Emily Reyer takes 5 state baton twirling titles
June 29, 2010
By Tara Sackman
At 7 years old, Emily Reyer picked up her first baton in Kathy Forsythe’s Boys and Girls club class and never set it down. Eight years later, Reyer is still twirling every week with the same coach. All the work seems to be paying off.
In May, Reyer won the state title for her age group in five of six events. She then went on to compete for the Grand Championship titles in dance twirl, strut, two-baton and three-baton. She won the dance twirl and strut titles and took second place in the two- and three-baton categories. The grand championship is comprised of the winners from each age group to determine the best of the best.
“It’s a real experience for me,” Reyer said. After eight years, the excitement of competition still motivates her to continue.
Reyer’s first national competition was in 2005 in Kansas, but one of her favorite moments was at the national competition in Daytona, Fla. In 2008 where she qualified in three events.
“I still get nervous,” she said.
In addition to reaching national-level competitions, Reyer practices and competes with a national baton team called Encore.
Once every month for the last four years, Reyer has been flying to Sacramento, Calif. for a weekend rehearsal with the team, which draws girls from all across the country. Since this is such a large amount of time, Reyer has to balance her work while she is in school.
“It was pretty hard in the past; I would stress about getting my homework done on the plane back from Sacramento,” Reyer said. “The more I think about it now, I shouldn’t have stressed so much in the beginning. It’s harder to think about than it is to do.”
Baton requires a great deal of vertical space, so Reyer had to move from her practice facility at the Sammamish YMCA that had 25 foot ceilings to the Bellevue YMCA that has 40 foot ceilings.
The season kicks off in September and state is in May. Two months prior to competition she practices in the gym anywhere from everyday to every other day. When she’s not in the gym, she practices techniques at home.
When she’s not in Sacramento, she trains individually in the gym with Forsythe.
“She’s like my second mom, she’s one of my favorite people,” Reyer said. Forsythe coaches the Encore team but also works individually with Reyer to perfect her routines for state and national individual competitions.
Over the years Reyer has become more and more skilled. She does double illusions and twirls with two to three batons at a time. A double illusion is a trick like a cartwheel where one foot stays on the ground and your hands never touch the ground. Emily can complete two of these illusions while tossing and catching a baton.
“There’s a lot of risk involved, you want to get it to 100 percent accuracy because of all the technical aspects,” Forsythe said.
Reyer hopes to attend the University of Washington on a baton scholarship and eventually teach baton. She has been to several husky band days and has performed with the current baton twirler there.
“She has some realistic goals about where she stands nationally,” Forsythe said.
Intern Tara Sackman can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 248, or samrev@isspress.com.
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