May Madness Social Media Challenge!

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

May Madness is upon us, and it is time to celebrate. With SOOO many great blog posts coming up including many more Collegiate Twirler announcements, NBTA State and AAU State updates, AYOP details, and FOUR baton twirlers competing in the upcoming Miss Texas pageant, we have so much to share.

While some of our posts get an awesome number of views, we could be getting more reach into the Texas Twirling Community. To do this, the Twirling is Catching TX Edition Blog will be running our very first Social Media Challenge starting NOW and lasting until 11:59 PM on Friday, May 5th.

Want to be entered in a drawing for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to your choice of either ABC Baton or Star Line Baton? Don't worry, this Challenge is EASY! 

There are many ways to get your name in the drawing, and there is no limit to the number of times your name can be added. This contest is open for anyone to participate in. Just follow the steps below:

(1) Follow the Twirling is Catching TX Edition Facebook Fan Page if you do not already.

(2) Share the Challenge post, or any post, made on the Twirling is Catching TX Edition Facebook Fan Page, to your personal Facebook page and encourage your friends to also follow the Fan Page.

(3) Follow us on Instagram @twirlingiscatchingtx if you do not already.

(4) Share the Challenge post on your Instagram and encourage your Insta friends to also follow @twirlingiscatchingtx. If you do not have a sharing app, you can just copy the challenge ad and tag us.

If the Facebook Fan Page OR Instagram account crosses over 500 "followers" during the contest period, we will add a SECOND $25 gift card, giving everyone TWO chances to win!

The drawing will take place on Monday, May 8th at 11:30 am live on Facebook, and then the winner (or winners) will be shared on the Blog & Instagram accounts.

Let us know if you have any questions about the contest by contacting us on FB or emailing us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com. Otherwise, happy sharing! See you on Social Media!

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Midwestern State University

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help share the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selection of the 2017-18 Midwestern State University Feature Twirler. MSU, located in Wichita Falls, TX (midway between DFW and the Oklahoma border) is the home of the Mustangs and a nationally recognized Liberal Arts school. 

New to Texas, and the MSU Memorial Stadium, will be the 2017-18 Mustang Feature Twirler, Alexis Maggard. Alexis, an incoming freshman that will be majoring in Special Education, is from Carthage, MO, and is a student of Coach Trisha Swoveland. 

Congrats to you Alexis, and welcome to Texas! We can't wait to see you rock it on the field as a member of the Golden Thunder Marching Band. Go Mustangs!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Texas State University

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help spread the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selection of the 2017-18 Texas State University Feature Twirlers. Texas State, located in San Marcos, TX, is the home of the "Pride of the Hill Country" - the Bobcat Marching Band. Annually, the BMB selects up to two twirlers to serve in their feature positions. Auditions were held for the 2017-18 season on April 22nd, and two twirlers were selected.

Returning to the BMB this season will be Denise Arriaga. Denise (pictured on the left), will be a Senior in the fall and is from San Antonio. New to the Maroon & Gold will be Jillian Romaguera. Jillian (pictured on the right) will be an incoming freshman and is from The Woodlands.

We look forward to seeing these two young ladies as they lead the Pride of the Hill Country and are featured at halftime in the Bobcat Stadium. Congrats to Denise & Jillian! Eat 'Em Up Cats!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Texas Christian University

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help spread the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selection of the 2017-18 Texas Christian University Feature Twirlers. TCU, located in Fort Worth, TX, is known for some awesome football, and even more awesome twirlers. This coming Fall, the Horned Frogs will feature two excellent twirlers on the field.

Returning to the TCU Marching Band will be Omaha, NE native, and Freshman Biology Major, Ashlyn Therkelson. Ashlyn (pictured on the left), has been twirling since she was 4 with Sue's Stepper-Ettes and was a member of the 2015 NBTA World Team. At TCU she is a member of Gamma Phi Beta, Chemistry Club, Honors College, AED Pre-Health Honors Society, St. Jude's 'Up Til Dawn' Executive Board Member.

New to the Purple & White, from Bettendorf, Iowa, is Freshman Pre-Occupational Therapy & Deaf Habilitation Major, Emma Kate Wichman. Emma (pictured on the right), is the former 2013 Miss Iowa's Outstanding Teen. At TCU, she is a member of  Zeta Tau Alpha - where she is the Service Chairman, Student Foundations, Frog Shadows, and Frog Camp.

We are looking forward to seeing these two lovely, talented, and involved young ladies as they twirl together in the Amon G. Carter Stadium. Fear the Frog!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

Contest Calendar Series - 2017 San Antonio Twirling Festival

Hello Texas Twirl Fans...

All these Fall Twirler Announcements have been so exciting, and we have several more coming up that we cannot wait to share. Did you know that the Baylor Features announcement post got 2,000+ page views? Wow! Love it! Keep sharing the blog so we can keep spreading the awesome things going on in the Texas twirling community... and speaking of good things...

