Hello Texas Twirl Fans!
Yesterday was super exciting for the twirling world as we saw several baton twirlers win their State titles within the Miss America Organization. A huge congrats especially to the new Miss Arkansas, Whitney Williams! We know our Texas Twirlers are packed up and headed to Miss Texas week, and we are all so happy to get to support FOUR Texas baton twirlers this coming week as they compete for the titles of 2021 Miss Texas & Miss Texas Outstanding Teen!
To make sure our twirlers get the proper level of support from the twirling community, leading up to the Miss Texas pageant (June 20th to 26th) we will be doing an interview with the baton twirlers that will be competing. We want to come together and unite to celebrate and support these young women as they represent our community and show Texas what twirlers can do!
Our first Miss Texas OT twirler is the 2021 Miss Austin’s Outstanding Teen, Anna Lilie!
PEOPLE'S CHOICE VOTING IS OPEN! Help support our Texas Twirlers in their mission to get baton twirling to the Miss Texas OT stage! Top 2 highest "votes" get a guaranteed spot to perform in the semi-finals. Check out Anna’s People’s Choice Voting Site here. Each vote is $, and every $1 counts! Not to mention, it is raising money for a great cause, the Miss Texas Scholarship Foundation!
Anna Lilie is 14 years old and is from Austin, TX. She is a member of Twirl ATX and is coached by Whitney Coons. She just completed the ninth grade at Austin High School. The title she has been the most proud to earn as a baton twirler was the 2019 Beginner Pre-Teen Texas State Pageant Winner, and her favorite experience as a baton twirler has been getting to perform for different events within the community and for her school. She loves showing off the hard work she has put in to her routines through spending many hours practicing in a gym.
Miss Texas OT Platform: You Do You
Life Motto: Stay True To Who You Are… You Do You!
What made you pursue competing in the MAO? I have grown up watching amazing twirlers compete on the MAO stage. I have always wanted to follow in their footsteps. It is a new challenge and I am always up for a challenge!
How would you say Baton Twirling has helped you in your MAO journey? Baton Twirling has helped me learn how to connect with my audience and has helped develop my stage presence. Because of my twirling training and performances, I am more confident in my new journey within the Miss America Organization.
Why did you select your platform? I had to switch schools in 3rd grade. That was really hard for me because everyone at my new school had known each other from pre-k or kindergarten and they all did the same things, like play sports together. It was very hard to “fit in”. I was the only baton twirler in my school and I really don’t think that anyone even knew that twirling was sport until I showed up! I told my Mom that I felt left out and maybe I should quit Twirling and do what the other girls did, like dance or play sports. My mom and I talked, and she told me that, “even if you do something different and something nobody else does, that is ok.” I realized that Baton Twirling was a skill that I had that made me unique. We also talked about how God put us here on the earth to do great things and to be unique and do different things; he put us on this earth for a reason. I learned that it was fine that I was doing something different, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks as long as I am happy. My Mom would say “If it brings you joy keep on doing it… you do you, Anna. You are great!”
My platform is “YOU DO YOU!” My message to others is to do what truly makes you happy; do not change who you are or your interests to fit into a particular group. Stay true to who you are, you do you!
What has been the most rewarding moment as your current title holder? I believe that being able to talk about my experiences and telling other adolescents to be true to themselves, “you do you”, and that it is ok to do something different that the crowd has been very rewarding. Being true to yourself is the best gift you can give to you and others around you.
What has been the hardest part about competing in the MAO pageants? I feel like competitive twirling has prepared me for this experience at Miss Texas OT competition through the twirling performances I have been able to do through school, and the modeling & interviews we do at competitions. I feel that has really helped prepare me, but of course, there is always going to be a hard part to everything you do. I am just not exactly sure what that will be quite yet because I have never participated in Miss Texas Outstanding Teen competition before! I’ll get back to you on this!
What advice would you have for other twirlers thinking about going the pageant route? It is so much fun getting to show off our unique talents in a different way, and really showing that it is ok to be unique and do different things like twirling. To me this is another fun way to display our sport! I cannot wait to perform on the stage! I think that the best way to experience a piece of what Miss Texas OT is like is to participate in a local competition. You can find the upcoming competitions at www.misstexas.org
Any fun or interesting stories or sidenotes you would like to add? I started twirling in 2nd grade. I watched my grandma, Mommo, twirl her old baton in the backyard. I knew I wanted to learn how to twirl after watching her! She also competed in pageants and competitions when she was younger.
Another funny side note is I really did not like the modeling and interviewing at the twirling competitions in elementary school! My Mom and Coach would laugh because they said I looked everywhere but at the judge! After placing 5th at NBTA Nationals for the modeling and interviewing part I realized that I could actually do this! It is still something I am working on, but at least now I will make eye contact with the judge and will elaborate my answer when asked a question which is helpful!
It is amazing how much confidence changes when you get better as the modeling & interview portion of NBTA pageants, and we know it will serve Anna well this week. Thank you so much to Anna for taking time to answer our questions. We wish you the best of luck as you compete on the Miss Texas OT stage, and just know, all the Texas twirling is cheering for you! #TeamTexas supports Miss Austin's OT!
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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