I am going to start off by saying, don’t give up on the idea of trying something new just because you think you don’t have what it takes. Before college, I hadn’t picked up a baton a day in my life, and now this is my third year being a “Penguinette” at YSU.
For some background, I have been a dancer since I was little, and I wanted to continue to dance after high school. I went to a YSU football game once, and I remember seeing the majorettes performing on the field, and they did a lot of dancing as well as twirling, so I thought that maybe I could give being a majorette a try. I went to the store and bought a baton, and contacted some people I knew that were majorettes before and asked them to help me. Mind you, this was a month before Penguinette tryouts, so I was extremely nervous. By the time tryouts came along, I knew the basics of how to twirl, and I made the team! That was three years ago, and though I’m not an amazing twirler, I have come a very long way and can do some easy tricks that I definitely couldn’t before.
Tryouts for Penguinettes will be coming up in the spring, so I wanted to share my experience with the team to encourage anyone who is thinking about trying out. If you are starting as a freshman or as an upperclassman (anyone and everyone is welcome!) it is a great way to make friends. I am a shy person, and being a part of the Penguinette line allowed me to make friends before the semester even started (we start practicing in the summer). Some of the best memories I have from college so far are from band camp and game days. The week before school starts we have band camp every day from morning till night, and yes this sounds like a lot, but it is also fun. This is the time when we learn and perfect our half-time routines with the band and learn pre-game. We get fed lunch and dinner as well, and we are always doing a theme or activity for each day. Yes, it is a long week, but you come out of it with some great routines, new friends, and a bunch of good memories. My favorite thing about being a majorette though is game days. We practice before the games where they give us food, do a small performance before the game called the “Ice-breaker”, and then go into the stadium to do pre-game. After pregame, we are on the sidelines until half-time where we do sideline dances and baton routines and have fun. Then we dance at halftime and then perform on the sidelines until the end of the game. I love game day because the energy is great, and there are a bunch of things that we do on the sidelines that makes the game so much fun. Oh and one more thing that I have to mention is that we got new uniforms that are so cute!
So my advice to you is, pick up a baton, or whatever it is you want to learn, and do not be afraid to go for it. If I had been too afraid to try out because I had just learned how to twirl, I wouldn’t have the friends or the memories that I have now and I would have regretted it. Like I said above, anyone and everyone are welcome to try out in the spring! You can follow the Penguinette and Feature Twirler page on Instagram at ysu_penguinettes_features and feel free to reach out with any questions!