There are many things going on during a Friday night home football game at the stadium at in Valley Center, especially since it’s the first home game of the season. Knowing what kind of event this is, it’s a given that many people will be coming here. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about why someone would come to this football game is obviously to watch the football team play. The second reason, and less popular reason, is to come watch the cheerleaders or the dance team. The third reason some people come to watch the band during the halftime show; but there aren’t very many people who come to the game to watch the colorguard during the halftime show. A big reason people don’t come watch is because they think it’s something that’s easy and boring, when really it’s the complete opposite of that. Colorguard performs with the marching band during the halftime show; they help tell the story of the music that the band is playing.
EXPLAIN WHAT WE DO AT GAME
Colorguard is a unique activity that isn’t well known. Whenever someone asks what it is, it isn’t very easy to describe it to them and involve all of the details that are required in order to fully understand it. When people that aren’t a part of colorguard or people that only watch it because someone they know does it, they don’t give a description that lives up to what this sport really is. Heather Stone, mother of a colorguard member, is one of these people. She describes colorguard as the people that “have flags and rifles that they twirl with the band and throw way up in the air” or “people that do the halftime show at the football with the flags and rifles”. But people that are more experienced and involved with it have a more meaningful and descriptive way to explain this sport.
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Grace LaMastres, junior on the Valley Center high school colorguard team, describes it as a sport that goes beyond the individual. She stated “If the team doesn’t work well together, then you will get nothing accomplished”. She also described it as “an interesting way to express yourself by means of flag, weapon, makeup, and dance”. There are so many different ways to describe this sport.
Kahle Snell, coach of the Valley Center high school colorguard team, gives a great and creative explanation of colorguard. Kahle says how colorguard portrays colors and emotions behind the music they are performing to. Anna Qualls, an “alumni” from the Valley Center high school colorguard team, said something similar to what Kahle had to say. She mentioned how the colorguard gives the visuals of the show and tells the story of the music they are performing to.
There’s a lot more behind this activity than what people think. Like Emily Kutz, senior on the Valley Center colorguard team, said “People who aren’t familiar with the activity don’t realize how much goes into it”.
Colorguard is a physical activity that is a part of a marching band. The purpose of colorguard is to describe the music through actions by using a routine on flag, sabre, rifle, and dance. They can be with any kind of marching band from high school, to college, to drum corp.
In the past, colorguard was only used for military purposes to show the American flag and any other flags that were necessary for the event. In the early 1970’s, colorguard would start to perform with marching bands. This is something that has grown so much in the past fort eight years. Some things that have changed are the equipment used, the work that is done in the routines, and the kinds of shows that are being put on. Colorguard teams used to only use flags, but they started adding in rifles and sabres into their shows. They have even made their equipment look more professional and creative, especially if they’re trying to make their equipment match what their show is about. The work that colorguard teams used to do was simple, not as serious, and easy to catch on. Nowadays, the work that is done is more advanced and competitive than it was in the past.
Colorguard is a sport than can be very physically demanding, depending on the level of difficulty of the work the team is doing. Like Emily Kutz said “Colorguard is a much more physical activity than many of people realize. It takes hard work and dedication to get the show memorized and clean. It’s very technical. If your technique isn’t right, it can make the whole thing look wrong”. The Valley Center colorguard team has lots of talent and potential, one of the best out of the other 5A schools. There is a lot of hard work and countless hours that are put into the routines that the team does.
Almost every high school that has a marching band has a colorguard. Not many people are aware of this, but like any other sports team, not every colorguard team has the same skill level. Colorguard teams with a higher skill level will have a different kind of show with work that more intense and advanced than a colorguard team whose skill level is lower. Valley Center high school has had a colorguard as long as they’ve had a marching band. It isn’t an activity that has been added to our school recently.
There are fifteen members on the colorguard team, one coach, and one assistant coach. Six members are freshman, five members are juniors, and three members are seniors. In past years the colorguard team hasn’t been very close because people would always make sassy, unneeded comments behind each others back and it would cause drama. It is something that affected us as a team; it caused us to not spin well together and there was a lot of tension. That is something has changed a lot this year. This is the head coaches second year coaching the Valley Center high school colorguard team, and there have been many issues with him this year. Things that a coach shouldn’t say have been said and he slacks on showing up to practices when he’s supposed to, but these issues have bonded the colorguard team together and have made them closer than they have ever been. They have become a family. Sometimes when things with the coach are getting bad the team rants to each other about it, makes a few jokes to lighten the mood, then moves on and keeps working hard. This family aspect the team has is one of the things that makes colorguard look enjoyable.
