Twirling advice?

[carnation]

One of my younger daughters says she might want to twirl instead of cheer. That's okay but we don't know much about twirling.

Are there any twirlers out there? Is it true that there are lots of scholarships for good ones? I seem to recall they got them at the universities I went to.

[James]

One of my first cheering coaches was a twirler . . she implied there were scholarships and stuf available but short of a net search i don't really know.

[NutBrnHair]

Carnation, I have no "advice," but your question did remind me of my favorite episode of Designing Women !

The Beauty Contest
JULIA: Excuse me, aren't you Marjorie Leigh Winnick, the current Miss Georgia World?
MARJORIE: Why, yes I am.
JULIA: I'm Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne Sugarbaker's sister. I couldn't help over hearing part of your conversation.
MARJORIE: Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was here.
JULIA: Yes, and I gather from your comments there are a couple of other things you don't know, Marjorie. For example, you probably didn't know that Suzanne was the only contestant in Georgia pageant history to sweep every category except congeniality, and that is not something the women in my family aspire to anyway. Or that when she walked down the runway in her swimsuit, five contestants quit on the spot. Or that when she emerged from the isolation booth to answer the question, "What would you do to prevent war?" she spoke so eloquently of patriotism, battlefields and diamond tiaras, grown men wept. And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia, she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton, that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks! And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for sixteen and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation, as flames illuminated her tear-stained face! And that, Marjorie --- just so you will know --- and your children will someday know --- is the night the lights went out in Georgia!

[AOIIsilver]

There are scholarships for twirlers of varying levels. I was the feature twirler at Vanderbilt for 4 years. PM-me if I can help.
Silver

[UKDaisy]

We have 5 major twilers in the band. One of them competes nationally. She recently has been to Vegas, DC, LA, Austin, TX competing for titles and scholarship, and awards!

[honeychile]

I was a twirler in high school, but got "Tanya Harding-ed" at the State Championship. Thus ended any chances I had for scholarships, etc...

It's a wonderful form of discipline, though. I only cheered 1 year in junior high, so I really don't have much to compare the two.

[ISUKappa]

Originally posted by Hootie
OH YES!

Former Miss Nebraska and her twin sister (and now deceased brother) were twirlers for the Nebraska team. They did a lot of competitions and had scholarships and stuff. Christina used twirling as her talent for the Miss America competition and was featured on MTV for some show.

As was a former Miss Iowa. She was the twirler for the Iowa State Marching Band for 5 years and was very accomplished despite being born with a birth defect that left her without a hand (right or left, I don't remember). She was also a proud and active member of Delta Delta Delta and I'm fairly certain had many scholarships. Good Luck!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I twirled for a little while. I still have my baton. The bruises it gave me have healed fortunately. It was fun.

[juniorgrrl]

I took some twirling classes over the summer when I was in grade school. It was fun. Didn't ever do it at any other level.

And for the record, that is THE BEST designing women episode ever.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
Carnation, I have no "advice," but your question did remind me of my favorite episode of Designing Women !

The Beauty Contest
JULIA: Excuse me, aren't you Marjorie Leigh Winnick, the current Miss Georgia World?
MARJORIE: Why, yes I am.
JULIA: I'm Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne Sugarbaker's sister. I couldn't help over hearing part of your conversation.
MARJORIE: Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was here.
JULIA: Yes, and I gather from your comments there are a couple of other things you don't know, Marjorie. For example, you probably didn't know that Suzanne was the only contestant in Georgia pageant history to sweep every category except congeniality, and that is not something the women in my family aspire to anyway. Or that when she walked down the runway in her swimsuit, five contestants quit on the spot. Or that when she emerged from the isolation booth to answer the question, "What would you do to prevent war?" she spoke so eloquently of patriotism, battlefields and diamond tiaras, grown men wept. And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia, she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton, that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks! And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for sixteen and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation, as flames illuminated her tear-stained face! And that, Marjorie --- just so you will know --- and your children will someday know --- is the night the lights went out in Georgia!

I just get chills when I read these wonderful Designing Women quotes!! Is there a particular website for the better ones (such as this one)?

[rachel645]

I twirled when I lived in Omaha and I'm kind of sad that I quit because I had a lot of fun with it.

I know the University of Nebraska offers scholarships to twirlers, but you have to be a twirler in high school for them to offer you the scholarship. Most of the larger universities offer the scholarships as well, pretty much anywhere that has a marching band would probably be negotiable even if they don't already have a twirler.

[Jadey28]

I was a majorette also! I started when I was 8 and twirled up until I was 15. My high school didn't really have majorettes in the band and I was way past the rec level that I was participating in. So I stopped twirling and continued on with my cheerleading. (I did both during the same time periods.)

I don't know much about scholarships, but I just wanted to respond to the thread to wish your daughter good luck. I had lots of fun and went to lots of competitions around the USA. I still have all my batons, knives, flags...and whatever else we twirled! And I still have all my awards displayed in my old room at my parent's house!

[justamom]

NutBrnHair I'm with honeychile. Wasn't that one great show! I remember the episode you quoted.

Carnation, I'm not in the know, but I thought they had scholarships too.

[Rudey]

How about a real sport?

-Rudey

[GeekyPenguin]

My babysitter was a twirler, and I did it for quite a while, but got sick of it and quit to focus on my pitching. She got a scholarship to a Big 10 school for it, as I recall.