BY EMILY PERL
Senior baton twirler Ashley Bishop and her teammates traveled to Zurich, Switzerland on April 1st to compete at the National Baton Twirling Association World Championship.
Bishop has been working her way to the top of the twirling world for the past thirteen years. Team USA, Bishop’s team, traveled all the way to Switzerland to compete against other baton twirling teams around the world. Before twirlers could earn a spot in Switzerland, they had to qualify at Nationals last summer, held at University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
“I was so excited that I was able to qualify for the World Championship in Switzerland because it is such a huge honor,” Bishop said.
In Switzerland, Bishop and her team competed in the Flag Corp division, which is made up of complicated twirling moves involving flags, rifles, and sabers. Bishop and her teammates were no strangers to such events. In 2008, Bishop’s former team, The Florida Superstars, competed and won in Indiana, thus allowing them to move on to Belgium, for the 2008 World Championship.
At this year’s World Championship, there were 14 different countries represented in the competition and each team consisted of their best twirlers.
“It was slightly intimidating competing against some of the other teams because their twirlers are really good,” Bishop said.
Being able to compete at the World Championship is no modest feat. Bishop practices almost every day, whether it’s reviewing moves, watching helpful videos or having a full-out practice. She also practices with her team two nights a week: Mondays for dance twirling and the twirling corp, and Tuesdays for the flag corp.
Team USA took second place in the flag corp competition for the second year in a row. Bishop has already started practicing to qualify for the next World Championship in 2015, which will take place in Italy. She hopes to compete as an individual representing the United States. She is also preparing for the State and Regional competitions at the end of the month, as well as the Junior Olympics at the end of May.
“My future goals as a baton twirler are to just do my best,” Bishop said. “I hope to be a part of the USA team again in 2015 for the third time in a row.”
