Question about 5 1/2 vs. 6 foot flag poles

[Abel11673]

Hi, I was wondering if there are any advantages/disadvantages between the two poles. My current tall flags spin the 5 1/2 foot poles which is ok I guess. But I noticed that quite a few colorguards spin the 6 foot poles for the street. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Miss A]

My school spins 5 1/2' but we are a Middle School. I will tell you that it is more difficult to fine pre-made flags for that size because 6' seems to be considered standard. If you are a high school, I would use the larger size for both indoor and field.

[ErinF]

we dont spin 6ft poles. Personally i think they're too difficult to spin with. If you have someone thats short on your guard they're going to struggle all season not to bang or scrape their flag on the ground.

[Chaporch]

Try 5'10". Also, there is nothing wrong with wrong with giving an exceptionally short member a slightly shorter pole, unless you do a lot of exchanges. It will look in proportion to their body.

[Jsaxm]

That's what we have done in the past too. We generally spin 6's, but if we had a shorter member that was struggling with it we had a few 5 1/2's lying around and we utilized those so that they too could expeirence some success.

[JenKozy]

I have some shorter members, and they spin 6 foot poles just fine. I personally have worked with 5. 5 1/2 and 6 foot poles, and IMHO, the 6 foot poles look better on the field and indoors when you have a smaller guard because the bigger silks help fill space. Really, it's all about personal preference. Spin each size yourself and decide from there.

[oreocookis]

Hmm, up until this year my guard has used 5 ft poles. I always used those because my guard is always a new guard each year and they get intimidated with the 6 ft poles, but I find spinning the bigger ones easier and always tell them that they whine too much lol. Im only 5'2 so if I can spin the 6ft so can they and I just got sick of them complaining and made them switch to a 6ft for field show half way through the season and they got used to them and stopped whining..but it does depend on the silk size as others have said. All the free practice flags I have gotten over the yrs with our purchases are always too small for the 6ft poles, and sometimes way to small for the 5ft poles, I dont practice with the performance silks much until later in the season because well, the field we use ( we dont have our own football field) always has geese on it each day, and the geese love to leave green presents for us on the field..... so we had no choice but to use the practice flags until it gets closer to the shows.

[Schimmy]

Hi, I was wondering if there are any advantages/disadvantages between the two poles. My current tall flags spin the 5 1/2 foot poles which is ok I guess. But I noticed that quite a few colorguards spin the 6 foot poles for the street. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

6 ft for high school and 5 1/2 for middle. Don't listen to them whine, they don't what is best for them. Do what is best for them at all times. Their opinions don't matter.

[twinmomma]

Depends on their skills and the effects you are going for. 5 1/2 for more trick type moves, more intricate work. 6 foot for more visual. I prefer 5 1/2 for the street and 6 for the field.

The reality is, 6 is a LOT for a 5 foot freshman to handle, and I'd MUCH rather see them successful with a 5 1/2 foot rather than struggle with a 6'.

[Abel11673]

Thank you all for the advice. All the posts that I've read so far have been helpful. It is a little hard where I am at. I am a first year band director for a high school in the south eastern part of the Los Angeles area. When I got there, the flags have been doing the same routines for years. No Joke.

So I bought myself a flag, bought every WGI education video, started to learn some basics and taught it to the flag members that remained. I've even been looking on youtube to see what else I could find about moves, tricks, etc. Wasn't too hard for me to learn flag since I was drum major back in high school and taught drum majors for 10+ years. The spinning is almost identical.

Again, thanks for the advice. If anybody else has anything to add please feel free to chime in. The more the merrier!

[twinmomma]

Post an ad on SCSBOA to see if you can get someone interested in helping out. A recent h.s. graduate is great for a beginning program.

Send the girls to a camp if there is one in your area. They will learn new skills and tricks. Go with them. Take classes too.

It's still winterguard season. Go watch a few events. It will give you some ideas.

Good luck!

[JenKozy]

Man, I miss USA camp.

The WGI Videos are great sources. I congratulate you on taking on the task of color guard! I agree with Twinmomma. I bet there is a high school graduate out there looking for an upstart program. Even if there isn't, you can put your feelers out there to other band directors in your area with sucessful programs. If the SoCal band directors are anything like the NorCal directors (which I am sure they are), they could give you a lot of support.

[twinmomma]

Jen,
I miss USA too...best thing for a new group.

Definitely network with other band directors. And other coaches. If you have a little bit of a budget, you might find a local coach willing to take on a small program as a side gig to help you out too.

[Schimmy]

Depends on their skills and the effects you are going for. 5 1/2 for more trick type moves, more intricate work. 6 foot for more visual. I prefer 5 1/2 for the street and 6 for the field.

The reality is, 6 is a LOT for a 5 foot freshman to handle, and I'd MUCH rather see them successful with a 5 1/2 foot rather than struggle with a 6'.

Your expectations will make them successful or not. All of the top programs have students that are 5' and under that use 6' poles. If the student is not strong enough to handle a 6' pole then I wouldn't try to do anything tricky on a 5 1/2' pole that most people couldn't handle on a 6' pole. When in doubt about equipment check with the guards that are consistently in the higher echelon at WGI competitions. I am sure their instructors wouldn't hesitate to give you advice on what to use.

[twinmomma]

You're correct, the TOP programs have 5' students using 6' poles. We're not talking about a top program. Not to mention, you can expect them to be a top program, but lack of training, dance background, etc...will be a barrier.

Having built a program over the course of 5 years from a beginning program to one that was fairly competitive at an intermediate-advanced level, it wouldn't have mattered if I expected them to be competitive with the top groups or not, they simply wouldn't have, and expecting them to be sets them up for failure in an arena where education is the ultimate goal.

While I totally agree with the idea of checking with instructors for the top groups in the area, it appears that we are talking about a beginning level guard with limited skills. That's like telling a 2nd year cellist to only ask YoYo Ma for advice on which cello to buy.

I'd rather challenge a guard just beyond their skills, rather than expect them to reach levels attained by programs that have been built up over years and years.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox -- not looking to offend. I just get so frustrated watching guards who have been given work that is SO CLEARLY not attainable that the instructor has simply managed to frustrate the kids and teach them only that they aren't good enough to compete at the top level. There's NOTHING wrong with being successful at an Intermediate level, as long as each year you build on it and take it one step further.