Friday, May 16, 2025
The Malverne Winter Guard — showcasing the sport of color guard and performance art — earned first place at the winter guard finals on March 29, winning the 2025 Musical Arts Conference Scholastic AA championship.
Posting a final score of 88.160 out of 100, the Malverne squad was crowned champions for its performance of the production titled “If Not Now,” during a competition against eight other teams held at Trumbull High School in Connecticut.
“This is one of the strongest teams we’ve had here in Malverne,” Jessica Sideleau, the team’s co-director, said. “These kids are really great performers, they’re really committed, and I just feel like every year we keep getting better and better.”
Teams in the winter guard competition dance and perform to a themed show while spinning flags, mock rifles and sabers in the air. Winter guard is similar to color guard without the band, and the performances are more artistic and done indoors.
The team from Malverne begins practicing in late November, after marching band season ends, and starts learning the competition routine in mid-December. Competition season starts mid-February, and the team travels to Connecticut to compete against other squads.
“We’re judged on four different captions: movement, which is how they dance and move around on the floor; equipment, which is how they maneuver their equipment; design, which is adjudicating more of the staff, seeing how we designed the show and how it flows; and then general effects,” Sideleau explained. “General effect judges typically judge on how the music and this visual align and how effective the show is as a whole.”
Sideleau and her co-director, Lindsay Beaumont, choose and choreograph the routine the team will perform in competition each year. The co-directors, who have been with Malverne since 2018, consider what the team will perform well in competition and what themes will resonate with the team.
“This year is all about climate change,” Beaumont said. “The show takes us through a journey of realizing things are happening to our planet, the kids really embody their performance and we realize that time is running out.”
The Malverne Winter Guard held a showcase on March 28, performing for family and friends who have supported them all season. “We’re just really happy that we’re able to share this with our school community, and friends and family so they could see what we’ve been working on,” Beaumont said.
During the showcase, which took place in the Malverne High School gymnasium, team members performed their production twice and demonstrated their warm-up routine. Senior team members were recognized at the event, and the coaches were gifted flowers. The team’s four captains were then invited to share with the audience what winter guard means to them.
Team captain Michael Lawless said he joined winter guard due to his older sister’s involvement. “I stayed because of the people, the coaches, it’s a nice big family,” he said.
Lawless, a senior, has spent four years with the guard and received the Jeffery Smith Memorial Scholarship at the championship competition for his dedication to the sport. “In my opinion, this is our best performance season yet,” Lawless said. “These past four years have really been significant in our growth, both in numbers and skill. We’ve definitely raised the bar for this group.”
“I first saw color guard when I was in sixth grade at a pep rally, and I told myself, ‘That’s what I’m going to do,’” captain Cameryn Hilaire, a senior, said. “I didn’t know anything about it, now I’ve done it for four years and I’ll continue to do it.”
Captain Michema Jean Baptiste, a junior with two years on the guard, said, “When I was a freshman, I saw the color guard perform, but I was in marching band. I was like, ‘I hope there’s a way that I could do that too.” Another captain, Zamari Paul, had a similar experience, deciding to join winter guard “because it was a happy medium between both.”
Paul, a junior who joined the guard halfway through last season, added, “I’m very proud of the group that we have this year, everybody on the team, and the show that we’ve been able to create.”
