Beginner color guard
The 4-Week Flag Rehearsal Plan
Four weeks of focused drills, video study, and daily assignments to build flag fundamentals from the ground up. Use the practice journal every session to track progress.
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Getting Started
Focus on building wrist strength and understanding how the pole moves.
Watch videos
- Intro Video
- Angles & Slams
- Dropspins
Daily assignments
- Log every practice using the practice journal.
- 10 Dropspins on the Right and Left at first, increase by 10 every day.
- Hold each Angle and Slam for 16 counts to check your posture and hand placements.
- Record yourself at least once a day doing the dropspins, angles, and slams. Review the footage and take notes of things to improve using the practice journal.
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Training the Basics
Focus on moving the flag smoothly through space.
Watch videos
- Cones
Daily assignments
- Continue hitting Dropspins every day to warm up. Aim for 100 on each side.
- 4 sets of Cones daily. Focus on perfecting every angle and being intentional with the shape of the cones.
- Be careful not to make the top cone too flat!
- Then smooth them out and try to make them as clean and flowy as possible.
- Practice angles and slams for retention and further control development. Find the similarities and differences between the angles/slams and cones.
- Start putting the angles, dropspins, and cones together in sequence.
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Building Confidence and Strength
Focus on controlling the flag's weight and stopping it with absolute crispness.
Watch videos
- Pull Hits
Daily assignments
- 20 Pull Hits on the right and left. Make sure to land both hands at the same time in the correct place. Keep track of your score out of 20 every day.
- Continue drilling dropspins, cones, and angles. Start syncing everything with music.
- Get creative! How can you change up the dropspins to be more exciting now? Can you switch between cones and dropspins every 8 counts? Can you figure out how to do dropspins behind your back?
- Record yourself many times throughout your practice sessions, and review them often to look for improvement points-and also celebrate your wins!!
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Tossing, Performing, and Originality
Focus on clean releases and putting it all together.
Watch videos
- Beginner Tosses and Flag Routine
Daily assignments
- 15 Pop Tosses, each side. Focus entirely on the release point, holding your under body until the catch, and catching with an aggressive, frozen snap.
- Keep track of your progress. Can you nail 15 tosses in a row?
- Be SAFE! Wear sneakers and be mindful of your surroundings.
- Continue drilling pull hits and dropspins.
- Continue building on these skill with creativity. Can you find other places to do cones instead of up and down? Can you come up with a toss that happens right out of a dropspin? Have you learned any tricks or other tosses from social media?
- Put the routine together, and record yourself performing it daily. Take notes on where you could improve and make sure to celebrate your progress!
Beginner color guard
The 4-Week Dance Rehearsal Plan
Four weeks of foundational dance training designed to develop control, strength, and performance confidence. Use the practice journal every session to track progress.
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Getting Started
Focus on establishing your posture, finding your physical awareness, and building lower body strength.
Watch videos
- Dance Intro
- Plie and Releve
Daily assignments
- Log every practice using the practice journal.
- The Baseline: 10 slow plies and 10 releves in both first and second position. Increase by 5 or 10 reps every day as your calves and thighs get stronger.
- The Fishbowl Setup: Put your hands on your hip bones (your iliac crests). Pull your lower abs up and in to get that fishbowl nice and level so your fish do not lose any water! As you plie, move smoothly straight up and straight down like an elevator inside an elevator shaft. Track your knees directly over your index toe.
- Record yourself at least once a day doing your plies and releves. Review the footage and take notes of things to improve (like checking your posture or heel stability) using the practice journal.
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Training the Basics
Focus on extending your lines, articulation through your feet, and smooth weight transfers.
Watch videos
- Tendu
Daily assignments
- Continue hitting plies and releves every day to warm up. Aim for a solid, controlled set in both first and second position.
- The Tendu Breakdown: 8 tendus en croix (front, side, back, side) on both the right and left legs. Focus on brushing firmly through the floor and pointing your toes all the way to the tip.
- Be careful not to let your hips rock or drop! Keep your core locked so your fishbowl stays completely level.
- Practice your positions for retention and further control development. Find the similarities and differences between your plies and your tendus.
- Start putting your plies, releves, and tendus together in a slow, continuous sequence.
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Building Confidence and Strength
Focus on coordination, fluid upper-body expression, and holding long, controlled counts.
Watch videos
- Port de Bras
Daily assignments
- 4 sets of the Port de Bras framework daily. Keep your elbows soft and rounded while pressing your shoulders down away from your ears. Take every single bit of the counts-do not rush it!
- Continue drilling plies, releves, and tendus. Start syncing everything with music.
- Get creative! How can you change up your basics to be more exciting now? Can you execute a gorgeous port de bras while sinking into a plie or rising into a releve? Can you balance perfectly over your big toe and index toe without sickling your ankles?
- Pro-Tip: Try practicing your releves while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes at home!
