High School Color Guard Instruction: How to Make Your Ensemble Disciplined

As a former Color Guard instructor I found that the best way to start the season was to gain respect through discipline. A Color Guard Ensemble is much like a pyramid. You start with a base which is wide and supports the ascending layers. In order to begin to build your pyramid you must first have a base, that base being discipline.

Discipline is not an easy thing for an "out of control" guard to accept. If you by chance walked into a situation where the color guard was not properly disciplined than you definitely have your work cut out for you. The first thing you need to establish is the fact that you are their instructor, not their friend. You are there to work and teach, not talk to them about their boyfriends/girlfriends, myspace pages or gossip. You must differentiate yourself from them and show them that you are the judge, jury and executioner, so to speak..

Let them know how practices will be run, and be consistent in the fact that you run them that way every single practice. If for example practice is to start at 4 p.m. make sure that they know that they are to be in their spot, with equipment, fully dressed and in the first stretch position at 4 p.m., not walking through the door laughing, taking up precious practice time. You must be consistent with them both as a group and individually. You cannot treat the captain as though he or she has more give than everyone else. Being consistent is very, very important when maintaining discipline as a unit.

There's nothing like good, old fashioned punishment to keep a group in line. You don't want to go over-board and hurt anyone, but you do want them to learn from their mistakes. If for example someone is talking, laughing, just plain not doing what they are supposed to, have them drop down and give you 20 push-ups. The 2^nd time this same individual acts up make the entire unit drop down and give you 20 push-ups. Depending on the degree of discipline your group posses really depends on how you punish outbursts and disturbances. My former unit for example was very disciplined so when one person acted out, everyone knew to drop and give me push-ups without me even telling them to. Also when punishing someone, implement something they may need work on. For example if say Joey is horrible at left handed rifle spins and he is acting out, tell him to come to the front and do 100 spins until he's done them correctly. If he drops his rifle, gets out of timing or loses count he is to start all over. You can really kill two birds with one stone here. For one Joey is punished for acting out, two he is working on something he's not good at.

Do not raise your voice to them. You should not have to talk loud, yell or scream to get them to listen. When instructing talk in a normal tone. If focus is lost simply do not say anything until they stop themselves from talking or whatever it is they are not supposed to be doing. This will teach them to listen to your spoken voice attentively and you won't have to yell like a crazy person to get them to listen. You shouldn't have to yell at all. If you are consistent with this as well, being quiet until everyone quiets themselves they will know and respect you faster than you can even believe. There's nothing more embarrassing then going to a competition and hearing an ensemble being yelled at like they are 5 year olds. This makes the instructor and the ensemble look bad. It's much like achieving "the look" with a child, only in this case it's usually with teenagers. There's nothing like being able to get an entire units attention by not saying a word.

Doing all of the tips I have mentioned in a consistent manner will definitely invoke a change in your ensemble. You must start with a base of discipline to build your pyramid of success. You can have the most talented guard in the world, but if they lack discipline and respect for their instructor they will not succeed or achieve that which they are fully capable of.