There are many different reasons that the members of the team have been drawn to this sport. Some people are just attracted to the way it looks, like Grace LaMastres. She said she felt this way while she watched her brother in marching band during middle school. Some people are interested in it because their friend told them they should try it. Jillian Norris, senior on the Valley Center high school colorguard team, said this is how she got involved in colorguard. Some people just tried it because they thought it looked fun, and continued to do it since they had fun while doing it. This is how Alex Palmer, freshman on the Valley Center high school colorguard team, became convinced to be a part of colorguard.
The main time when the colorguard team is able to show the community what they have been working on is during the halftime shows at home football games. They know they’re not the main focus of the football game, but that doesn’t stop them from getting excited and having fun. Everything they have been working hard for pays off tonight.
The team practices before the game and during second quarter of the game, and then gets ready to leave it all on the field. This is the time everyone says positive, uplifting things to each other. They remind each other to have fun, remember everything everyone has worked on, show the work we’ve done, and to not be nervous.
Before the game they do their “VCCG” chant to get everyone excited and a prayer circle to help everyone not worry so much. This is when everyone gets really excited, they finally get to do what they love. They patiently wait as the dance team does their routine. Right when they’re done, the colorguard team gets into character for the show and performs with everything they’ve got.
Childhood Neglect And The Effect On Adolescents
Childhood Neglect: Importance to Social Work Profession
Childhood neglect affects adolescents that social workers engage with on a daily basis. Childhood neglect is the most prevalent form of child abuse in the United States (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). Since neglect is the most common form of abuse, it largely impacts the social work profession because many children and adolescents experience a form of neglect and need professional help. Neglect can lead to many negative behaviors that affect adolescents and their families, including, but not limited to, substance abuse, binge drinking, and smoking marijuana and tobacco (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). Social workers in mental health agencies, schools, residential treatment centers, and plenty of other agencies work with adolescents who are experiencing substance abuse, drug and alcohol dependence, and addiction. This means that the study of childhood neglect and past experiences of youth is important for the social work profession.
Neglect can lead to the internalization of emotions and responses to childhood neglect, which leads to negative behaviors. According to the research of Duprey, Oshri, and Caughy (2017), internalization and the developmental timing of adverse childhood experiences impacts socioemotional outcomes in adolescents and leads to risky behaviors. Youth who experienced neglect before the sixth grade have a higher chance of binge drinking as an adolescent. They also have a higher chance of smoking more marijuana and tobacco than adolescents who did not experience neglect as a child (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). Substance abuse and neglect lead to depression in adolescents. The article states that adolescents who experienced neglect as a young child are 1.74 times more likely to be depressed than adolescents who did not experience neglect (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). The social work profession focuses greatly on mental health, so understanding neglect during childhood is important for social workers.
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Childhood Neglect as a Significant Social Problem
Childhood neglect is a significant social problem in the United States that affects many adolescents and their development. As stated in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, child neglect is defined as a type of maltreatment that impacts the socioemotional adjustment of youth and can lead them to engage and participate in risky behaviors (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). According to the journal, studies show that preschoolers who were physically abused exhibited externalizing behaviors, including aggression and bullying. Preschoolers who experienced neglect showed internalizing behaviors, such as being withdrawn, quiet, or having concentration problems (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). These behaviors in young children predict substance abuse in adolescence as a way to cope with depressive symptoms from what they experienced as children (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). Childhood neglect is important for social workers to understand because of how it affects the children of America. One of the social work professional values is, “social workers challenge social injustice” (National Association of Social Workers, 2017), meaning social workers should strive to help the children in America who are suffering from neglect to prevent any future negative outcomes in that adolescent.
Childhood neglect is a significant issue in the United States and around the world because it causes negative outcomes in adolescents that will affect them as future adults in society. Some of these outcomes include psychopathology, cognitive deficits, and behavioral problems (Duprey, Oshri, & Caughy, 2017). These outcomes are important because they predict depression, learning problems and delays, and behavioral issues in the adolescents future. Preventing childhood neglect and educating parents could allow social workers to enhance the lives of children across the globe. According to research by Fontaine and Nolin (2012) published in a Canadian journal, neglect occurs when parents do not respond to the basic physical, educational, and health needs, for their children to lead positive lives (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). This fact shows that childhood neglect is not only occurring in the United States, it is also occurring in other countries.