- Record yourself many times throughout your practice sessions, and review them often to look for improvement points-and also celebrate your wins!!
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Performing, Originality, and The Master Routine
Focus on performance quality, memorization, and letting your individual style shine.
Watch videos
- Routine
Daily assignments
- Run through the full compiled dance routine daily. Focus entirely on performance energy, clean facings, and putting a little sparkle, salt, and flavor into the choreography!
- Keep track of your progress. Can you perform the entire master routine from memory to your favorite music without losing your balance or your posture?
- Be SAFE! Make sure you are wearing proper dance shoes or practicing on a safe, non-slippery surface where you can extend fully.
- Continue building on these skills with creativity. Explore all the different avenues of dance using this routine. Can you do it fast? Do it slow? Do it sad or excited? What happens if you perform it to a completely different style of music?
- Put the routine together, and record yourself performing it daily. Take notes on where you could improve and make sure to celebrate your progress!
Beginner color guard
The 4-Week Rifle Rehearsal Plan
Four weeks of structured rifle training to build consistency, control, and confident release points. Use the practice journal every session to track progress.
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Getting Started & Finding Consistency
This week is all about building massive core engagement, mastering your flats, and training your hands to catch in the exact same spot every single time.
Watch videos
- Rifle Intro
- Rifle Dropspins
Daily assignments
- Log every practice using the practice journal.
- The Frame Check-In: Stand with your heels and toes locked completely close together. Squeeze your core tight to show off that posture—fight any urge to slouch or drop a shoulder. Run your blind-placement game: close your eyes, snap to right flat, open them in a mirror, and check if that rifle is perfectly flat at your waistband. Do it on the left side too!
- The 100-Rep Climb: Start with 10 drop spins on the right and left, focusing on a clean, tiny turnover motion like turning the page of a dictionary. Let the weight of the tip do the work. Increase by 10 reps every single day.
- The Target Goal: Your ultimate milestone is hitting 100 consecutive drop spins in a row on each side with zero stopping. If you can do 100, you have locked down the muscle memory.
- Record yourself at least once a day doing your flats and drop spins. Review the footage to watch your hands: make sure you are not growing a weird “claw hand” next to your side and use your journal to log your tracking consistency.
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Training the Basics & Controlling the Speed
Focus on navigating different catch dimensions around your body and mastering spatial control without panicking.
Watch videos
- Rifle Starts and Stops
Daily assignments
- Continue hitting your drop spins every day to warm up. Aim for 50 to 100 clean continuous reps on both sides.
- The 5-Position Matrix: Execute sets of 4 drop spins into a dead stop. Cycle through your 5 structural check-points: Across the Body, Straight Up & Down, Shoulder-Hip Angle, Waist Flat, and Left Flat.
- Watch the “And-Angle”: To catch cleanly, use your peripheral vision to track the “and-angle” (the exact opposite plane of your catch) in the blink of an eye.
- Be careful not to stick your fingers in early! Anxious hands get nicked by a spinning tip, and that hurts. Wait until the absolute last split-second to snap your squeeze.
- Find the similarities and differences between the control needed to stop a basic drop spin and the torque needed to stop a hard angle. Start sequencing your positions back-to-back.
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Building Confidence, Strength & Flow
Focus on clearing out your planes, expanding your wrist flexibility, and moving with absolute power through your forearms.
Watch videos
- Rifle Flourishes
Daily assignments
- Run a tight baseline warmup of your drop spins and starts and stops. Sync your switches to the steady tempo of a chill track.
- The Ice Cream Scoops: Perform 3 full sets of flourishes (Low, Flat, and High). Step on count 1 and scoop your favorite flavors—chocolate behind you, vanilla in front.
- Lock the Toaster: Your elbow is not allowed to bend! Keep your arm straight and let 100% of the movement come from the dexterity of your wrist and fingers. Keep the rifle tracking perfectly inside your narrow toaster plane so you do not get “shocked” by an electric fence.
- Get creative! Your left hand is going to feel way less dexterous if you are right-handed. Slide your hand to where the bolt meets the wood and drill it extra hard to build up that equal muscle mass. Enjoy that forearm burn—that is just your strength building up!
- Record yourself many times throughout your practice sessions, and review them often to make sure your planes are not slicing into weird diagonal scoops. Celebrate when those paths look completely vertical!
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Tossing, Performing, and Originality
Focus on safe, aggressive release points, mastering the art of fast recovery, and putting together a performance ready for stadium lights.
Watch videos
- Rifle Tossing
- Rifle Routine
Daily assignments
- 10 Perfect Doubles: Practice your left-hand double tosses. Hit your solid, torqued dip and track the rotation out loud: “out, up, catch!”. Keep your right hand flat against your thigh and hold your underbody clean. Work until you can hit 10 consistent doubles in a row right at flat with zero moving feet.
- Be SAFE! Never throw a higher toss until the one below it is perfect, watch your surroundings, and do not knock a weapon out of the sky early by reaching out your hands too soon.
