Like any other sport, baton twirling comes with a dictionary of terms that needs to be memorized in order to understand. Luckily, we’ve get your go-to guide for mastering the terms! Let’s start with the parts of the baton: ball, tip, and shaft. The ball is the larger end of the baton, while the tip is the smaller end. The shaft is the metal middle of the baton. Then, there are the positions of the baton and body. Common ones include: cradle, free hand, salute, at ease, and attention. When you cradle the baton, you’re laying it from your hand up to your elbow. Your free hand is, as you would imagine, your hand without the baton. A salute is when your left hand is on your hip and the baton is perpendicular to the food with your right hand at your shoulder. When you’re at ease, your feet are in second position with your baton resting either behind your back or at your leg. When you’re standing at attention, your feet are in parallel first with the baton in cradle position. Your free hand
Posted: 10/18/2018
As anyone who competes in color guard will tell you, it is a physically demanding sport. Staying in shape is crucial for long practices and competitions. Luckily, if you take the time to practice fundamentals daily, not only will you grow as a performer, but you can stay on top of your game. First, choose a set of basics that you will do as a warm-up every single day. These can be things like drop spins, pull-hits, and flourishes on the flag or the rifle. By practicing the basics, you can increase strength and flexibility. As you begin to master the basics, you can start to add in specific exercises on specific days. For example, Mondays could be focused entirely on flags, while Thursdays could be focused entirely on rifles. Next, layer your body movements with your equipment fundamentals. This will help your body adjust to performing both upper and lower body responsibilities at the same time. This leads into our next tip — multitask. Use any of your downtown at practices (or at home!
Posted: 10/4/2018
