Anyone who knows Emelia Adam, an eighth grade student at Hamburg, is well aware of the importance of her baton. She is either twirling, ready to twirl or just finished. She is often seen in various gyms in the area or simply practicing in the street. Many spectators stop their cars to watch her toss, flip or roll the baton.
This has been the case for Emelia since she began twirling at the age of 5 with the local baton group Twirl Blazers which was instructed by Louise Gassmann and assisted with Nicole Miller.
Emelia’s passion grew and her skills improved. At the age of 7 she found her present coaches but now she travels a bit farther for baton lessons… all the way to Maryland where her coaches Anna and Casey Bryant live. She receives lessons several times a week during the summer and weekly during the off season.
This past twirling season was very similar for Emelia. The baton was always with her while she worked on mastering difficult new material or smoothing out old material. Her hard work, dedication and passion for her sport paid off as Emelia competed all over winning many awards in the preteen division.
Early in the season, she secured a spot to compete in the National Grand National Championship which was held in July. Emelia twirled a no-drop routine on the floor at Notre Dame University, earning her the “Regina Moxley Memorial No Drop Pin” and a 10th place finish. This provided another opportunity for Emelia to continue. She retwirled and her final placement in the Grand National was in the top 20.
Her biggest accomplishment this summer was winning the title of “Preteen Miss Majorette of the North Atlantic” in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in June. This opened the door for Emelia to compete in the “Preteen Miss Majorette of America” pageant at Notre Dame University where she earn 17th place.
In addition to these two big events, Emelia competed in the open competition, NBTA, American Youth on Parade (AYOP) the same week in July. Emelia had a fabulous week earning the titles, Intermediate World Preteen Strut Winner and Advance Flag Champion. She also place 2nd in “All-American Girl Modeling”, 3rd in Advance World 3-Baton, 9th in Intermediate World 2-baton, and 7th in Advance solo.
In addition to AYOP, Emelia competed Twirling Unlimited International Competition in July. She won her 13 age division International solo and place 5th in the overall International solo.
Earlier this month Emelia received an invitation to complete in the Twirl Mania Disney Gold Invitational in February. She was chosen to her performances in TU International solo. This is quite an honor for Emelia and she is looking forward to twirling and competing in the Walt Disney World over President’s Day Weekend. So now in addition to practicing Emelia will be fundraising to earn her trip.
Emelia also helped to coach her little sister, Kadryn this year. Kadryn also competed during this twirling season and earned some awards. She place 4th in Novice World Flag Baton, 11th in 7-9 Show twirl, 11th in Novice 2 baton, and 14th in Novice solo but earned the “Regina Moxley Memorial No Drop Pin” for her solo performance at AYOP. Kadryn also placed 3rd in Novice 2-baton and 3rd in Novice Modeling at TU International competition. Emelia is quite a role model for her little sister as well as many other young athletes she comes across.
Hard work and dedication are two qualities which Emelia knows quite well. No matter what she is doing, she works hard. She excels in school and also plays soccer on the middle school team. She also helps to coach her sister’s soccer team. So the next time you see a girl tossing her baton on the sidewalk or street, whether it is one of the Adam girls or someone else, know that they are practicing to perfect their sport and it takes a lot of practice to become one of the best.
