on the Tri-State Circuit and we hope that many other West Virginia high schools will get involved with winter guard!

Congratulations to Spring Valley High School Winter Guard on your first place wins at Bryan Station High School and Butler Traditional High School!!