CRESTVIEW — Being the sole guy on the Big Red Machine color guard’s rifle team isn’t something that Conner Adams thinks much about. For the junior, spinning his gun in the ensemble is his focus.
“It’s such an incredible feeling,” Conner said. “You’re part of a whole; you’re in a bigger group. It’s not just you.”
Getting there took a lot of work, Conner said, beginning with summer band camp his freshman year.
“After I came to the first camp, I was a wreck,” he said, laughing. “I wondered, ‘Am I supposed to be here?’”
But it didn’t take long for him to realize he’d found his niche, even if he was the only boy on the squad.
“The first day I came to camp, I got some intrigued eyes,” Conner said. “Now these girls are part of my family.”
SPINNING
Conner’s fellow performers feel the same way about him.
“Having Conner on the team is very cool,” sophomore Amber Jones said. “He offers different advice because he has a different perspective than the rest of us.”
“What you notice first about Conner is his performance,” Crestview High band Director Jody Dunn continued. “Then you go, 'Hey, that’s a guy.'”
Conner is all about the performance.
“This activity has become such a passion of mine,” Conner said. “I couldn’t do anything else. I’ve been involved in a lot of stuff, but this is definitely my thing. When I’m in school, I’m spinning. When I’m home, I’m spinning.”
Marching and handling a gun is only part of rifle team, Dunn said.
“There’s a lot of dance involved with color guard,” he said. “It’s a hybrid. They have to learn a lot of ballet terms. They have to learn a lot more than marching.”
Students get to keep their 39-inch-long wooden guns, and they get pretty passionate about them. Some even name their rifles, Dunn said.
“They get real personal about it,” he said. “They get insane if someone else touches it, and they get heartbroken if it cracks.”
“I broke one once, but it didn’t break from dropping,” Conner said. “I tossed it really high and it snapped when I caught it. There’s definitely a mourning period.”
REWARDS
The reward for countless days of practice in the heat of summer comes when the rifle team displays its precision to the Jack Foster Stadium crowd.
“It’s hard to explain, but when you connect with your audience, it’s an incredible feeling,” Conner said. “Kind of a rush. Every single one of us in the band, we work so hard. If you don’t have that feeling, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
Conner hopes to make color guard a career, teaching the art after performing with one of the big national teams such as the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps.
“I can see him doing that,” Dunn said. “I can see him doing indoor guard and becoming a color guard instructor.”
Conner sometimes serves as encouragement to other guys who are interested in the art but have hesitations.
“A guy in Fort Walton once came over and said to me, ‘You’re such an inspiration,’” Conner said. “Nothing about this is a ‘girl activity.’ The girls are some of the strongest people I ever met.
“I think anyone who’s interested should try it out. It can give you experiences most other kids will never have. But it’s not for everyone. You find that out right from the start.”
For those who have what it takes, though, the rewards are there every Friday night on the ball field.
“I just like giving the audience as much of a good time as I’m having,” Conner said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'This is my thing,' says sole guy on Crestview High band's rifle team (VIDEO, PHOTOS)