Today's Contest Calendar Series will be discussing the 2017 San Antonio Twirling Festival!

*DEADLINE MONDAY* Please note that the deadline for this competition is Monday, April 24th. You must have your entries postmarked by this date. Click here to download the entry form. For more information, please contact the contest director at pmontgomery877@yahoo.com.

Who? What? When? Where? Why?
Who: Contest Directors Pat Montgomery & Kelli Park
What: 2017 San Antonio Twirling Festival
When: Saturday, May 6th, 2017. Facility opens at 7:45 am. Contest begins at 8:30 am.
Where: Claudia T Johnson High School; 23203 Bulverde Road, San Antonio, TX

Why: Join us for the last NBTA local event before the end of the school year. This is a great contest to test out post-regional adjustments or let those that moved up a division at Regionals try out their routines in their new division. Plus we have nice facilities, a close practice gym, concessions, and fun prizes!

CONTEST HASHTAG: #satxtwirlfest2017
For this event we strongly encourage our Texas twirlers to utilize the hashtag #satxtwirlfestl2017 when posting photos of this competition on social media.

Highlighted Event: As this is the last contest before State UIL and many High School twirler auditions, this contest offers a special UIL/School Try-Out division for twirlers to perform their routine in front of a judge for feedback and scoring. This is a great opportunity for these twirlers to have their routines on the floor before their official UIL/Try Out performance dates.

Unique Feature: While winning pageant is nice, there is also a lot of value that goes in to winning solo, x-strut, and 2-baton, as these wins help towards a twirler's advancement. To celebrate the division winners for these events, special winner sashes will be awarded to all first place winners in solos, x-struts, and 2-baton.

Any Last Comments: Paypal payment is available!!! Visit www.paypal.me/PatMontgomery to send your contest entry fee via PayPal.

Want to attend this event? Please download the 2017 San Antonio Twirling Festival entry form, or contact the director at pmontgomery877@yahoo.com.

Also, don't forget to check out http://www.texastwirl.com/contests.html for information and entry forms, including the NBTA State Entry, for many upcoming contests in and around the State of Texas. There are many great contests heading our way, and we don't want anyone to miss out!

Photo Credit: The source of the photos in this blog post are credited to Brandy Chandler, Pamela Randolph, Nicole Willingham, Mary Ann Srulowitz, Jennifer Bowles, Twirl ATX, and Kelli Park.

We hope you have enjoyed this edition of the Contest Calendar Series. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Texas Tech University

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help spread the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selection of the 2017-18 Texas Tech University Twirling Line. Texas Tech, located in Lubbock, TX, is well known for their National Champion twirling line. Lead by Coach Bethany Tolley, the Texas Tech Twirling Line performs at football games, school events, and competes on the National level. Auditions for the Fall twirling line were held April 8th, and a team of nine twirlers were selected.

The 2017-18 Texas Tech University Twirling Line includes returning twirlers Allyson Padron (Head Twirler), Adrianna Chavez, Reagan McWilliams, Shae Willingham, Paxton Parliament, Emily Smith, and Alyssa Womble, and welcomes new twirlers Kaitlin George and Megan Bass.

Congrats ladies on being a part of another year of this awesome twirling institution. We know it is going to be a great year and we cannot wait to see you all perform at AYOP in July representing what a Texas university can look like. Guns Up Ladies! Wreck Em!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Baylor University

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help spread the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selection of the 2017-18 Feature Twirlers for Baylor University in Waco, TX. The Baylor Golden Girls, lead by Coordinator Lynn Dell Harrell, are coveted twirling spots in the twirling community as these positions have a history of being held by some of the country's best. We are super excited to see that the upcoming Fall season will not disappoint in keeping up with this tradition!

We would like to say welcome to the newest member of the Baylor Golden Girls... Texas' very own Paige Glass from Gonzales, TX, who will be entering Baylor as Freshman in the Fall. Congrats Paige!

Paige will be one of five Feature Twirlers at Baylor University for the 2017-18 Season.

The other four twirlers will include second newcomer Jillian Taylor from California (no picture available), current Baylor Golden Girls - Adaline Bebo & Phoebe Carr, and veteran Golden Girl, Caroline Carothers, who will be returning from her reign as the current Miss Texas!

What an amazing group of twirlers to be twirling together on the same field. Makes you want to break out your green and gold and yell "Sic Em Bears!" just so you can get a chance to see them. Congrats to Paige, Jillian, Adaline, Phoebe, and Caroline. We wish you a wonderful football season!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

Save The Date: World Baton Twirling Day 2018

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

Wow! We had a great time following everyone's World Baton Twirling Day posts and videos yesterday. It was so much fun to see the members of our community come together around the world and bond over the sport that we all love.

