The officers of  Westwood Band held the annual Band Winter Olympics on Wednesday, Dec. 12 in the band hall. The Winter Olympics consisted of several activities where each instrument section competed for points. Although there was no significant prize for winning, Band Olympics was created so all the students in the program had the chance to spend time with one another after marching season.

“I really love the idea of Band Winter Olympics,” Sydney Thornborrow ‘20 said. “After marching season we don’t really get to see much of each other, so this has always been a really good way to have fun with everyone again.”

After the officers made a few announcements, Band Olympics officially began with the first activity being a balloon free for all. One representative from each section would be selected to go in the middle of the band hall with a balloon andthe objective was to pop everyone else’s balloons, all while protecting their own. This event was won by Spencer Tatum ‘22 in the trombone section.

“This challenge is really fun but also difficult because people choose to defend their balloon instead of popping others, so their balloon is always safe,” Maria Gallen ‘19 said. “I managed to get second place, though, getting two points for the horn section.”

The second activity consisted of one representative putting vaseline all over their nose and having a string with a red pom pom in their mouth. The objective was to flip the pom pom up and get it to stick to their nose. This event was won by Kyle Le ‘22 from the saxophone section.

“This [activity] was really hard, not gonna lie,” Andrew Crawford ‘20 said. “But having my section cheering me on just made me really happy to be back with all of them again.”

The third activity was the most challenging for the students. It consisted of one representative covering their face in shaving cream, and another representative stood a few feet away throwing cheese puffs, trying to get as many stuck to the other person’s face as possible. The winner of this event was the flute section.

“I was the person in my section who covered my face in shaving cream,” Sai Tadiboyina ‘22 said. “I could barely open my eyes but we managed to get six cheese puffs stuck to my face.”

The fourth and final activity was an ugly sweater decorating contest. Each team was presented with a large paper with a pre-drawn sweater and a pack of markers. The objective was to make the best sweater they could think of, but they had to appeal to the band directors because they were going to be the judges. The winner of this event was the horn section.

“Showing the directors all our sweater designs was honestly the best part,” Justin Carver ‘19 said. “My section, the trumpets, drew one of our directors faces on it and seeing his reaction was priceless.”

The final results of the Winter Olympics were the trumpets in third place with five points, the horns in second place with seven points, and in first place, the trombone section with nine points.

“Winter Olympics this year was a complete success,” Cordell Foulk ‘19 said. “A lot more people came to this than expected and I’m really happy everyone had a good time.”