Sophomore Starlin Bognar has always been involved in sports and her most recent favorite sport is winter guard. Winter guard is a sport that not many people know about; it is a team combined of students from both Antioch Community High School and Lakes Community High School that compete at various competitions. Bognar has been on winter guard for two years and is always practicing so that she can be the best that she can be at the sport that she loves. Bognar has worked incredibly hard to be the athlete that she is now.

“I first heard about winter guard in band class because they were having tryouts,”  Bognar said. “We watched a video of the Lakes winter guard, and I thought it was really cool so I decided to join.”

During tryouts everyone is taught the same little piece of the routine. After everyone has learned the routine, they get into groups and practice and then compete for the limited number of spots on the team. Bognar was a very quick learner and was lucky enough to make it onto the team.

Winter guard practices twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays at Lakes. Most practices consist of learning more of the routine or working on and perfecting the parts of the routine they have already learned.

“I was able to learn really fast because I was involved in cheerleading my freshman year, and that really helped me out,” said Bognar.

Bognar has many friends on and off her winter guard team that support her with everything that she does, whether if it is during practices or at her competitions. One of her best friends, sophomore Anna Baker, has always been supportive of Bognar because of her determination in everything she does.

“Starlin has a determined mindset,” Baker said. “She doesn’t give up when things get difficult and she tries her best and works hard.”

Although it is only Bognar’s second year on the winter guard team, an audience member would not be able to notice. When watching Bognar “do her thing” in winter guard, many people are surprised with the type of talent that she has. Bognar has grown tremendously because of winter guard; ever since she tried out she has always wanted to learn more. Winter guard is what keeps her going.

With Bognar being on winter guard, she has learned many things about the sport and about the real world. When being in a sport you learn a lot and your perspective on life can change.

Bognar gets prepared for winter guard by being a part of color guard in the marching band. With being in color guard during the fall, she can better herself because she is still practicing for what she will be doing in  winter guard.