From the February 25, 2004 edition of The New Castle Record
Southernettes Baton Corps members April Marshall and Rebecca Goss of New Castle eat, sleep and breathe twirling.
April, 15, and Rebecca, 14, spend their days and nights twirling, according to their mothers, Carol Marshall and Debra Goss.
“We’ve seen them practice as much as eight hours straight,” said Marshall. “They spend a lot of time at each other’s houses.”
It seems that all the hard work paid off for the group. They and members of the Southernettes Baton Corps from Roanoke pranced and twirled their batons and hoops right into first place at the Lions Club Christmas Parade in New Castle in December.
In addition to taking Best Overall 1st place in that parade, the Southernettes won awards in four other parades during the Christmas season.
Those were Best Overall-1st place in the Salem Christmas parade, Best Overall Decorations in the Roanoke Christmas Parade, Best Professional Marching Unit in the Rocky Mount Christmas Parade and Best Children’s Other in Vinton’s Parade.
But the girls don’t seem to mind the persistence and hard work it takes to be in the upbeat Baton Corps, which includes two newcomers from Craig County, Tiffani and Destanni Smith.
Southernettes learn to twirl not only batons but flags, ribbons, hoops, knives, pom-poms and fire as well.
“I’ve been doing this for 2 ½ years,” said April, who got the bug to twirl after seeing an ad in the paper. “I have been in gymnastics off and on since I was three, did ballet at the New Castle School of Dance and played volleyball for a while, but now that I have gotten into baton twirling, I don’t have time for anything else.”
Gathering from the smile on her face, it was obvious she was content to give up all the other activities to follow her current passion.
“I sometimes take my baton to church on Wednesday evenings and after we are finished, I twirl while I’m waiting for my parents. That’s how I have gotten a lot of kids interested in this.”
Like April, Rebecca Goss said she has been twirling since the age of 4 and began teaching two years ago.
“I just don’t think the Corps could have had a better teacher,” Rebecca’s mother said. “She is always so patient with the girls and keeps everything so calm and cool. They just love her.”
With Dowdy’s guidance, both April and Rebecca earned a spot in the District 4-H Share the Fun competition that will be held in Harrisonburg April 17. Since the Craig County Extension Office was without a 4-H agent at the time of the Jan. 23 tryouts, the two girls were invited to participate in the Roanoke Valley Share the Fun competition.
From there they went to the final competition held Feb. 6 at Virginia Western Community College auditorium where they were two of the top three that were chosen to compete at the District level. Over 300 youth from 15 counties in the Roanoke District will compete in areas of Talent, Public Speaking, and Fashion Revue.
The Southernettes have also been invited back to participate in the 2004 “Muscles in Motion” event at Valley View Mall on April 17. This is a fundraiser sponsored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association to help raise money for Jerry’s Kids.
“At first it is all really exciting but then it sometimes gets tiring when the girls have five Christmas parades in a row,” said Carol Marshall. “Plus, the cold is hard on the little ones. Even the older girls’ hands get numb.” Nonetheless, having skipped five levels between last year and this year, both girls have hopes and dreams of moving up to drill team come September because then they will get to take part in competitions.
Despite the cold, busy schedules, trying to find a place to practice their art when the weather is bad and hectic December schedules, both girls agreed that a lot of good exercise activity is involved in twirling as well as learning coronation skills and making new friends. Needless to say, both girls share a love for the glamorous costumes and all the glitz and glitter that goes with the territory.
This year’s activities will end with a recital May 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Lucy Addisin School in Roanoke. April and Rebecca will perform a duet in this year’s “A Night at the Movies” recital.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