A special shout out to all of you who shared your World Baton Twirling Day Official Routine videos with the Twirling is Catching TX Edition Facebook page and the @twirlingiscatchingtx Instagram account. A big thank you to following twirlers for letting us be a part of celebrating World Baton Twirling Day with you:

• Lori Perkins, Sheri Carter, and the USTA Tx State Competitors
• The Twirl ATX - Austin Twirling Academy Twirlers
• The Texas Stingerettes from the Eisenhauer School of Twirling
• Alexa Bourdage
• Savannah Miller
• Paige Glass and the Gonzales High School Twirlers
• Rachel Hutchinson and her mom
• The Texas Touch Of Class Twirlers & Moms
• Alamo City Strutters Samantha, Abby, and Ava
• Josie Linson and her brother Davis
• Callyn Marvell, Melanie Marvell, and DeLee Winkelmann
• VM Twirlers Team Pink 
• VM Twirlers Team Purple
• The Frenship Middle School & High School Twirlers
• Stephanie McBurnett and Major Margaret Mann

We also want to thank the organizers of this year's event for all their work in getting such a big undertaking together. Locally we owe big thanks to Baylor Feature Twirler and World Team Member, Adaline Bebo! Her ambassador pledge website, emails, and social media flyers were awesome and really helped to hype everyone up and bring attention to the event. Other organizers included Jennifer Marcus, Anastasia Tsaloukas, and Joyce Van der Locht.

If you didn't get to participate this year, don't worry! The WBTF has announced that we will be making World Baton Twirling Day an annual event to be held each year on April 10th. Make sure you go right now and mark April 10th, 2018 on your calendars. We can't wait to see what everyone will come up with next year!!!

We hope you have enjoyed today's post. We are always looking for great stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

2017 Fall Twirler Announcements - Sam Houston State University

It is that exciting time of year where twirlers are auditioning for twirling spots for the Fall. This blog hopes to help spread the excitement by announcing the selections for the lovely twirlers we will see on the field very soon. If you have an announcement for new twirler selections for 2017-18, please email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com so that we can help spread the word!

Today's post announces the selections of the new feature twirlers for Sam Houston State University. SHSU, lead by Coordinator Kelley McCormick, held their live auditions on April 1st and named three twirlers to represent the Bearkat Band for the 2017-2018 season.

We would like to congratulate returning feature twirlers Kaymie Thomas and Sara Wleczyk, and welcome first year feature twirler Rachel Doucette. We look forward to seeing these three rock the orange and blue in the Elliot T. Bowers Stadium this coming season. Go Bearkats!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it. 

World Baton Twirling Day ~ April 10th!

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

As you may have seen going around, and as those at the 2017 Southwest Regional Championship award ceremony last weekend learned, Monday, April 10th is going to be the very first World Baton Twirling Day!

The goal for this event, spearheaded by the WBTF, according to adalinebebo.com, is to "bombard Social Media on Monday, April 10th with thousands of videos from around the world that feature all of us bringing awareness to the sport of Baton Twirling through a unified plan of action". We all know we love our social media AND we love baton twirling, so this seems like the perfect combination!

To help twirlers come together for this effort, there are several online resources you can utilize:

1) Visit http://adalinebebo.com/world-baton-twirling-day-2017 and make your pledge to be a World Baton Twirling Day Ambassador! Include your name and email address and Adi Bebo will personally create and email you a custom flyer to post on your social media sites. They are super cute too!!!

2) In order to help with this effort, an "Official Routine" has been put together for those interested in participating. The routine can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Xyt7fRA9o. 

Get together with your favorite twirlers and/or your twirling teammates and learn this simple routine. Then film yourselves performing it and post it on Social Media on Monday, April 10th! The more twirlers we can get participating, the more impact we can make! 

**Twirlers at the 2017 Southwest Regional Championship Awards Ceremony learn the World Baton Twirling Day routine lead by Adaline Bebo and Merri-Frances Dmitrzak** 

If you want just the music not attached to a video to play when you record, it can be found at http://www.wbtf.org/content/world-baton-twirling-day-music, or http://adalinebebo.com/world-baton-twirling-day-2017, or you can email texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we can send you the MP3 File. 

3) In the meantime, make sure to visit and join the World Baton Twirling Day Facebook Event! You can either search for "World Baton Twirling Day" on Facebook or visit the World Baton Twirling Day 2017 Event Page. There are currently almost 200 twirlers included in this event, but we know we can do better! Make sure to invite all your twirling friends as well!

4) Leading up to Monday, please continue flood social media with flyers and info about this event. Many twirlers are not aware of this event and we need to spread the word. If you become an Ambassador, Adi Bebo is sending out tons of fun social media flyers. Here are a few that can be used today! Feel free to utilize them until you can get signed up and sent your own to use. 

Also, make sure to use the hashtag #WorldBatonTwirlingDay. Lets see if we can get our event trending!!!

Please let us know if you have any questions about World Baton Twirling Day. We will do our best to get you any answers or help that you need. A big thanks to Adaline Bebo and those at the WBTF who got this event started. We are so excited to see how well this event goes and we appreciate everyone's efforts in helping promote Baton Twirling worldwide!

We hope you have enjoyed today's post. We are always looking for great stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it.