2012 Lynda Garland Award Announced

July 7, 2012 - The Lynda Garland "Award for Excellence" was presented for the fourth time at the Canadian Baton Twirling Championships in Regina, Saskatchewan. The recipient of Lynda Garland's "Award for Excellence" was Loren Dermody, of Airdrie, Alberta.

At the 2008 Canadian Championships in Moncton, NB, the CBTF recognized Lynda Garland's years of service to Baton Twirling in Canada and around the world by creating a new award that bears her name. Among Ms. Garland's many accomplishments, she was one of the founders of the Twirl Canada organization and was its first President from 1979 through 1983. Twirl Canada went on to become the Canadian Baton Twirling Federation (CBTF), which was a charter member of the World Baton Twirling Federation (WBTF) when it was formed. Lynda served as President of the World Baton Twirling Federation between 1983 and 2008.

Ms. Garland established the criteria for the new award. The Lynda Garland "Award For Excellence" is presented to a Canadian Baton Twirling Federation (CBTF) Coach who exemplifies excellent, progressive coaching, superior technical abilities and provides innovative ideas and programs.

In presenting the award, Ms. Garland touched on the many highlights of Ms. Dermody's career:

Loren trained for 15 years with the Martin School of Dance and Baton Twirling where she studied all disciplines of dance and twirling.

Loren was a member of the multi-award winning Sundown Optimist Buffalo Gals World Team that competed at the WBTF World Championships for 5 consecutive years, achieving a bronze, two silver and the gold medal in Padova, Italy in 1991.  This team was also inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

For the past twenty years, Loren has been coaching the sport of baton twirling in Alberta. She is a model coach who exemplifies outstanding knowledge of pedagogical methods of teaching the skills of baton and body material. From grassroots to elite athletes, Loren has developed and trained her athletes through the progressive route of skill attainment. On the competition floor, regardless of the event or the level of athlete, her athletes always display the correct concept of the event and twirl at their level of skill mastery. In her quiet and reserved instructional approach, Loren’s creative and innovative ability shines through in the programs put forth on the competition floor. She is a marvelous asset to the sport of baton twirling in Alberta, Canada and on the World stage.

Loren is an independent coach and choreographer. She graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Studies and has one hot yoga teacher training certificate and is currently working on another yoga teacher certification. Loren has also been responsible for award winning performances in solo, duo, trio, and small and large group routines for competitions and recitals. She has coached members of the Canadian National Team to represent Canada at the World Baton Twirling Championships, including coaching the WBTF 1999 gold and bronze medallists in Jr. Women’s Freestyle and the gold medalist in Jr. Pairs.

Loren is the primary coach of the Airdrie Sky-High Twirlers. She offers all events of CBTF ranging from the skill development program; Pre-events; the Solo events of 1–, 2- & 3-baton; Medley; Solo Dance Twirl; Duet; and Team events. Aside from teaching CBTF events, Loren also offers classes in conditioning, acrobatics and stretch. Her instructional program prepares athletes to compete in WBTF events and WBTF International Cup events.

Loren is a highly admired and respected coach of numerous Canadian Champions: Hollie Neilson, Michelle Smith, Chelsea and Sheila Bissonnette, Larissa and Kassia Dearing, Jenna Jemieff and Sara Black. All of these athletes have represented Canada at the World Championships and/or the International Cup that is hosted annually by the World Baton Twirling Federation in different WBTF member countries. Many of her athletes have also competed in the Congressional Cup and Twirlmania.

Loren is a qualified CBTF Level Three coach, a CBTF judge fully qualified to judge all modules. She is also a CBTF Badge Adjudicator as well as a WBTF Master Judge. She continues to upgrade at the national and international level by attending symposiums, clinics and conferences.

Currently, Loren is serving as Technical Chair for her province of Alberta.

Loren’s future plans include starting a new club called Airdrie Baton Company.  She will be focusing on introducing baton twirling to the pre-school age group. Check out her website at www.airdriebatonco.com.

Whenever possible, Loren provides all of her athletes with assisting and coaching opportunities. She encourages them to take the CBTF coaching, judging and adjudicator courses. Her former athletes, Michelle Smith and Jenna Jemieff, have taught abroad in Europe and Australia, respectively. As a mentor, Loren helps her athletes look at the bigger picture, to see where their passion lies; she discusses the many paths that are available to them and gives them advice on personal and professional issues. Loren is often referred to as their second mother – a role that she takes seriously. She aims at helping her athletes find their niche in the sport of baton twirling.

Loren promotes the public image of baton twirling throughout Canada. She was on Rachel Bower’s production team for Baton Twirling in Canada – a 25 year anniversary DVD. She strongly believes this DVD is so important for every twirler in Canada and the world to see. The DVD explains the history of CBTF, its goals and achievements, and furthermore, it celebrates Canadian twirlers.

In addition, she has been active in getting baton twirling in the media through TV news programs, local newspapers and the internet.

Another wonderful achievement of Loren’s is that she has been inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

What more could we ask for from a great, respected and highly successful coach.