The Day That Baton Stood Still

Everything I learned from the past two twirling competitions went out the window ten minutes after we arrived at Cocoa Beach High School. There I was, yellow highlighter in one hand – program in the other, ready to scope out when and where Morgan needed to be. Yet her name was nowhere on the list. In fact, the eight paged program listed only groups. Unlike Winter Haven’s event, both individual and group competition would both be on the same day translating into a VERY LONG affair. Teams were first. In fact, Morgan’s Candy Man group was the very first performance at 8 AM sharp. It was not until one o’clock before I was changing Morgan into her individual costume. It was so unorganized that we ran to three different locations before they decided on where to judge the modeling portion. Once they settled on a place, only two judges appeared. There were at least three or four groups to critique meaning we needed one to two more judges. After waiting for one group to finish, I carefully walked over to the judge to ask if the 0-6 year old group was next. Apparently she did not have the credentials to preside over their age group, but I was assured the other judge did. My mouth dropped as I looked over at the queue for the sought after twirling critic. We had already waited 50 minutes, and it looked as if it would be another hour to go. Miss Lynette came to our rescue! She walked in, asked what was going on and got a judge for us in five minutes! I cannot compliment and praise our coaches enough! Both Lynette and Michele are so supportive and helpful. They even took time out of the insanity to watch Morgan as well as other competing Sundancers. You could hear a rumble of constant complaining all day long… but not from the girls. Morgan and her teammates never once uttered a protest or grumble. I was truly impressed. Even though I felt as if the day was never going to end, I am still captivated with the whole event. I enjoyed bonding with my daughter, her friends and the other Sundancer moms and supporters. At the end of the day (for us that was 10:30 PM – for others, after midnight), the Sundancers had yet again claimed the majority of first place trophies as well as some second, third and fourth place wins. And our little twirl girl came home with a first place trophy in modeling, second place trophy in solo, third place trophy in basic strut, third place medal in Instate Solo, fifth place ribbon in military strut and seventh place medal in the Basic Skills Pageant. Each category had at least 8 to 15 girls. It made the long day worthwhile. Only two more weeks till the last competition of the season - Miss Majorette of Florida…

Morgan's First Baton Solo