Eleven members of TwirlTasTix, a baton twirling team based in Bel Air, competed at the national championship in six team events and over 90 individual events.

Nationals, which took place at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, hosted twirlers from around the country for the weeklong competition.

Ava and Emily Albidress, Cameron Houck, Kaylee Hulka and Lily Osburn were among the girls  who qualified.

Baton events range from solo, show twirl, strut, duet, two- and three-baton and college-level competition. There are also pageants, which consist of three skills, modeling, strut, similar to dancing, and solo, where girls showcase their twirling skills.

Ava Albidress, 10, and her sister Emily, 8, competed at nationals, placing within the top 20 for most of their events. Ava competes at the beginner 7 to 9 level while Emily competes at novice 7 to 9. Ava placed 17th for the beginner juvenile pageant, seventh in beginner two-baton and 10th in beginner strut. Emily placed 6th in novice solo and 10th in novice strut.

“I like to be able to work really hard in practice. Then all the work pays off at the competition,” Ava said. “I was really excited because it was my first time going and it was different from the other competitions.” 

Kaylee, 15, competed in intermediate 13 to 15. She won the intermediate junior pageant and intermediate X strut.

To prepare for nationals, the girls go through a summer camp where they practice four days a week. During this time, they hone their technique and perfect their routines. Closing out the camp, the girls were tasked with performing their routines in front of friends and family.

Performing is Cameron’s favorite piece, as it’s a chance for her to not worry about being perfect, but rather entertaining the crowd.

“Competitions can be frustrating,” she said. “You get into this mindset of ‘I have to win,’ but when you’re performing, it’s not about ‘this needs to be absolutely perfect.’ It’s more like I just need to entertain. I just need to go out there and have fun.”

She competed in the intermediate 16-plus group. Cameron, 18, is entering her freshman year at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She placed seventh in intermediate strut, seventh in all-American modeling, and ninth in intermediate two-baton, and competed in her first collegiate event, placing 59th overall.

According to Lily, 17, twirling takes a lot of skill. It involves hand-eye coordination, perfect timing, athleticism and creativity.

“There’s a lot that goes into baton twirling that makes it challenging in some aspects,” she said.

Lily competed at the advanced 16-plus level, placing fourth in senior rhythmic twirl, second in intermediate strut and 27th in advanced senior pageant. She went on to the Junior Olympics in Houston, where she won gold in advanced all-around, advanced solo, and intermediate strut, and advanced two- and three-baton.

To get through the nerves of competing, Lily said, she leans into the feeling. She focuses on her routine, practicing each trick numerous times, proving to herself she has what it takes to compete.

“That made me get out of my head because I was like, ‘I can’t do this trick,’ but then I did it five or 10 times,” she said.

Head coach Christine Zoll said she aims to help each member become confident women and young girls.

“I want these young girls to feel good about themselves, have good body image,” she said. “We’re training them to have interview skills and to be comfortable in their own skin.”

Zoll, who’s been coaching baton for 24 years, also said that although she wants girls to place high and win championships, she also wants them to enjoy their youth.

“I always try to make sure they enjoy twirling,” she said. “I try to make sure they don’t drill so hard that they can’t be kids. It’s a balance. If I drilled them harder, they’d be champions, but they also would probably hate their childhood.” 

Cameron said she’s looking forward to embarking on the next step in her twirling journey — participating on the team at Rutgers. Kaylee, who’s going into her sophomore year at Fallston High School, looks forward to sharing her new skills with her classmates and teaching more people about the world of twirling.

For next season, Lily is excited to see how difficult she can make her routines.

“It’s probably going to stress me out and going to be hard,” she said. “I’m excited to increase my skill and be able to compete at nationals at a higher level than I did this year.”

Cameron adds that the thing she loves most about baton is that there is no ceiling to how good someone can be.

“Even if you’re the best, you can still go above that,” she said.

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