On to the next one

For the Otts women, baton twirling is much more than a sport — it’s an ambition that runs in the family. 

In July 2018, Oak Mountain High School sophomore Sally Otts and her sister, Oak Mountain Middle School seventh-grader Susan Otts, were named as part of a nationally ranked team, Twirl Forte. This fall, Sally and Susan Otts started training for their first global competition.

Their mom, Anne Otts, twirled through middle and high school, in addition to college. She said when Sally was old enough to try twirling, she signed her daughter up for a class. Sally Otts loved it and said, “it was perfect from the start,” and she quickly moved up in the ranks of the fast-paced and agility-based competition sport.

“I knew this was what I wanted to do and it came naturally to me, and I’ve been in it ever since then,” Sally Otts said. “It started out as a recreational thing and developed into the competitive lifestyle I have now with twirling.”

Susan said after watching her sister, she also had to try it.

“I started it because my mom was a twirler and my sister became a twirler, and I saw how much fun she was having, so I decided I wanted to try it,” Susan Otts said.

While in Jacksonville, Florida, in July, Sally and Susan Otts competed and won with their Atlanta-based team, Twirl Forte, at the International Cup Qualifier competition. This means they will go on to represent the U.S. and compete in the next level of the competition in summer 2019 in Limoges, France. 

“Sally and Susan work very hard and have already accomplished so much through twirling,” Twirl Forte coach Colleen Murphy said. 

Sally Otts remembers during her first year with Twirl Forte at a national competition with the team, feeling the achievement of finishing a routine and realizing that it was a “no-drop” performance: no one had dropped the baton when they weren’t supposed to.

“I’ve had no drops myself before, but I would say it’s pretty rare to have a no-drop on the floor, with your team and nerves,” she said. “It’s very rare for everyone to have one.”

She and her team looked up at their coach and could see the look of amazement on her face, and the happiness spread across the team as each member realized what happened. It was surreal, she said, and the team has only continued to improve since then.

The thrill of twirling, Sally Otts said, is “you’re never finished.”

“Being able to catch something for the first time and get it consistently and then move on to the next thing,” Sally Otts said. “There’s always something harder. There’s always something else to accomplish.”

That’s her favorite part of competing, she said, when she’s able to learn routines and conquer new tricks. By the time Sally Otts was 7 years old, she had transitioned into training competitively.

“I started off doing teams and decided that individuals was something I was interested in. It started then, and it hasn’t stopped,” she said. 

Susan Otts said she started recreationally at about the same age as her sister did, and then also began training competitively at 7 years old.

“So, I decided I wanted to try it out, and I really liked to learn new tricks and get to see new types of twirling on other people,” Susan Otts said, adding that she liked going to competitions and watching twirlers compete. 

When Sally Otts reached the sixth grade and had spent several years twirling, she and her mom realized she had reached a competitive level where no coaches in the Birmingham area were qualified to coach her. So, they traveled to Georgia for contests, where Sally Otts said there were more opportunities. While they were at a contest, her current coach Murphy found her and asked if Sally Otts would be a part of her Twirl Forte team in Georgia.

“It started then, and it’s the best thing ever. It’s a hard time commitment, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Sally Otts said.

When Susan Otts got a little bit older, she also was asked to join the team. 

The amount of time the sisters practice varies depending on the time of year, but Sally Otts said usually they individually practice at least three times a week and spend a majority of weekends traveling to Atlanta to practice with their team. They both also spend much of the summer time living and practicing out-of-state with the team.

“I practice all day every day, and then I’ll come home for a good four-day break, but I’m still twirling, of course. It’s just on my own time,” Sally Otts said. 

Every year, the team really starts training “hardcore,” as the girls said, during November until the summertime when they compete. For their most recent competition, the training was especially intense, Sally Otts said, laughing that she “lives in Georgia half the time.”

Because of the intense practice schedule, Susan Otts said it wasn’t surprising to her that their team won. Usually, the Otts sisters participate in MVPA organization twirling, but this competition for USPA was “a new kind of style of twirling and a different kind of contest to experience,” Sally Otts said.

During the competition, Susan Otts got to perform a duet routine for the first time and led to her becoming duet champions with a no-drop routine. Sally Otts also qualified to compete in an individual 3-baton event, in addition to qualifying with the team.

“Both have big dreams to twirl in college, and qualifying for International Cup and being part of Team USA is a great stepping stone to accomplishing those dreams,” Murphy said. 

The Ottses have never been out of the country before.

“It’s going to be fun,” Sally Otts said. 

Both young women said they are beyond excited to go to France next year to compete. Their mom, Anne Otts, will be going with them. They started traveling to Georgia to practice with the team for the competition at the end of August and will continue practicing for the rest of the year.