Rifle vs. Flag

Conversations about the fabulous art of color guard, both field and court

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RifleDiva
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Post by RifleDiva » Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:10 am

I’m on eldo's guard and I personally don't feel that way at all. I was on flag my freshmen and sophomore year and yes, the rifle line was the older more experienced girls but that’s understandable, you wouldn't put a freshmen who can barely spin a flag on rifle line. Not that freshmen can't be on rifle line, cause we have had freshmen on rifle line for two years, and this was the first year we didn't. Anyway, when I was on flag line I felt that the rifle line were just 8 members of our guard who spun a piece of wood instead of metal. As for the whole getting away with talking or fooling around I never remember seeing that. They were treated the same way as the rest of us. Now that I am on rifle line I still feel the same way. If anything rifle line is more conscious of talking and stuff and tries to set the example. Our instructor doesn't treat us any differently. We have separate sectionals so that we don't waste the rest of the guard’s time working on our stuff, but at full guard sectionals we are a full guard. I also agree with the more pressure thing. Since we are the older more responsible girls we have to be good. The expectations are higher. Its more understandable for flag line not to be together cause most of them are still figuring out that there's a flag in their hand. Not that them not being together is a good or constant thing, it’s just more understandable. With rifle, we have all been doing this (field season) for a year to 2 years and so there aren't any excuses. Ya know what I mean? But that doesn't mean we are better than the rest of the guard because we are rifles. We may be better at technique due to experience but that’s normal, but when I think of my guard I think of 32 girls who spin flag. Almost all of them know how to spin rifle and about half know how to spin sabre. During our show 7 of them spin rifles and 8 spin sabres, but we are still one guard. Anyway, that’s how I feel. :)

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Post by flagratgirl » Mon Nov 03, 2003 5:55 pm

our instructors dont treat us differently its our captains. the instructors expect us all ot shut up and buckle down when we need to.
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Post by pinksmurf749 » Mon Nov 03, 2003 7:46 pm

thers girls like that on our guard too. the girls that are like born to spin flag, but they dont like rifle. personally i luv rifle. theres a few upple classmen at eldo that are awesome spinners, and beautiful dancers, and they're alrite on rifle, but they dont like it at all. i dunno, i still give them a lot of credit for being upperclassmen.
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Post by sabrebatgirl » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:24 pm

pinksmurf749 wrote:thers girls like that on our guard too. the girls that are like born to spin flag, but they dont like rifle. personally i luv rifle. theres a few upple classmen at eldo that are awesome spinners, and beautiful dancers, and they're alrite on rifle, but they dont like it at all. i dunno, i still give them a lot of credit for being upperclassmen.
Well I think everyone likes to spin one piece of equipment more than the others, and for some people it's flag and theres nothing wrong with that. Nobody has to spin rifle or sabre (on our guard at least, dunno about yours)

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Post by pinksmurf749 » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:26 pm

yeah, thats kinda ture on our guard. how you dont have to be on rifle line/sabre line unless you want to. but this year there was this one girl, our instructor put her on rifle, cuz she tried out for rifle. (the way tiry-outs went for this year, was the rifles were picked first and then the rest tried out for sabre) and she made rifle, but i think she actually wanted to be on sabre. so this year (like the past 3 months) shes absolutely hated rifle and has tried everything to get off. cuz she wanted out instructor to take her out of the rifle part, and finally our instructor did. and she also took her out of parade, she got really mad and quit. im sure its not just because of that.. but yeah.
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Post by gallantlady » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:06 pm

i personally like sabre better. im a sophomore and this is my fifth year in guard. my high school is brand new...it just started my frosh year and we got a new instrctor this year and are doing really well. we dont have weapons this field season but well have rifles for winter season. it really just depends on my mood...i think its good that we dont have rifles cuz i know that ppl who would be on rifle would have bigggg ego problems...
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Post by Madame_Spooky » Sat Nov 15, 2003 12:18 am

