Crater Stadium is typically packed with football fans wearing the traditional crimson and gray, but last Friday, it was a pink paradise.
Friday, Sept. 23, the Tornadoes dominated 62-0 in a gridiron match-up against Woodward that was really over after the first few minutes of the first quarter. But the real winner of the night was Relay For Life and the 60 young girls who took part in the annual Twirl For A Cure.
According to Dover Majorette Advisor Julie Fach, 60 girls ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade participated in the mini-majorette clinic and got the opportunity to perform during the halftime show. We have done this since 2004, but it has only been Twirl For A Cure for the last two years, she explained.
With pink pom-pom shakers and batons in hand, the youngsters filled the track during the halftime show and performed a routine right beside the eight current Dover majorettes. As the Marching Tornadoes performed the Van Morrison classic, Brown-Eyed Girl, the girls twirled, danced and, of course, smiled for the audience.
The future baton twirlers practiced for three nights to learn all aspects of what a Dover majorette does and even the importance of being a band member in order to qualify for a chance to become a majorette. With the current majorettes taking part in the clinic, it is a time when the young girls can twirl and shimmy alongside their high school mentors.
This is the first exposure for the K-4 grades to the band, and a re-introduction for the 5-8 grades, Fach remarked about the clinic. We talk all week about having to be a band member in order to be a majorette. They learn what instrument each majorette plays and for how long.
Participants also pay a $25 clinic fee, which $5 goes toward Relay For Life, hence the name of the clinic: Twirl For A Cure.
