Scouting, Volume 70, Number 2, March-April 1982 Page: 3
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FLASHES OF SILVER
BY APRIL KORAL
Photographs by Gene Daniels
Building a championship
twirling team requires
hours of practice and
loads of patience. But
dedication pays off, and
the members of Explorer
Post 62 have the medals
to prove it.
MONDAY MORNING. Nine A.M.
The gym at Dawnwood Junior High
School is absolutely quiet. Standing in
the middle of the room, their heads
bowed, are seven girls dressed in
dungarees, sweat suits, and sneakers.
Within a few seconds, the silence is
broken by the scratchy sounds of an
old tape recorder playing "Jingle Bell
Rock." The girls' heads snap to at-
tention, their toes point forward, and
seven white-tipped silvery batons spin
from their hands. With the grace of
ballerinas and the nimbleness of
gymnasts, the young women make
their way across the gym floor. The
batons twirl effortlessly between their
fingers and then rise high into the
air—to be caught, of course, without
anyone missing a beat.
Suddenly, the music stops.
"Where's your spacing?" echoes
the voice of Liz Boyd through the
school gym. "Go back and do it again
and make two straight lines. You're
all over the place!"
The members of Explorer Post
62—The Crusaders—a baton twirling
group in Centereach, Long Island
—obediently return to their places.
Nobody murmurs a complaint,
groans, or even seems disappointed.
After practicing their routines hour
after hour, day after day, and some-
times year after year, The Crusaders
have come to a realization: learning to
do anything well requires enormous
patience and learning to be a good
twirler requires that and more.
The Crusaders hard work, how-
When Post 62 began two years
ago, its members decided they
wanted to coach children as
well as train for competition.
Above, Dawn Owens,
president of Post 62, helps a
young student with a piece
of twirling choreography.
Exploring 3
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 70, Number 2, March-April 1982, periodical, March 1982; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353582/m1/73/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.