Life of a twirler

By Majoretka (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Majoretka (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Caley Galarneau, Reporter

The moments twirlers go through every week.

It was only about three years ago that baton twirling crashed into my life and changed everything.  It was the summer after my sixth grade year, and I was tired of being so bored all of the time.  I had a few friends that were twirling, and I figured I would try it for myself.  I  found the company Pam’s Chargers and decided to join with them.  The coach, Renee Parowski, was very patient and worked with me as much as possible.  I remember her saying that I was special and that I was born to twirl.

After about six months of twirling, Renee got me into a competition.  It was a small one held at the high school’s gym, and I only did marching and a solo.  I did not win anything that day, but the rush of being in front of a judge hooked me.  At that point, I realized I had finally found a sport that I love, and I worked even harder.  I practiced everyday for an hour; then worked my way up to two and half to three hours.  Unfortunately, that only lasted until my seventh grade year because I had so much homework all of the time, but on weekends I spent all day outside practicing. I was advancing pretty quickly for only twirling for a short amount of time, but lets be real here. I was not good, well I could do some basic things but they were not the best.  I am just a fast learner and that got me to where I am today.  I have gotten better, and I have gotten first place in many events at a lot of competitions.

My eighth grade year, I was the feature majorette and now in ninth grade, I share the position with a friend.  It was such a great accomplishment and I worked very hard for it.  I also twirl for the school’s competition team; the past seasons have been a blast, and I cannot wait for this season to start!

I go to large competitions with my coach, and I am on the senior team which means I twirl with high school students that also twirl with Renee.  It is such a great experience to twirl with them even though we have had a few incidents that didn’t go so well.   With that being said, there was a practice a few weeks ago, and we were doing cross tosses. Two batons ended up hitting each other, and I got hit in the face.  The next day I had a black eye and a migraine for three days.  I still love everyone on my team because things happen, and we cannot control them.  Another incident that happened to me was at an individual practice, and I was doing a trick that did not end well.

Caley G.