Charlize | Week 12 | Spin2Win
It’s miserably cold. I pull myself out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and head out to the park in front of my house, just in time to catch the sunrise. My shoes are sopping wet as I trudge through the morning dew, leaving behind a snail-like trail in the grass. And then, not even five minutes later, the stupid stick I spin smacks me in the middle of my forehead.
This is almost a common occurrence; once I was left with a comically large bulge that didn’t go away for a whole two weeks. Another time I tried a parallel (kinda like a pizza toss?) and failed with ringing ears. Just yesterday, the end of my baton hit my nose and I left the ground stained with splatters of red. Perhaps this is the price I pay for Schadenfreude-ing….
What is this stick spinning? Basically, it’s a competition where I have to create a four minute routine and spin a fiberglass stick with a metal dome in an “L-pattern” of 150 yards by 70 yards. And what makes it so fun is how you’re able to select any song to spin to, as long as it’s not too explicit. People have done everything from “HOT TO GO!” by Chappel Roan to “Thick Of It” by KSI; whether it’s a niche band song or a classic, if it works, it works (PinkPanthress and Zara Larsson’s “Stateside” has been worming around my brain for the past month, and writing this has started an urge to drop my current routine and remake it to pop perfection. Hmm…). One of my favorite alumni performed this song that I love looping for some nostalgia, but then I end up missing them even more.
I was never going to do this whole baton thing too. Freshman year I asked an upperclassman about it and was almost scared off after realizing I had to compete solo. And then I got totally fried my freshman year! We don’t talk about my placings.
But after getting demolished, I found that I wasn’t so scared anymore. While I don’t think this new confidence was completely due to stick spinning, it started a “how bad can it be” mentality that has saved me from utter devastation. With this mindset, my heart that would once pound so quickly before a mere presentation barely speeds up during finals.
I ended up having an insane comeback last year, eventually getting first at the final competition that was celebrated with my friends by staying at Denny’s until 2:00 a.m.. So unless I pass out mid-competition or something, how bad can it really be?
Now moving up a division, I know I have no chance of winning against sweats. The competition is in a week and I'm about to be absolutely obliterated. However, during these competitions, I’m able to go off campus, which means I can follow an overgrown trail up a hill, cross a river, and eat a quintessential American breakfast. While I can’t say I don’t care about spinning anymore, some delectable french toast is a little higher on the priority list.
Mornings are typically one of the bitterly coldest times of day, right up there with late nights, and I am amazed by the sheer amount of willpower one must have in order to be able to awak so early in the morning and leave the house simply to witness the sunrise.
ReplyDeleteYour writing style was quite abrupt in your first paragraph. The flow went naturally from the cold, to the exiting of the house, to the grass, and then the mention of stick seemed to kind of throw off the pattern, since the events before were all commonplace actions, but the stick was an abrupt deviation from the seemingly normal story being laid out, which catches the readers attention and makes them more likely to continue reading to understand, utilizing curiosity.
The choice to simply describe and summarize the activity instead of naming it helps make your actions seem more understandable, as the context allows the reader to be more invested since they understand what is occurring. The songs you mention while discussing the sport not only clearly reflect your message about the diversity when it comes to choices in songs, but also are fairly popular songs that likely make the reader feel more closely connected, since most people have likely heard these songs before or are fond of them.
Hi Charlize!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is famously not a morning person I applaud your dedication to waking up at 5:30 to go on a walk to the park. For me, waking up at 6:15 to do my makeup on a school day is something I equate to a win.
I have seen glimpses of stick spinning when I stay behind after school, and it always looks so interesting and intricate. I am an extremely clumsy person, so for me, stick spinning (or performing surgery) is something that I will not be doing in the near future.
Learning that you can perform to music seems like such a fun aspect of the sport. I do mock trial, so music is definitely not something that is incorporated in our presentations. But hearing how Stateside is stuck in your head made me think of Alysa Liu’s viral Olympic Gala performance. Speaking of Alysa Liu, I believe that you and she seem to have the same view of the sport that you do. Working is still work even if you fall (or hit yourself with a baton) while working. Having a mentality that does not expect anything truly does wonders for the human psyche. We are not meant to be worrying about everything we do or say. I think about this one post from this actor that answered to a question about what advice she would give to young women who are suffering from insecurity. Her response was that these women need to stop thinking about only themselves so much. This interaction is really obscure, and it comes from someone who spends way too much time on gay Twitter and TikTok. But I think that the sentiment still stands, I mean, if you are so hell-bent on trying to be the best, or you are so worried about what other people think about you, that is usually a sign of self-obsession. Another great read!
Hello Charlize! While I can’t relate to your experience in baton spinning, I kind of relate to your mentality towards the end. I used to play volleyball (not anymore, back pain kind of killed that), and my mentality towards it has become “yeah, I still like it, but I’ve got more stuff to do.”
ReplyDeleteI think there comes a point in life where most people have to come to terms with the fact that the subject they’ve liked so much, put so much effort in, is a cakewalk for someone else. There’s always someone more talented than you, better at you, with more experience than you. The feeling of invalidation is always there, and overcoming it is the hardest part of continuing in that subject.
On a different note, it’s impressive how early you can wake up! I mean, 5:30? I can manage that once or twice occasionally, but certainly not every day. I have to set myself 4 alarms, each 20 minutes apart in order to wake up and barely make it to school.
I also checked the google maps location of the brick cafe, and I’m kind of confused. It just sends me to a random set of coordinates. I don’t know if it's because the brick cafe is that niche of a place, or google maps is just malfunctioning, but that’s pretty interesting!