For many students, White Station’s pep rallies may seem quite repetitive; the band plays their music, the sports teams come out and occasionally some students play a dodgeball game. However, when Anisah Jackson (10) came out on the court, twirling her batons and throwing and catching them across her stage, many students were astonished. Jackson, who transferred to White Station as a sophomore this August, has been twirling batons for much of her life.
“[My coach’s] daughters went to college [at Memphis], and I wanted to do gymnastics at first, but then [my coach] introduced me to baton and I tried it and I actually really enjoyed it,” Jackson said.
Through her sport, Jackson hopes to obtain various athletic scholarships for colleges such as Washington University at St. Louis and Columbia University. Most of the scholarships she plans on applying for would cover all four years of her college education.
“[The scholarships] are specific,” her coach, Judy Welscheimer, said. You have to audition for a position at a college, and once you have auditioned and are selected, you then get a stipend … for most colleges [the scholarship] is four years of your tenure at the college.”
Though perhaps not as well-known for its difficulty as other sports, baton twirling is still a physically intensive sport. Furthermore, it requires great dexterity and accuracy to complete the tricks, necessitating frequent and intense individual practice. Some tricks, such as fire twirling, even require additional certification before attempting.
“I like to twirl the fire,” Jackson said. “It feels really cool.” Welscheimer added that “They go through a safety class before they are allowed to just light them up.”
However, baton twirling is not just a physical sport. Baton twirlers perform with music playing, and they sync their routines to the music to make the performance more compelling. More heated songs typically correspond with more fervid performances.
“We choreograph to the music,” Welscheimer said. “Some songs are fast, which means faster pace. Some songs are slow, some are dramatic – [the sport] is very involved with musical interpretation.”
Jackson’s journey through baton twirling has largely been facilitated through the efforts of her coach, who has been teaching baton twirling for many years and whose daughters are champion baton twirlers. Welscheimer also judges several baton twirling competitions, including those at a national level.
“As judges, we are human,” Welscheimer said. “We always want to make sure that we are making the right decision, and we also have an oath to judge fairly and to judge [only] the performance in front of us. An athlete can have an amazing first round, but [if] they don’t hold that position in the second, I can’t keep them there based on their first performance.”
In her practice, Jackson does two types of practice: group practice and individual practice. Group practice primarily involves each twirler trying to stay in sync with the others, while individual practice involves learning new tricks and techniques for both personal improvement and competitions.
“The group [practice] is really like working together and staying [in sync] with everybody,” Jackson said. “Everybody is doing the same things, and then solo practice is harder as you are learning new stuff every day.”
Baton twirling competitions are often fiercely competitive, with each twirler trying to outdo the other. These competitions are one of the main aspects of twirling that Jackson practices for, and such competitions are typically scored by technique and execution. Despite the ferocious competition, many baton twirlers still uplift their peers.
“Everywhere around the world, the [baton twirling] community is friendly,” Jackson said. “They all respect each other, even if, you know, you win a competition and they don’t, they are gonna respect you. It’s not like competition where you don’t like each other, you’re all friends.”
Jackon’s performance at the pep rally was her debut performance at White Station, allowing her to perform while being cheered on by other White Station students. Baton twirlers typically perform at football and basketball games, so Jackson is set to perform at those events next year. Jackson is looking forward to her future twirling opportunities at White Station.
“Twirling for your peers is scary, but yet – like I said at the pep rally – we don’t get that kind of audience and enthusiasm at a contest,” Welscheimer said. “Yes, we clap and stuff when you are done [at a competition], but it was just amazing to have that emotional energy and support for what she was doing, to help her understand how uniquely wonderful she is.”
