Baton twirlers ready for national competition

Baton twirling isn’t just for the halftime shows at the football games. For a group of local girls, it’s a year-round competitive sport.
The Pizzazz Star City Twirlers are practicing for national competition, which will be held at the University of Notre Dame next week.
Harlie Dale is 16 years old and twirls on the advanced level. She hopes to qualify for the world championships, which requires her to go through several rounds of competition at the national event.

“I have to make top three. I’ve been successful for making top five since I was nine, but making top three in the twirl-off is the difficult part,“ Dale said.

More than 4,000 twirlers will compete at the national competition. Although the Pizzazz team will compete as a group, many of them will compete individually on the novice, beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.