Neyland Stadium crowds will see a world-class baton twirler at Tennessee football game

When the Tennessee Volunteers’ football team plays Ball State in Neyland Stadium Thursday, the players in pads won’t be the only ones trying to make impressive tosses and catches.

Rising senior Laney Puhalla will be attempting to demonstrate some baton magic as a featured twirler with the UT Pride of the Southland Marching Band’s majorettes. While performing in Neyland Stadium in front of around 100,000 screaming fans creates quite a showcase, she recently returned from perhaps an even bigger stage, at least in her sport.

Puhalla in early August took part in the 35th World Baton Twirling Championship in Turin, Italy. Although she finished in a respectable sixth place in the senior women’s freestyle division, she sounded more like a demanding Southeastern Conference football coach in pointing out how she could have – and should have – done even better.

“I didn’t deliver my best performance and was fortunate to place where I placed,” she said. “I was not very happy.”

Her results and high expectations came after she had made Team USA by finishing in first place in the U.S. Trials in July in California and as a previous world champion in the junior division.

Despite all these accomplishments and the hard work required, she does add that she still knows how to put everything in perspective and to enjoy twirling simply as a fun and rewarding extracurricular activity.

“Baton twirling is a huge part of my life, but at the end of the day, it is just baton twirling,” she said. “If I do a bad routine, the world is not going to stop spinning.”

As Puhalla talked on the phone about her career recently after a full day of band camp, she said she got into the sport almost by accident, despite some family connections. Her grandmother Christine Bailey and her mother, Christie Puhalla, had been accomplished twirlers growing up, but Laney’s mother later became more interested in ballroom dancing and was determined not to push her daughter into twirling.

However, when Laney was a small child in the family’s home state of Maryland, her mother’s friend knew of Christie's background in twirling and asked her to help teach at her studio. And Laney would often be dragged along.

“I would often end up at the studio, and more times than not, a baton would end up in my hand,” she said, adding with a laugh, “and the rest is history.”

The younger Puhalla tried to explain the sport by saying that different people bring different talents. Some are good with hand-eye coordination, while others are more gifted in the artistic or performance presentation. Puhalla considers the latter her strongest suit, while adding that practice brings improvement to all areas.

“When I was younger, I couldn’t feel the rhythm, but over time I worked hard to hear the different nuances,” she said. “I can now put my own flair to my performance and take the artistry to another level. It is a very rhythmic and time-driven sport, and repetition is the key.”

So is enjoyment, which comes easy for her. “I really do love entertaining,” she said.

An average spectator might judge a twirler simply by whether the baton is caught after being tossed in the air, but Puhalla knows it is hard to be perfect and she considers being able to catch it nine out of 10 times a success rate. After all, even all-SEC receivers occasionally drop a pass!

Puhalla came to UT not due to the fans in the stands at Neyland Stadium, but the bones reportedly once stored beneath it as part of the forensic anthropology program started by Dr. William Bass. Becoming interested as a child in forensic medicine after reading a related child’s book, she realized UT had a program in that area and learned about the “body farm.”

After college graduation, she plans to attend medical school and become a medical examiner. “I would love the opportunity to be able to help families and give them a sense of closure, so they are not left wondering,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to help.”

She had announced via social media her academic plans, and those involved in twirling at UT invited her to become involved with the band as well. And she is glad she has, too, as she loves performing in Neyland Stadium, despite the weather elements that make football game twirling different from performing in an indoor arena in competitions.

“I love game day. Twirling in front of 102,000 fans is nothing short of incredible,” she said, recalling with excitement her first game, when she could hear the ground shaking below her feet.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football fans will see a world-class baton twirler