(WXYZ) — A group of dedicated baton twirlers from Hamburg Township has turned their passion into perfection, capturing the title of world champions after countless hours of practice.
Watch Meghan Daniels' video report:
Limited Edition Baton Corps proved that hard work and determination can take you anywhere, traveling from local competitions to the world stage in Italy to compete against twirlers from across the globe.
VIDEO: Check out some of the performance from the Limited Edition Baton Corps team
"As a team, we were all just thrilled to be going to Italy just to compete there and see all the different people twirling. It was just amazing," said Taylor Hack, an 11th-grade twirler with Limited Edition.
Coaches Tammy Albrecht and Shaelyn Thompson said when the season started, competing globally was never part of their original plans.
"Your whole life you're like, 'oh yeah, that'd be fun, whatever,' you know, but it wasn't ever really like on the radar that this is the path we're gonna take," Albrecht said.
But as the season progressed, the opportunity kept presenting itself.
"The opportunity kept coming, you know, came up and we took advantage of it," Albrecht said.
Just like that, these teens were jumping on an international flight for the first time to go head-to-head with baton twirlers from across the world.
"To go to like a different continent and see all the twirlers that are over there, there were so many, and it was just like amazing to see ... how different they are in twirling styles than we are," Hack said.
The team said when they arrived at the competition, that's when it hit them. The podium wasn't just a dream anymore.
"One of them was like 'wow, we worked so hard and it really paid off,' you know, so it was that's all we really wanted, we really wanted them to just be proud of their efforts and to feel that experience of 'wow, we made it to the world stage,'" Albrecht said.
"I mean, we were just there kind of to have fun, you know, we were like excited to just even be there," Hack said.
These girls exceeded their own expectations, making it to the podium with each performance and taking home the title of world champions in the junior parade division.
"We were all shocked… we were all like checking with parents and our coaches and everything to like make sure it was true ... it was just such a surprise," said Kara Blanck, a twelfth-grade twirler with Limited Edition.
"To place on podium in all three events we did—that was just beyond exciting," Hack said.
But it was more than just taking home their medal and titles. It was the life experience and connections they say they'll carry with them forever.
"We would exchange like these little good love gifts and we really got to like make new bonds, but sometimes we didn't ... understand them, because ... they spoke different languages, but it was really fun," said Emily Emborsky, seventh-grade twirler with Limited Edition.
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