Collegiate Times

The two baton twirlers on the field during halftime are hardcore about their sport.

“I’ve pretty much broken every finger that I have,” said Ashley Bell, a fifth-year “feature twirler” and a graduate student in diary science. Bell has been twirling for 11 years and is performing on an injured ACL that she dislocated during the season’s first game against Alabama.

“I didn’t think I was going to go out, but I went out anyway,” Bell said. “I did not come all the way to Atlanta not to march this show. It’s just a normal twirling injury, and then the swelling never went down.”

Bell will have surgery in January to repair the damage, but in the meantime she remains optimistic about her condition. She wears a black knee brace at all times when she is performing and practicing.

“It’s attractive, I’m not going to lie,” she joked.

Baton twirling is not an easy task. Two twirlers are required to hoist at least one, and as many as three batons, up in the air and perform around the field during shows. They twirl the batons, which are about 29 inches long and weigh less than a pound, continuously throughout the

pregame and halftime shows. Bell said that it’s imperative that she and the other twirler stay focused during games.

“It’s a lot harder than people think,” Bell said. “It does get hard, especially when you’re doing multiple baton work. You’re constantly doing one. When you’re constantly juggling, you have to be aware where the other band members are. We have to adjust to them.”

Bell said baton twirling is a sport and she treats it as such.

“It’s not what it used to be where it’s just marching in parade and simply baton twirling,” Bell said. “It has evolved to really high standards. I don’t think it gets enough recognition for how much time we put into it. We put as much time into this as Olympic world champions do. We put in the time. We go to contests. We go to camps. We go and teach and train.”

Currently, there are two feature twirlers, and they are part of the Marching Virginians. They keep the same practice schedule as the band, which means they are working on their routines Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This doesn’t include the extra time the twirlers spend working out to stay in shape. 

1 | 2 | 3 | Next »