Friday Night Lights Feature - Goldthwaite High School

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

Another great weekend of twirling means we are at the halfway point of the regular football season. Can you believe it? Only a few more weeks with these amazing twirlers representing on their High School fields. We hope all of you are enjoying it while it lasts. We know we will miss it! In the meantime, we have another Feature Interview with one of our awesome Texas Twirlers for your reading enjoyment this lovely October Monday.

Each season this blog likes to get to know many of our awesome Texas twirlers a little better by learning about their experiences. We will be meeting many High School twirlers throughout the season with the Friday Night Lights Features and discovering more about our Texas Collegians with the Collegiate Twirler Spotlights. We will also be having many of our High School and Collegiate twirlers take over our social media Story for their Game Days! Make sure to follow us on Instagram @twirlingiscatchingtx or at facebook.com/twirlingiscatchingtx so you don't miss a thing!

Our next Friday Night Lights Feature is the Goldthwaite High School Feature Twirler!

Goldthwaite High School is located in Goldthwaite, Texas, a small town with a population of ~1.7K people that is about 1.5 hours northwest of Austin, or West of Waco, and the home of the Eagles. It is also the home of a generational tradition of baton twirlers, including this second-generation Goldthwaite Twirler, Emily Bartek!

A fun thing about Emily twirling at Goldthwaite is that her mother was also a GHS Twirler! It means so much to Emily to follow in her mother’s footsteps and be able to honor her in that way. Emily also loves the response she gets from other schools at football games. “Being a twirler at Goldthwaite is so fun because there aren’t really any other twirlers in that area or at the schools we play, so people are always excited to see one!”

In order to earn this position, we asked Emily what the audition process was like, and she told us that it depends on how many people are trying out. “I had to try out my first year but ever since, I’ve always been the only twirler so I haven’t been asked to audition again.”

Being a born and raised Goldthwaite resident, we wanted to know what her favorite part about being a GHS Eagle is, and Emily said it is the community! “My favorite thing about my school is how involved and supportive everyone is about everything!”

With such strong community spirit, we wanted to know what Emily’s favorite tradition was, and she couldn’t decide between two of them. “In my opinion the best traditions at my school are our lighting of the letters during homecoming week and Ag Olympics, which is a competition between each grade!”

As a twirler, Emily is both a trumpet player with the marching band, and their twirler. With these roles she gets to enjoy the band from both sides, but her favorite part is their Monday night marching practices!

Finally, we asked Emily what she is most looking forward to this season, and she said she couldn’t wait for her Senior night as it is something she has been watching others participate in for years. “I can’t believe it is my turn!”

Now that we have heard more about twirling at GHS, let’s learn more about Emily!

Emily Bartek, Senior
Emily has been twirling since 6th grade. She is a member of Twirl ATX and is coached by Ashley Wood as well as Whitney Coons and Jassandra Sadler. The competition title she is the proudest of earning was when she won the 16 year old Beginner National X-Strut at AYOP this past summer. Her favorite competition trick is an illusion one spin, and her favorite field trick is a toss cartwheel. In baton twirling she has been most inspired by all of the amazing people she has met through baton twirling! After High school she plans on running track and XC at the college level and studying to become a physical therapist.

Favorite color: Pink
Favorite TV show/movie: “I Still Believe”
Favorite book: “Who are you following” by Sadie Robertson

Must-have Game Day snack/drink: 
“Water and goldfish.”

Favorite Quote or Life Motto: 
“True peace is found in trusting in the Lord!!”

When she is not twirling, she loves to… 
“Run!” In fact, Emily is the UIL District 29-AA Varsity Girl’s Cross Country Champion!

Something people may not know about her… 
“I sure hope people know it, but I love Jesus and am always working to bring others closer to Him!”

The best life lesson she has learned from twirling is…
“Communication! After having to do interviews with judges for competitions it’s helped me be more comfortable and confident!”

The most memorable advice from her coach… 
 “Just go out there and do it, don’t be afraid!”

Her favorite thing about football season… 
“Our Monday night marching practices!”

What will she miss the most when football season ends… 
“I’ll just miss getting to be out on the field twirling in general since I won’t continue into college.”

We want to thank Emily for sharing her Game Day with us, and we wish her a wonderful remainder of her Senior football season. Go Eagles!

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.