Color guard is not a sport.

First of all, I thank everyone for participating in this debate. The main purpose of this debate is to focus on the resolution of "Should Color Guard be considered a sport?" This has been a long argument at my high school, for both pro and con. Although I have had experiences being on guard, I will present three main arguments to show why color guard is NOT a sport. Before I go into my arguments, review key terms in this debate. Color guard is straightforward-- a non-military color guard. On the other hand, sport should be defined as a competitive activity between two or more individuals or teams in which there is a definitive clash among the participants where they interact and adapt to their opponents using a high degree of athleticism in order to directly score definitive points. Although this definition is widely accepted across the board, especially in the Olympics, my opponent is welcomed to oppose it. Color guard is NOT a sport. It is an activity. 1. Color Guard competitions do not have a definitive scoring system. A sport should be where teams are pitted against each other and the points earned a relative scale that shows one side's dominance over the other. However, like debate competitions, points are awarded to guards that perform to the judges' personal standards. An excellently coordinated pirouette with a horizontal toss can be awarded 6 points by one judge and 7 points by another. These points are added, and compared with others. This simply compares how "impressive" each team was. One might argue and say figure skating also shouldn't be a sport under this definition. Figure skating has an officially accepted judging criteria called the IJC-- International Judging Criteria-- and the 6.0 system, but Winter Guard International has none. Guard is instead about telling a story. A standalone quad or an impressive peggy spin won't cut it, but if 10 members do different things that when put together, then points are given for their unity. Sports are not about being given points for unit cohesion but instead implementing unit cohesion so that an individual can earn a definitive amount of points. Earn, not given. A guard will practice the exact same moves over and over again to be able to replicate them at the competition, with the purpose of hopefully impressing the panel of 5 judges. This shows no interaction between the competing teams and leads into my second argument. 2. There is no clear interaction between clashing forces and no adaptation to the opposing side's actions. A sport should be about how one side can overcome the other by interacting and adapting to the opponent. Sports mainly require strength, endurance, and strategy implementation. In an average basketball or football game, strategies are developed then discarded. If the opponent happens to steal the ball, the team goes from a defensive to an offensive strategy. The strategy for color guard is a one way road. Practice, practice, and practice the same moves over and over again. There is no change. At the end of the day, guard shows are a perfect example of a continuous monotonous movement that is simply replicated on a stage. Of course, every sport has a routine practicing of motions, but a person who plays sports has the liberty to pick and choose which motion s/he wishes to implement. A tennis player practices both forehands and backhands so that s/he can choose whether to do either. However, while a guard member should practice both flourishes and crazy 8s, s/he doesn't get the liberty to switch in the middle of the movement. This rigidity and inflexibility for guard members to plan and react raises questions if color guard should even be considered a sport. 3. It's not recognized by the Olympics. Color guard is not officially recognized by the Olympics. Yes, it fits similar criteria as ribbon dancing, figure skating, gymnastics, and more, but it's still not in or recognized by the Olympics. It should be known by the opposition that "not" being in the Olympics is no longer a valid reason for declaring an activity not a sport due to the recent cap of Olympic sports to 28 (hence baseball being dismissed), but the International Olympics Committee still recognizes sports that are sports (ie. tug of war). Color guard has not been recognized as a sport-- there is clearly something about color guard that does not define it as a sport. Overall, I presented three clear cut arguments proving why color guard is not a sport. If every activity involving athleticism were a sport, what wouldn't be? Obviously being classified a sport should have more complexity and interaction that that, and color guard just doesn't make the cut. Color guard will remain an activity-- a difficult and challenging one-- and sadly not an official sport. I look forward to my opponent's arguments.