There's No Place Like Baton

This year I attended the NBTA National Baton Twirling Championships for the 15th time. But in many ways, it felt like my first. I was there not as an athlete, but as a business owner and staff person. Participating in these new capacities was an eye-opening experience on multiple levels.

As a business owner, I spoke with parents, coaches, judges, contest directors, athletes, and fellow “batontrepreneurs”. I learned what questions new parents have about the sport, its foreign terminology, and complex rule system: “Why is it important for my athlete to point their toes? How do I navigate a big contest like nationals? What do all these marks on the scoresheet mean?” I heard from coaches and contest directors about how they’re currently managing the logistics of their groups and events. And I networked with other twirling business owners, absorbing their entrepreneurial wisdom and experience.

I walked away with a new appreciation for the importance of making our sport more approachable to newcomers. I was reminded to always continuing to learn from others. And I was inspired to keep lifting other members of our community up in service of a greater goal: growing the sport of baton twirling.

During the contest, I found myself in the hot seat of helping to process all of the results for individual events. Thanks to the guidance and mentorship of seasoned contest directors Dennis Kaminski, Julie Leathers Stahl, Cindy DeFazio and her daughter Erin, Cindy Masidonio, and Kellie Guinn, I readily settled into a rhythm of digitizing master scoresheet results, printing the list of top 10 finishers, and updating the Google results spreadsheet each night.

The first day was not without its share of clerical mistakes, and to anyone affected by them I sincerely apologize. It certainly was a lesson on the necessity of working quickly and efficiently, but never at the expense of accuracy.

Over the course of 3.5 back-to-back 12-hour days, I entered hundreds scores until I reached wizard-level Excel skills. It was an incredibly rewarding experience, and one made all the better by having my baton contest partner-in-crime by my side the whole time, my mom (thank you for your help and support).

July 16-19 flew by faster than a baton spinning at warp speed. But it filled me with new knowledge, experience, and an even deeper passion for twirling that I can’t wait to carry into the 2025 season.

On the last day of the contest, I took in the collegiate finals. Sitting next to my coach, I looked around the arena and it hit me: it had been 10 years since I attended NBTA nationals. The floor was now blue instead of the traditional wood color, the bleachers had disappeared from the center of the fieldhouse, and pretzels had replaced AYOP chocolate chip cookies as the must-have snack. But the sport of baton twirling and the community of enthusiastic, creative, hardworking people who bring it to life were the same. Athletes were there to grow and compete; parents, to cheer their children to new heights; coaches, to encourage and guide their students; judges and staff, to give back to the sport that has impacted their own lives in so many positive ways.

I may have been away for a while, but I was home now. There’s no place like baton.