Madi's New Sport

 

 

Last year, Madi decided to take a hiatus from her long-time favorite sport of gymnastics, and she wanted no part of any other physical activities that we suggested. She was adamant that she wasn't "quitting," just taking a break (from everything but Girl Scouts) to spend time with Charlie and Bubba. Jimmy and I were okay with that. We knew that her first year in school full-time was a lot on her plate, and while we're both aware that she's gifted physically, we certainly weren't going to force her into anything.

This week, Madi found a new sport...baton twirling.

It all started a couple of weeks ago at a Girl Scout outing to Butterfly World. After our tour, she decided to purchase two little plastic batons in the gift shop with her spending money. She played with them constantly for the next few days.  And I made mention that perhaps we could look into baton in the fall if she's still interested down the road.

Last week, I noticed a posting by a friend on Facebook about a baton twirling mini-camp this week. At St. Vincent Ferrer...our parish!  Having spent the week before at SVF for bible camp where she totally feels at home, Madi was quite keen on the idea of going.

The mini-camp ran for three days. When I picked Madi up on Monday, she was absolutely beaming. It was clear that she loved all of the activities that they'd worked on--twirling, pom poms, ribbons. She practiced at home all afternoon, and she could hardly wait to show Daddy all her tricks. It felt really good to see her so happy about something recreational. It's been a while.

Today was the last day of camp, and I discovered at drop-off (thank God) that there was a little recital at 11:30.  I called Jimmy to clear his schedule, and we promptly showed up to watch our beautiful daughter perform.

And as it turns out, she's good. Strike that. Turns out, she's a-w-e-s-o-m-e!!  Madi's body movements and rhythm flow so naturally. We knew this already, but she never could seem to find the right "fit" between dancing and gymnastics. I think we might have found her "fit" now. Or at least, we've found a new hobby that makes our girl really happy. We were amazed at how much these kids learned in just three short mornings.

We purchased Madi her own real baton, and we have a feeling it might keep her pretty busy this Summer practicing for lessons in the fall. Those two little plastic batons from Butterfly World are now owned by one cute little boy named Charlie.