What a great weekend of College Football. Many great moments, including some awesome field twirling. While we did not have a Friday Night Lights Feature this week (Don't worry! We will be back this Friday with a twirler that performs for two different schools!), we get to turn our focus to our College twirlers.
Today for our first Collegiate Twirler Spotlight of the season, we are in Nacogdoches, Texas, meeting the Stephen F Austin State University Feature Twirler, Rachel Dugan!
Stephen F Austin State University, or SFA, is the home of the Lumberjacks, and a long history of great twirling. The school has a fantastic majorette line called the Twirl-O-Jacks, but each year they also audition for a Feature Twirler. This position twirls separate of the Twirl-O-Jacks, but they work as a cohesive visual unit. Rachel Dugan is returning to SFA this season for her third year as the Feature.
Being a part of the Lumberjack band program has been an amazing experience. Rachel tells us her very favorite moment in her twirling career was "my first tie twirling on the SFA footbal field at halftime with the Lumberjack Marching Band". We can imagine what a fantastic moment that was.
She loves being a part of all the great traditions at the school. The best school tradition, in her opinion, is when after a Lumberjack win, the school shines purple beacons on the highest building on campus. This allows everyone on campus to celebrate the win together. The band also has a ton of great traditions. Her favorite is when during one of their cadences, the whole band yells "SFA in the house" from the field.
Now that we have learned a little about SFA and their marching band, let's learn a little more about Rachel...
Rachel is a Junior at SFA majoring in Psychology with a Criminal Justice minor. She is from Crandall, Texas, and has been twirling for 10 years with Coach Janice Jackson-Seamands. In competition, she is the most proud of winning the National Intermediate Senior Two Baton title at AYOP. Her favorite competition trick is 'Fujimis' and her favorite field trick is a leg pop illusion.
Fun Facts!
Favorite Color - Purple
Favorite Movie - Jaws
Favorite Food - Greek food
Favorite Quote - “You can only do your best!”
Twirler she is most inspired by - Adaline Bebo
When she is not twirling she loves to... "Read!"
Something people might not know about her is... "I love to cook!"
Most memorable advice from her coach... "What is your degree of perfection?"
Funniest Twirl Moment... "I was on the 50 yard line at a band practice and I started a double illusion, and my feet slipped out from under me. I ended up on my behind in front of the entire band, but I held onto that baton!"
After Rachel graduates from SFA she hopes to continue on to Graduate school and then have a private practice in Psychology. She feels that baton twirling has taught her many things, but the most valuable thing she has learned is dedication. This she hopes to take with her into the future as she moves in to her career. To help her get closer to her goals, she is also involved in Psi Chi, the International Psychology Honor Society, and is a member of SWAT (the Student Wellness Action Team).
We asked Rachel what she considered to be the best advice for future Feature twirlers and she said to remember that "Practice makes progress, not perfection. You can always get better!" So very true, especially in a sport like baton twirling.
A big thank you to Rachel for helping us kick off the Collegiate Twirling Spotlights for the season. We wish her the best of luck and we know she will rock it on the field again this year. Axe 'Em Jacks!
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.
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