Spinning, twirling, tumbling you name it and Madison Randall does it.”I always explain it to people as I’m a dancer with a metal stick,” Madison Randall said. It’s a simple explanation of baton twirling, a sport that combines multiple disciplines, and Randall does it at a high level.”I want to be a great dancer and then add tricks to it as well, and it’s all about creativity.” So far, the sport has taken her to England, Italy, and now Paris as she’s earned a spot on this year’s USA Senior Elite team. Randall and Team USA are set to compete at the World Freestyle and Rhythmic Twirl Championship in the City of Light in August.”I’ve always felt like an underdog; I’ve always been the baby. Whenever I qualify, I’m like, ok I’m the baby of the group,” Madison Randall said. “It does make you feel like ok, I’m one of them now. I feel like I can be a part of this sport.”While she feels it now, the sport is something that’s always been a part of her. “I’m a third generation, my grandmother twirled, and then my mom twirled, and now I am here 18 years later,” Madison Randall said.While baton twirling runs in the family, her mom Kelly Randall never pushed her into it.”If she finds it, she finds it. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t. She showed absolutely no interest in twirling, and then all of a sudden, at a camp, a lady put a baton in her hand,” Kelly Randall said. “I came back and was like ‘Oh lord, you have a whole routine,’ and I knew at that moment in time where this journey was taking us.”Together, mom and daughter have gone across the world and seen their bond continue to grow and evolve.>> FOLLOW YOUR TEAMS: Sports coverage from WVTM 13″She’s been more support system than she really has been coach, and she’ll help me out with things like I call her now, I’m in college, and I still call her like ‘Mom, I need help,'” Madison Randall said.Kelly has seen her grow from the 5-year-old who first picked up a baton to now a member of Team USA. “Being able to walk this journey with her, as her mother has just been incredible,” Kelly Randall said. The young twirler from Helena is now one of the best in the world and ready to show it in Paris.”They’re going to see a little girl who has learned how to believe in herself and how to have that confidence and become the athlete and the young woman that she is,” Kelly Randall said.As Madison represents herself, her family and a whole community. “I want to be the athlete that everyone looks up to, and my little ones, I want them to look up to me and be like ‘dang, that’s my coach’,” Madison Randall said.
HELENA, Ala. —
Spinning, twirling, tumbling you name it and Madison Randall does it.
“I always explain it to people as I’m a dancer with a metal stick,” Madison Randall said.
It’s a simple explanation of baton twirling, a sport that combines multiple disciplines, and Randall does it at a high level.
“I want to be a great dancer and then add tricks to it as well, and it’s all about creativity.”
So far, the sport has taken her to England, Italy, and now Paris as she’s earned a spot on this year’s USA Senior Elite team. Randall and Team USA are set to compete at the World Freestyle and Rhythmic Twirl Championship in the City of Light in August.
“I’ve always felt like an underdog; I’ve always been the baby. Whenever I qualify, I’m like, ok I’m the baby of the group,” Madison Randall said. “It does make you feel like ok, I’m one of them now. I feel like I can be a part of this sport.”
While she feels it now, the sport is something that’s always been a part of her.
“I’m a third generation, my grandmother twirled, and then my mom twirled, and now I am here 18 years later,” Madison Randall said.
While baton twirling runs in the family, her mom Kelly Randall never pushed her into it.
“If she finds it, she finds it. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t. She showed absolutely no interest in twirling, and then all of a sudden, at a camp, a lady put a baton in her hand,” Kelly Randall said. “I came back and was like ‘Oh lord, you have a whole routine,’ and I knew at that moment in time where this journey was taking us.”
Together, mom and daughter have gone across the world and seen their bond continue to grow and evolve.
>> FOLLOW YOUR TEAMS: Sports coverage from WVTM 13
“She’s been more support system than she really has been coach, and she’ll help me out with things like I call her now, I’m in college, and I still call her like ‘Mom, I need help,'” Madison Randall said.
Kelly has seen her grow from the 5-year-old who first picked up a baton to now a member of Team USA.
“Being able to walk this journey with her, as her mother has just been incredible,” Kelly Randall said.
The young twirler from Helena is now one of the best in the world and ready to show it in Paris.
“They’re going to see a little girl who has learned how to believe in herself and how to have that confidence and become the athlete and the young woman that she is,” Kelly Randall said.
As Madison represents herself, her family and a whole community.
“I want to be the athlete that everyone looks up to, and my little ones, I want them to look up to me and be like ‘dang, that’s my coach’,” Madison Randall said.