‘Really exciting': Regina baton twirlers set to represent Canada at competition in Italy
Thirteen baton twirlers from the ages of 12 through 18 and over are gearing up to face off against the best in Torino, Italy.
The athletes are a combination of twirlers from the Sundown Optimist Baton Group and Phoenix Baton Club. They will compete in both the Nations Cup and World Baton Twirling Championship in Italy, which will get underway on Aug. 2.
Former twirler and Team Canada coach Nancy Lightheart says the athletes representing Saskatchewan make up around 25 per cent of the Canadian representatives.
'That's really exciting for Saskatchewan, and for a province our size to have such a large contingent. We're obviously very proud of our athletes. They work tremendously long hours and it's hard to get to this level of training,' she said.
For some on the team like Gabriella Buchko, this won't be their first time representing Team Canada at Baton Twirling. Buchko recently took part in a Pan Pacific competition. At just twelve years of age, she is now somewhat of a veteran, but that doesn't make the mental aspect of a twirling routine any easier.
'When you're tossing the baton, you just have to keep doing repetition over and over to have muscle memory where your brain can finally be like, 'Okay I need to think of the corrections now, but I know how to do this trick,'' she explained.
For Malia Briere, also twelve years of age, Italy will be her first time donning the Maple Leaf. It's an experience she says will be an incredible learning opportunity.
'I feel like it will kind of be like, 'Oh wow, they can do this trick, and I might want to try this trick next year or in a couple years,'' she said.
Briere also said she is looking forward to visiting some historical buildings in Italy and touring Rome with her family. Both Briere and Buchko agree that a bonus to competing in Torino will be experiencing the Italian cuisine. For Buchko, it's also an opportunity to form new friendships.
'It'll be so exciting to meet many new people since everyone is so kind and so tight together. I know that I'm really good friends with a lot of people from across Canada, so it will be good to make new friendships internationally too,' she said.
When asked who the fiercest competition should be in the field, Lightheart mentioned Team Japan as the gold standard in the sport.
'The Japanese are always the highlight. Anytime we go to international events they are sort of the pinnacle,' she said. They're the team that people aspire to twirl like. So, yeah, it's always exciting to go watch them for sure.'
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