The Kraebbers: First Baton Competition

Ally competing in her first baton competition on Sunday, October 5. It was the Indiana State competition and was hosted by her teacher right in Brownsburg. Very convenient! She started taking lessons in late January and started working on competition routines a few months ago. She competed in modeling, basic marching and one-baton solo at the novice level. I was not sure what to expect from her and Miss Veronica and I did our best to prepare her for the setting of the day. She does fairly well at her weekly lesson since she does it with a pair of sisters that are her same age but have been twirling about a year longer and have competed before. I wanted to get her a nice costume for her birthday as a surprise but I was hesitant to invest a lot, especially since she refused to practice for me. And when she did, it didn't go very well leaving us both frustrated. I was able to get a beautiful custom-made costume at a great price and grandma Julie took care of the shoes and a special warm up outfit as well for her birthday. She looked the part of an advanced twirler and was so excited. She wasn't nervous at all but asked a lot of questions about all of the girls she saw when we got there. There were about 70 kids participating and she had between 6 and 8 girls in each event she competed in. I knew three of the four judges, one being a girl I used to twirl with and former Purdue Golden Girl (Ann Loppnow). For all the whining about practicing at home, she was very serious about it during the day. She wanted to practice each thing before she took the floor and was interested in what every other girl was doing. The first thing she did was modeling and I knew it was going to be her best event. I was right! The first thing she did was near perfect and she took 2nd place. The second modeling she did wasn't as good, she was a little distracted by some other girls. Next we put her hair up like the big girls and she set out for two rounds of basic marching. This did not go so well. It involves marching in a perfect square and she is used to following lines on the floor. I honestly have no clue what she was doing. She wanted to practice more before one-baton solos and I was really worried about how this was going to go. She was having a hard time remembering the sequence and was very easily distracted all day. The first one she did was so good! I was shocked and then the second was even better! She got 3rd and 1st place medals. For her last one, we didn't have the time to practice and she definitely got distracted and forgot a lot of it. She ended the day with 4 medals: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and then a small trophy for placing 5th in the overall combined event Miss Autumn pageant. She was so excited and happy! I was absolutely shocked at how well she did for the majority of the day. She may not like to practice but she already knows how to turn it on when its time. I received so many compliments about her costume and her excitement throughout the day. Definitely a lot of things to work on but our main goal was to try it and see if she enjoyed it. Now we are on to the next one!

The one thing I didn't expect was ho hard it would be for me as a mom this time. I've been a twirler and a judge but having your kid try it is a whole different level of stress. Mostly exciting but taking the whole day in as a parent was a little overwhelming for me. I almost wish I didn't know so much about what was going on. It was great being able to help all the moms and daughters with hair and makeup and cheering them on but its just odd without my team and family there. I was really proud of Ally and the effort she gave. The fact that she wants to do it again is good enough for me. I really wanted our family there to see her so hopefully we can find one close to home before regionals in July. We called Grandma Julie after every event and she showed off her awards on Skype but its just not the same! I cant say enough about the impact baton has had on my life and seeing the second generation getting started is so strange.