Friday Night Lights Feature - Claudia Taylor Johnson HS Twirler

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

Competition season is here! We are only 10 hours away from the start of the Fall Twirling Festival and the South Texas Camp of Champions Winter Camp, and 2 hours away from the deadline for the ATX Holiday Twirl Fest. Good luck to all those competing in San Antonio in the morning, wishes of a successful weekend for those attending the camp, and for those still wanting to attend the December 2nd event, entries are continuing to roll in, so just visit www.twirlatx.com/atxtwirlfest to get registered

On to the football front, as we speak the scores for the first rounds of football playoffs are being finalized, and half the teams playing tonight are lamenting the end of their season, as the other half celebrate moving on to round two. Sadly, tonight's FNL interview is with a school whose football team ended their season run tonight (lost by only 1 point!), but the past few months, at least for the marching band, will live on in history as an unprecedented success! 

This week’s Friday Night Lights Feature is with the Claudia Taylor Johnson High School Feature Twirler, Sarah Pruski!

If you are not familiar with the name Claudia Taylor Johnson when it comes to High School Marching Bands, you are missing out! CTJ is considered one of the most creative and successful marching bands in the country. In fact, at the Bands of America San Antonio Super Regional earlier this November, CTJ scored the highest score ever recorded at a BOA Regional Event. So needless to say, being a member of the CTJ band in any form is an honor, but to be named their Feature Twirler is a definite achievement. 

As a member of the CTJ Marching Band program, she gets to experience some life changing moments, and be around some great people. When asked what she will most when she graduates, she said it would be her Band Director, Jarrett Lipman. “(He) is an inspiration to us all and an amazing director”. 

The band is also very supportive of the Feature Twirler. Sarah loves it during the games when “the band cheers for me while I twirl on the sidelines during the games”. The support not only comes from the band, but from the other spirit organizations as well. One really fun moment was when “the school mascot tried to twirl with me. It was really fun to watch”. Her favorite part of game day, though, is at the end of the game when she gets to be on the field for the playing of the school song alongside the spirit teams and football players. 

Now that we have learned a little about CTJHS and Sarah’s role in that program, let’s learn a little more about Sarah…

Sarah Pruski

Junior, Competition Level: Beginner

Sarah has been twirling for four years with the Alamo City Strutters, Coached by Pat Montgomery. The competition title she is the most proud of is when she won the 2017 San Antonio Twirling Festival Junior Basic Skills Pageant. Her favorite competition trick is a two spin, and her favorite field trick is juggling three batons. In baton twirling, Sarah has been most inspired by her Alamo City Strutters Teammate, and current University of Houston Feature Twirler, Rebekah Gonzales. After she graduates high school, Sarah hopes to attend and twirl for UTSA.

Fun Facts!

Favorite Color – Blue

Favorite Movie – “Mamma Mia”

Favorite Snack – “I love Cheetos”

When she is not twirling she loves to…
“Draw and paint”.

Something people may not know about her is…
“I like to dance”. 

Most memorable advice from her coach…
“Always push forward”.

Favorite Quote…
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them” – Walt Disney

While Sarah has had many fun moments and experiences as a competition and field twirler, she most values how it has taught her to never give up. She says she will never forget the first time she got to hear her name called out during a football game halftime performance, and had she given up during the rough times that come as a new twirler, that moment would have never happened. 

Though Sarah has learned so many things, she says the most important thing she would want to pass on to future Feature Twirlers is to “have fun out there! All people want to see that you are having fun!” That is definitely the goal, to entertain, perform, and enjoy what you do! 

We want to say a big congrats to Sarah and the entire CTJ band on an AMAZING marching band season. What a fantastic couple of months to be able to call yourself a part of this program, and we are so happy to see such an amazing band continuing the tradition of Friday Night Featured Twirlers. Thank you Sarah for your time, and we wish you a great upcoming competition 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.