I personally favor the sabre only because I love the grace and dance involved in it yet the sharp hits and angles and snaps that come with the weapon as well. I'm better at rifle only because I've spun longer and rifle is easier to do sharp moves with than sabre in my opinion. Albeit...nothing beats getting the attention of an audience than glittering multi-colored flags spining together at 50 miles an hour or 2 miles an hour on the field or court. Of course rifle and sabre take skill to master but it's not the same skill that is used for flag. Someone could be taught how to only spin a rifle then do HORRIBLY on a flag and thus vice-versa. Tradition normally places the order of difficulty as: flag > rifle > sabre only because tradition normally requires one to spin flag like a diva, then rifle like a diva so that sabre can come easy (which is semi-true). I personally find sabre being the most difficult to spin when doing DIFFICULT work. Most disagree: "I can throw an 8 with a sabre in the air cuz it's lighter" Yes... *patpat* good for you, that doesn't mean you've mastered the art of a sabre. Heh, lots of technique in catching that blade the proper side, the proper place... etc, rifle to me seems more clear: grab at nose, jerk strap, point up, smack at ends, toss then catch at ends... etc. *phew* I'm done writing. Good night folks!

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Post by sabrebatgirl » Sat Nov 15, 2003 9:15 am

See, I think rifle is harder. I have better catches on sabre, I have better tosses (not higher, better. don't think I'm one of the 'i can throw an 8 on sabre so it's easier peoples) and I dunno, I just enjoy it a lot more. But that;s not really the point of this topic. Anyhoo, I think flag is generally placed as the "easiest": because it's the first thing you learn. If you've been doing something longer than something else, it's easier generally.

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Post by Matadork05 » Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:56 pm

I love the power of rifles, the grace of sabres but my passion is for the flag!! Nothing is more satisfying then to see uber-clean flag work, watch any of the world class guards!! Clean rifle or sabre work never packs as much power as a clean flag line.
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Post by colorguardchicken02 » Tue Dec 23, 2003 8:58 pm

i like flags better, there bigger and eaiser to toss for me. im not that correnated :)

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Post by IhilaniRifleGurl04 » Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:13 pm

i prefer rifle. at our school rifles aren't treated any differently...in fact our winterguard show has a flag with most of the solos and for a few of us rifles who have been in it a lot longer feel neglected. most of the rifles are the most talented on our guard. so if some of you know about that then you know what we are going thru lol
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Re: Rifle vs. Flag

Post by crack it » Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:44 pm

luckiecg wrote:our rifle line doesn't consist of older members. we have four freshmen, two sophmores, three juniors, and only one senior. it really has nothing to do with where you are in the "superiority line". :
ya there are a lot of freshman rifle line members at leigh, but the first freshman to be on rifle was a freshman last year. But i guess im kinda canceling myself out because the rifle line had only been around for one year before her. But ya, i dont think that they base anything on how old you are, just your ability
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Post by flagchild06 » Mon Feb 23, 2004 10:39 pm

You have to go through flag line for one year, then you can try out on rifle. Our instructors decide who makes rifle but our director decides the size of the line. We got our current instructor last year and made all rifles, sabres. Before you had to go through rifle and flad and try out on sabre.

I would LOVE it if my director approved of three different lines this year. Rifle, flag and sabre. I didn't make rifle this year (sophomore) and I don't really have a passion for sabre and flag is starting to kind of start to make me go... want gun! I just flat out love my rifle... even though it hurts me :oops:
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Post by rifledude » Tue Feb 24, 2004 12:35 am

maybe its just my drum corps, but i think its a priviledge to be on any part of the guard. i myself am/was a member of the weapon line. and im really glad that i wasnt part of the flag line, not because the weapon line was treated better, but because the flag work was way hard. our flag line had tremendous work, i really admired how well they did. i think being on the flag line is a lot more responsibility than being on the weapon line. these girls were in almost the entire show and were running the entire time. i think the flag lines everywhere should tons of props, cause w/o them, colorguard would not exist.

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Post by flagchild06 » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:43 pm

Yeah. That's not how it works on my flag line.. it just doesn't...
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