The Airdrie Sky High Twirlers are sending seven girls to represent Canada and Airdrie at the first Pan Pacific Competition from January 12-15 in Stockton, California.

The event will be their second highest level of competition after the International Cup in August, and the girls will go against twirlers from four other countries.

"It's the first one that they're doing ever," explained Emily Matheson, one of the competitors. "It's every four years, and it's almost the closest thing we have to the Olympics. It's going to be Canada, the U.S., Australia and Japan there."

Coach Loren Dermody is working the girls hard in preparation for the competition.

"I feel rushed kind of," said Miyah Kailey of their training. "We're competing at an international level so early in the year, so all of our training has been very, very rushed. It's been nonstop, no breaks."

The girls are both excited and nervous to compete at such a high level.

"I'm definitely nervous, because as everyone else said, our training's been rushed a lot. We don't have enough time to prepare unlike usual competitions, and it's such a big deal that we really want to do good," said Brooke Mauro, one of the youngest members of the team. "But I'm also really excited, because since there's four countries coming, it's gonna be really awesome to see how everyone trains."

Mikayla McDonald said she is mostly looking forward to the experience and not getting distracted from the task at hand.

"I'm super excited. It's every four years, and by the time the next one comes I'll be in university and I probably won't be able to go, so it's super exciting that I'm gonna be there for the first time they've ever had it. I'm kinda nervous, but I'm just practicing, practicing, practicing and hopefully it pays off when we're there."

 

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