- The Master Culmination Block: Put the whole show together! Run your continuous routine sequence: 12 counts of drop spins to a stop on each side, a full run of starts and stops both sides, three levels of flourishes both sides, and your four-8s block of consecutive double tosses.
- Train the Recovery: If you catch a toss wonky or miss a count, do not stop spinning! Think fast and recover in the very next count just like you would in front of thousands of people or at a major drum corps show.
- Record your full run-through daily. Review your catches to ensure your hand placements match your initial master flats, take clean notes, and celebrate finishing your complete weapon blueprint!
Beginner color guard
The 4-Week Saber Rehearsal Plan
Four weeks of saber training to develop finesse, control, and confident performance-ready toss work. Use the practice journal every session to track progress.
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Getting Started & Finding the Finesse
This week is all about building core engagement, mastering your hilt facings, and learning the fingertip finesse required to control a spinning blade.
Watch videos
- Saber Intro
- Saber Dropspins
Daily assignments
- Log every practice using the practice journal.
- The Frame Check-In: Stand with your heels and toes locked completely close together to keep your core fully engaged. Test your flats: wrap your fingers into a small "taco shape" rather than burying the blade in the meat of your palm. Play the blind-placement game: close your eyes, snap to a flat at your waistband, open them, and check your mirror. Keep your shoulders stacked and symmetrical!
- The 100-Rep Climb: Start with 10 drop spins on each side. On count 1, pull your hand a fist-away from the black spin spot to shift the weight. Use your fingertips to guide the blade so it does not start "disco-balling" out of control. Add 10 continuous reps every day.
- The Target Goal: Hit 100 consecutive drop spins in a row on each side with a clean, fluid stop. To stop on sabre, lift the hilt straight up into a dead-freeze, enjoy looking like a pirate for a count, and then drop-reach-pull to reset to flat!
- Record yourself at least once a day. Review the footage to hold yourself accountable-don't let yourself get away with lazy basket-catches or broken posture!
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Training the Basics & Attacking the Squeeze
Focus on navigating your angles around the body and mastering clean, crisp stops without letting the blade bounce.
Watch videos
- Saber Starts and Stops
Daily assignments
- Continue hitting your drop spins every day to warm up your hands.
- The 4-Position Matrix: Run 4 drop spins straight into an aggressive stop. Master the four core saber angles: Cross Port (across your body), Vertical (straight up and down past your centerline), Open Port (shoulder-hip), and flat.
- Attack and Squeeze: Do not just let the saber coast into your hands. You have to actively attack and squeeze the catch tape, freeze with zero extra movement, and then lift cleanly back into the next count 1.
- Record yourself at least once a day. Check your angles in a window reflection or phone screen to make sure you are hooking the blade far enough to the left on your cross-ports.
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Building Confidence, Strength & Power
Focus on conditioning your forearms, expanding your wrist flexibility, and keeping your equipment completely inside the toaster.
Watch videos
- Saber Flourishes
Daily assignments
- Run a tight baseline warmup of your drop spins and starts and stops to a steady musical track.
- The Pirate Scoops: Perform 3 full sets of flourishes (Low, Flat, and High). Step out on count 1 and scoop your ice cream flavors-chocolate behind you, vanilla in front. Keep the blade spinning mere inches from your body!
- Lock the Toaster: Your elbow is absolutely not allowed to bend. Relax your pinky and ring finger so the hilt swivels naturally through the hand grooves. Keep it perfectly vertical so you do not get electrocuted by a toaster!
- Record yourself many times throughout your practice sessions, and review them often. Your forearms should be feeling a massive, muscular workout. Log your flexibility breakthroughs and celebrate when your high flourishes clear out beautifully without slicing.
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Tossing, Performing, and Putting it All Together
Focus on safe, flat release points, spatial awareness, and putting together a complete presentation.
Watch videos
- Saber Tosses
- Saber Routine
Daily assignments
- 10 Consistent Doubles: Practice your right-hand double tosses. Pull to a tight, high-tension dip and release the blade exactly at flat. Let the weapon rotate naturally four inches off to the left side of your body, right in front of your left ear. Do not step under it or chase it!
- The Blender Rule: Hold your underbody completely frozen and clean. Do not panic and shove your hands into the spin spot early, or you are sticking your fingers into a blender. Wait until the blade is right in front of your face, then snap the catch. Hit 10 great doubles in a row before you ever try to climb to a triple.
- The Routine: Put the complete routine together! Run through your 12 drop spins to a hilt stop on both sides, your full run of starts and stops, your three levels of flourishes, and your consecutive double-toss blocks.
- Practice with patience, intention, and power. Use this routine to show off to your programs or to get yourself completely ready for auditions.
- Record your full performance daily. Use your reflection sheets to track your execution metrics, and celebrate your massive transformation over the last 4 weeks! Stay salty!