Winter guards earn medals in east Bradenton

The Lakewood Ranch and Braden River high school winter guards were two weeks shy of performing at the Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit State Championships last year when the competition was canceled due to COVID-19.

Both schools’ teams were expecting to receive medals.

“It got snatched away,” said Ricardo Robinson-Shinall, the winter guard director at Braden River High School. 

Coming into this year, both schools were excited to get back into competition, especially with all the changes to the school year due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

The hard work of students on the winter guards paid off when Lakewood Ranch High School’s winter guard placed third in its division, Braden River High’s junior varsity team placed fourth in its division and Braden River’s varsity guard placed sixth in its division at the FFCC state championships March 27 in Daytona.

“It’s significant we were able to achieve what we did because I still wanted to be smart about COVID-19 protocols,” said Ron Lambert, the winter guard director at Lakewood Ranch High. “We only rehearsed twice per week for two hours each time, and we cut our fees in half for what a typical winter guard season would be. For a lot less money and time, we were able to get a great result because the kids worked hard and were efficient. I also have a great staff.”

Lambert worked with the guard’s staff — Ashley DiMichiel, Jenny Kleer, Marina Mainella and Kenzie Beck — to prepare this year’s winter guard team for its Secret Agent MMB (Mustang Marching Band) routine.

The routine was a “whodunit?” with guard members trying to find a briefcase with hidden gems and money, and the secret agent was revealed at the end, Lambert said.

“Subject matter of winter guard shows tend to be serious, heavy and certainly artistic,” Lambert said. “Up to this point, we’ve done those types of shows. But since 2020 was such a dark year, I wanted to program something fun and uplifting.”

This year’s competitions were a mixture of virtual and in-person due to the pandemic, and both Lambert and Robinson-Shinall were grateful to have a competitive season knowing it might not have happened.

“The thing I enjoyed most about this season is the fact the kids actually got to go through the process of learning routines and all that stuff like a normal year,” Robinson-Shinall said. “It was good to see the kids being normal, especially after last year when we were in the middle of our season, and it got cut off from us.”

Braden River High School’s JV winter guard team had the opportunity to virtually compete in the Winter Guard International semi finals April 10-11.

Normally, only the varsity team enters the Winter Guard International competitions due to costs, but because the competition is virtual this year, Robinson-Shinall decided to have the JV team enter as well.

At the FFCC state championship, the JV team performed a show titled “Little Sparrow” to Dolly Parton’s “Little Sparrow” while the varsity team produced a show called “My Mind” about a woman coming home to find her husband sleeping but whispering another woman’s name.

“Inspiration for the routines comes from a lot of different places,” Robinson-Shinall said. “Usually it’s an idea or theme that I have and I go and find music to fit that or I connect with a piece of music and develop a theme or idea from the music.”