Taking a moment to share a little story about the Hardin Valley Guard and our journey into a new class. 

Back in April after returning home from WGI, our team felt the feeling of being so close to our goal of making Scholastic A Semi-finals but falling short for the second season in a row. That season felt like a marathon, running almost everything in house as we have in the past with our staff of four teaching a middle, JV, and a Varsity group. We had the culture, we had the students, we had the training but we just hadn’t caught our stride just yet. I felt like I was spinning the wheels of my program, burning gas, and waiting for us to catch traction to take off. Inspired by both national and local groups, I felt like we needed to take a chance and swing big.. We merged our JV and Varsity team and made the jump to Scholastic Open. Participating in BOA naturally means that you are starting your Winter Season up in November. We expanded our design team, focused on developing the skill sets, everything mapped out meticulously to try to give these kids the best shot they could get. Our planning took a turn when we needed a designer last minute, and luckily we were able to bring Zach on board at that same time saving the day. By the end of December, we had a show on the floor ready to gain that traction. Qualifier weekend comes... 53.2 ... Deep breaths, we keep our heads down and stay working. Slowly but surely, everything comes together. Costumes arrive- check. Flags arrive- check. Props arrive- check. Just keep working. We started to find our stride. The team found success as the WGI Knoxville Regional Champions, and advanced to Finals at WGI Southeastern Power Regional in Atlanta, and by ETPAA Championships, had improved our score to an 83.2. We set these goals in the beginning of the season, and had found ourselves heading to WGI with achieving them. Now... we did not advance to WGI Scholastic Open Semi-Finals, but returning home I think we feel something different.. That feeling of appreciating what you just experienced and wishing that it could go on just a bit longer, and that want for next year to do even better than before. 🩵