Bananas for Baton

 In last week's blog post, I mentioned that one of the resources I acquired from elsewhere was a class set of batons. Big thanks to the director of the Camaros Baton Club for making this possible. It was going to be a very expensive personal venture otherwise, and I couldn't guarantee how good of an investment it would be to commit to such as large purchase. If this week is any indication, buying them in the future might be worthwhile.

I've introduced the sport to my students and I did not predict how wildly popular it was going to be. My students have fallen in love with baton twirling. Want proof?

Restrictions: I have prohibited them from taking their batons home or outside, but this has not stopped them from asking to stay in at recess and after school to practice. I have had to insist that students store their batons on the back ledge near the chalkboard, because I've caught students pulling their batons out of their desks during math or language class to use.

Curiosity, Preoccupation and Substitution: Every week, I conduct two-minute chats (down from my original five-minute plan) with individual students. This week, at least two of the students wanted to talk about how to do 4-finger twirls. Since the batons are no longer permitted at their seats, students have found alternatives - twirling their pencils. During recess, a student went and found a long stick and has started using it in the yard to rehearse his moves.

Demonstrations: The students have only had two gym classes focused on baton twirling skills so far, but they were super-keen to show their twirling prowess to as many of the adults in the building as possible. Small groups (with adequate physical distance) have gone in search of an audience and have shown off to the principal, the school secretary / office administrator, the kindergarten teacher, and our special education teacher. 

There are no gender boundaries with my students and baton. Both boys and girls equally adore twirling. Some have already established their "favourite moves".  Even the students who are not usually fond of physical education time have found baton twirling success in some format. As they explore what's possible with their batons, they've requested instruction - "Can you teach us how to toss?" / "Can we do passes?" The students also spend a lot of time admiring each other and complimenting each other on how fluidly or quickly they can complete moves. 

I wish I could share more photos but 1) it's really hard to take pictures when I'm busy coaching 18 eager athletes, and 2) I need to respect the privacy of my students. Here are three images, with faces obscured.

I was a baton coach a long time ago (in the 1990s) and a baton twirler myself even longer ago (in the 1980s). It was a huge chunk of my life in the past and it's really taken me down memory lane to pull out my old baton case with my own pair of batons and revive those dusty attempts at flashes, thumb flips, and spinners. Even though I am a NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program) Level 1 coach for baton, I am quite rusty at running classes. It's coming back to me slowly. Ironically, the baton and dance club I used to work for, the Scarborough Entertainers, used to offer classes on Monday nights at Banting & Best Public School, which is my current school's close neighbour! It is my hope that when this unusual year comes to an end, I can run an after-school baton club for a larger group of students.