These drummies caught much more than their batons at the recently held South African Majorette and Cheerleading Association (SAMCA) national championships in East London.
The Avondale Senior Majorettes from Atlantis were flawless and bagged no fewer than FOUR gold medals at the event held at the Inkwenkwezi
Private Game Park.
The girls, who are still at the competition which started on 23 June, are now waiting for their junior team to compete and are hoping for more gold.
Committee member for the team, Lynette Beaukes, says the 19 seniors have worked hard for their success.
“The girls have been competing since February in the Western Province competitions and qualified in May for the national competition,” she says.
“We are all so overwhelmed by the medals won. It was a tough journey but our girls work hard and we managed to raise funds by selling rotis and braai plates weekly to get us to the national competition.”
These girls have hare op hulle tanne and take dedication to the next level.
“They practise every day, Monday to Saturdays four to eight hours a day. But now, their hard work, commitment and dedication has paid off. They are ecstatic,” Lynette says.
The seniors formed part of the President’s Majorettes category and competed against 20 other teams.
“The team received gold for non prop, the high mace, the high flag and the high baton categories. They were so happy, they were just a bit disappointed as they could not march in the finals on Tuesday because of a storm in the area and the field was deemed unsafe.”
Meanwhile, proud Atlantis residents say they cannot wait for the team’s return on Saturday.
“They have made us so proud. Everywhere children are leaning towards the bad, but here we have children who are still passionate and dedicated and that is rare,” one resident said.
“They will be bringing home the gold, proving not everything that comes out of Atlantis is bad.”
robin.francke@inl.co.za