Childhood Neglect Etiology
Research by Fontaine and Nolin (2012) states that parents who neglect children are immature, egocentric, impulsive, have problems controlling their violence, have substance abuse issues, are in unstable marriages, and have a presence of minor criminal activities (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). These characteristics in parents who neglect their children have a large impact on the newer generations in society and the social work profession. The study also shows that these types of parents come from neglectful and abusive backgrounds, causing these parents to not be able to meet the needs of their own children because of their past experiences (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). This fact shows that childhood neglect is a part of a larger cycle that has a higher likelihood of occurring if, as a child, neglect was experienced. In the study conducted by Fontaine and Nolin (2012), risk factors and problems were found with parents who neglect their children. These risk factors include failings in parental attitude, problems managing stress, depression, a lower reaction threshold, and low self-esteem (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). These risk factors then led to the discovery that parents who neglected their children compared to parents who did not neglect their children showed a higher tendency to have a personality disorder (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012).
According to the study done by Finzi-Dottan & Harel (2014), another cause of child neglect is parents who experienced neglect and abuse as children had higher levels of stress and a greater chance of being a perpetrator. These parents also view parenthood as a threat to their lives, causing them to neglect and abuse their children. Parents who experienced neglect in their childhood have a higher abuse and neglect potential than other individuals who did not experience any form of neglect or abuse as a child (Finzi-Dottan & Harel, 2014). This statement shows that childhood neglect could be caused by parents who also experienced neglect and abuse as children. This research also shows that parents with high levels of stress who do not have the appropriate coping mechanisms have a higher chance of believing their children are threatening to them, causing them to neglect their child.
According to Finzi-Dottan & Harel (2014), children who experienced being ignored and rejected during young childhood could model those experiences for their children. These behaviors learned through observation and imitation effect later parental behaviors, leading to abuse and neglect (Finzi-Dottan & Harel, 2014). The study also shows that emotional control and appraised stress have an impact on parenting (Finzi-Dottan & Harel, 2014). These factors leading to childhood neglect are issues that have a huge impact on society. If children are not safe and cared for by parents and guardians, they could end up neglecting their children as well, because of modeled behaviors from their own upbringing.
According to a research article published by Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol (2014), the gender of the parent might have an impact on childhood neglect. The study states that gender could have an impact on neglect and abuse because mothers are more impacted by neglect and abuse that they experienced during their own childhood (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014). Since mothers are more affected by these issues, this affects their perceived relationships with their children, leading to future neglect because of poor perceived relationships and insecure attachments (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014). This study, published by the Child Abuse & Neglect Journal, states that mothers and fathers who were continuously victims of maltreatment as children had a higher chance of being perpetrators of abuse, regarding neglect as a form of abuse (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014). According to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, some types of maltreatment include parents failing to provide minimum care for their children in relation to food, shelter, education, and medical care. Maltreatment can also include parents not supervising their children, abandoning them, or using and abusing substances around children (Office of Children and Family Services, n.d.). The study also shows that, for mothers, education level was an indicator of abuse and neglect with their children (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014).
The research completed by Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol (2014), also mentions age being a factor with the issue of child neglect. This study found that fathers who were maltreated before the age of thirteen were more likely to be perpetrators of abuse and neglect than fathers who were maltreated after age thirteen (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014). For mothers, however, if they were maltreated by their parents after age thirteen, they were more likely to be perpetrators of abuse and neglect than mothers who were maltreated before age thirteen (Romero-Martínez, Figueiredo, & Moya-Albiol, 2014). Research shows that parents who were neglected and maltreated in their childhood years are more likely to neglect their own children.
References
Duprey, E., Oshri, A., & Caughy, M. (2017). Childhood Neglect, Internalizing Symptoms and Adolescent Substance Use: Does the Neighborhood Context Matter? Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 46(7), 1582–1597. https://doi-org.proxy.library.stonybrook. edu/10.1007/s10964-017-0672-x
Finzi-Dottan, R., & Harel, G. (2014). Parents’ Potential for Child Abuse: An Intergenerational Perspective. Journal of Family Violence, 29(4), 397–408. https://doi-org.proxy.library.stonybrook.edu/10.1007/s10896-014-9592-7
Fontaine, D., & Nolin, P. (2012). Personality Disorders in a Sample of Parents Accused of Physical Abuse or Neglect. Journal of Family Violence, 27(1), 23–31. https://doi-org.proxy.library.stonybrook.edu/10.1007/s10896-011-9403-3
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Read the Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
Office of Children and Family Services. (n.d.). Definitions of child abuse and maltreatment. Retrieved from https://ocfs.ny.gov/main/cps/critical.asp.
Romero-Martínez, A., Figueiredo, B., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2014). Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: The role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(3), 510–516. https://doi-org.proxy.library.Stonybrook
.edu/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.09.010
