The Wolfpack Majorettes will look to defend their two national titles this weekend in Lebanon, Tenn.
In a poorly-lit corner of Carmichael Gymnasium, the four baton twirling Wolfpack Majorettes listen to the steady four-beat tempo coming from assistant coach Bethany Schreiner.
One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight. One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight.
As Schreiner hears a baton hit the hardwood floor, she quickly instructs her squad to repeat the trick – and it obliges without question.
Schreiner, a senior in business management and member of the 1997 United States world champion baton twirling squad, knows and understands how to be a successful baton twirler.
She’s proven.
She’s established.
She’s admired.
She’s also legally blind.
“When I was 16 years old, I started losing my eye sight,” she said. “And by the time I was 21, I was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease. But I just carried on with my life.”
Schreiner said her vision went from 20-20 to 20-200 to her present 20-1600. Legally blind people have at least 20-200 vision.
But her team rallies behind her heroics and doesn’t ask for sympathy.
“When I was a freshman and she was a junior, I was able to tour with her,” Selena Lane, a junior in biological sciences, said. “It gives the team such a great feeling – like we’d do anything for her. She makes you realize you could have things so much worse in life.”
Courtney Patterson, a sophomore at Meredith College and member of the team, claimed Schreiner fostered her once-elementary abilities as a twirler.
“She is the one reason my baton twirling has sprouted,” Patterson said. “I’m really speechless about it all. I’ve learned you just can’t make excuses if you want to be excellent at something.”
For Schreiner, the disease that has robbed her of her vision has allowed the sport she loves to instill a rare confidence in the now 28-year-old.
“Baton twirling has given me so much confidence,” she said. “Learning how to twirl as a blind person was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But it’s taught me that I have to take chances. It’s taught me you can’t let other people set limits for you because you’re blind.”
The first-year club team will look to capture its third national title in as many years Saturday in Lebanon, Tenn. at the NCAA National Baton Twirling Competition hosted by the National Coalition for the Advancement of Baton Twirling.
“We’ll need a clean routine with no drops at all to win,” Laurie Dinwiddle, a junior in communication, said. “But we are very confident, and we should walk away with a win.”
The team’s preparation has been intense, according to Patterson.
“We run, and we weight train constantly,” she said. “And as for tricks go, you may have to try 1,000 times before you get it right, but you’ve got to try until you get it.”
For the self-funded team, the expenses add up. Travel expenses on top of equipment added to injury prevention, and treatments create a financial burden for the team.
“We get so many injuries,” Sammie Price, a freshman at Meredith College, said. “Our knees get so sore because our shoes have no support. We get lots of bruises, too. My friends always used to ask me in high school if my parents beat me.”
“I’ve got a really bad back,” Patterson said.
“I’ve broken my nose,” Schreiner said.
“I’ve broken eight of my fingers,” Lane said. “Luckily neither of my thumbs – I need those.”