Junior Lexi Duda is the fourth best baton twirler in the world.

Don’t believe it? When Duda attended Worlds for baton August 2014 in England, she earned fourth place, close behind three twirlers from Japan. She also tied for third with a pair (duet) routine. Duda has traveled all over the world and continues to claim titles and gold medals. At LHS she may appear as the average teenager, but with a baton in her hand, she is a superstar.

At age 2, a young energetic Lexi Duda would rather attend baton practices with her mother Juli Duda, a baton coach, than stay at home with a babysitter. Most children are just learning to hold a spoon at this age, much less a baton.

“She would come to practice with me in the evenings or weekends, and the older girls would play tricks with her. It was all fun and games, so one thing led to another. Bye bye gymnastics, hello baton,” said Juli Duda, Lexi’s mother.

From the start, Lexi was a champion. In fifth grade, Duda won the National Baton Twirling Championships at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind.

Since her big win in her earlier baton career, Duda has traveled to Holland, Belgium, Paris, Switzerland, Australia, Hungary, Florida, California, Texas, and pretty much the whole East Coast.

“I love to travel,” Duda says. “That’s the main thing. I get to meet people from all over the world and make new friends.”

Her next trip will be to Italy from March 28th to April 9th for the Worlds competition.

All of these trips appear very costly, but Duda says her parents both work very hard to make sure her, and her two other siblings, can take any opportunities offered to them. Her mother says her upcoming trips would have made an “awesome new car!”

In the baton world, there are several levels of ranking (depending on the organization): Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and sometimes Elite. Duda is ranked Elite.

“When I go to Worlds, it’s gold, silver and bronze. I’ve won three individual gold medals, one team gold medal, one silver individual, and two bronze individual,” said Duda. “It’s good to really get my name out there when no one from other countries really know who I am.”

To be a gold medalist elite twirler, it takes good training and lots of practice.

Duda says she practices about 22 hours per week and has two coaches who live in Ohio and California, but constantly travel to Maryland to coach her. One helps with individual freestyle, and the other coach with team routines.

“They’ve been coaching me for 10 years, so they really have gotten to know my style and what I can do. When something works, you just don’t change it,” said Duda.

With such a rigorous schedule and expectations from a junior in high school, it’s a wonder that Duda even has time to breathe.

Is it worth it? Lexi thinks so.

“I’ve been very fortunate in the way I’ve grown up with my mom and everybody around me  teaching me. I’ve learned not to be full of myself and I’m not very competitive. I would never like acting or thinking like I’m better than everyone, because I’m not. I’m just like everybody else,” said Duda.

(That is, if everybody else was an elite twirler that traveled to a foreign country every other month.) Despite the pressure, long hours, and gold medals she’s won, Lexi has managed to stay humble.

“I like to think, just do your thing, and don’t worry about anybody else,” Duda says.

Duda hopes to continue her baton career into college by attending either University of Maryland or University of Georgia.