The sooner that you can get a practice schedule out to your guard, the less excuses they can have for missing them! It's not fair to anybody to announce a practice the day before you want to have it... if it's absolutely necessary, then your guard should understand. But, as much as you can, try to give your guard a lot of advance notice. It would be especially good to print a schedule out for them. They might lose it, but at least they can't use the excuse, "Well, I didn't know about it!"

There is almost nothing that ticks me off more as an officer, than when someone misses a practice because they "didn't feel like coming," or "forgot". As a dedicated member, should do everything in your power to be at EVERY practice. Obviously things are going to come up sometimes, and if you just cannot attend, well, then you just can't come. In that case, you should give your officers & directors advance notice. But otherwise, you need to make every effort to come to practice - that way, you won't miss learning important stuff, you'll hear all the announcements, and you'll be better prepared for upcoming performances!

Do your best to remember everything you need for practice before you leave the house! Unless you have really nice parents, having them bring you your stuff is going to get really old, really fast! In general, you'll need:

• appropriate clothes (shorts, t-shirt, tennis shoes, socks, ponytail holder... I always forget those last two!)
• your equipment (flag, rifle, sabre, gloves, tape)
• water
• notes or money if you need to turn those in
• sunglasses, a visor, and sunscreen (for outside practice)
• cell phone (in case practice runs late)

And don't forget a positive attitude!

I cannot stress HOW IMPORTANT it is that you count all the time while you're practicing! My guard has proven again and again that when we all count, we do spin together! Even if you are the only one who is brave enough to count, you are still helping the people around you. But it's even more important that all the others count, because by the time that your voice gets to the people in the back, they're going to end up being late. So basically EVERYONE needs to count - your director will love you and you will all spin better! There's no reason not to count... it's not just the officers' job, you're not going to sound stupid, the judges won't count off on your score, etc.

A guard never has enough time to practice... even if you're having practices every day, it still will never be enough! So, your time at practice is precious... you really don't have time to goof around! That doesn't mean you can't have fun; it just means that you need to be working while your having fun. It's when the goofing off gets in the way of a productive practice that it becomes a problem. So don't let it be a problem! Every person should be responsible for their own behavior and should make sure that they are contributing to the success of the practice. It's not up to the officers and directors to make you behave!

Whether you are an officer or not, while at practice, you should always be aware of other members who need help. Your director is not always going to notice them, and they may be afraid to speak up. So, if you see somebody who's doing something wrong or just looked confused, go up to them and help them! As nicely as you can, show them how they can fix whatever they're doing. You should not, however, butt in if someone is helping (unless they ask you to)... they will be offended. Even if they're teaching it wrong, you should wait until after they're done and have walked away, and then you can politely tell the person getting helped, "You might want to try it this way..."

If you are unsure about something at practice, ask your director to show you again! Even if they've already done it a few times, keep asking until you're positive that you understand... even if you need them to slow down and do it count by count, it's okay. That's what practices are for! If you keep your mouth shut and just keep being confused, you'll never be able to make it look good, and by the time a performance rolls around, it will be too late to fix it! And remember, when you ask a question, you're helping out all the other people who had the same question and were too scared to ask.

Guard is not an easy thing - so many times, you will face challenges! But, you can never give up on yourself! Even if you've been practicing something over and over again, and you just can't get it, keep at it. You might need to take a break and come back to it, but you should never give up on it for good. The only way you will ever get better is if you keep trying! One thing that makes me sooo mad at practice is when someone just quits - they sit down and complain that they won't ever get something. That's not the way to handle a problem!

Lastly, remove the word "can't" from your vocabulary! This is another pet peeve of mine - saying, "I can't do it!" That will never get anything done! Why complain about something if you're not making any effort to fix it? I would rather someone say, "I'm unable to do this right now," or "I'll get it soon!" Nothing is ever impossible!

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