CRANFORD, NJ — It was a special day for Diamondettes Baton and Dance LLC owner/director Nicole Marie Placca on Saturday, June 3, when she received an award from Cranford Mayor Brian Andrews at Diamond Gymnastics Academy in Cranford.
“The award recognizes the program for offering baton twirling, which is very rare for the area, and the mayor acknowledged the team for their championship in Wildwood,” said Placca in a recent interview with LocalSource.
“We’re the only baton-twirling program in the area, the official one in the area,” she explained. “We’re the first studio since Ms. Pat’s in Union. Baton-twirling isn’t a common sport, so all the students who come to me are relatively novice. I’m really building athletes from nothing.”
The number of trophies she and her students possess demonstrate just how successful her efforts have been.
Diamondettes is the first private baton and dance program to be established in Union County since the decade-run Patti’s Dolls ran out of Union,” Placca said.
“Classes take place conveniently in many Union County locations, in particular the main home of Diamondettes, which is Diamond Gymnastics of Cranford,” Placca said. “Recently, Sunburst Gymnastics of Union has been holding consistent classes as enrollment grows.”
Looking to increase the availability of her program throughout the county, she added that there is something unique about what she has to offer that makes it a good fit for girls of all ages and athletic abilities.
“Our program greatly differs from the commonplace youth athletic programs in that we focus on individuality and tailor instruction in real time to adapt to each child,” Placca said. “We reward the imperfections just as much as the successes, because they are necessary to the learning process.”
Placca, who is a baton-twirling coach at Union High School and also teaches high school Spanish, said, as an educator, she sees first-hand that the social and emotional needs of youth need to be focused on and she ensures that every class session is devoted to not only teach twirling, but to motivate and emphasize social and emotional needs.
“Unlike many performance groups, our program adapts the skills to meet the abilities of the child; therefore, our program makes it possible for those with no prior skills to succeed, while those with performance skills enhance their current abilities with a learning baton,” she said.
She said the basis of the program is that of celebrating individuality and giving each student what they personally need to experience success in terms of their own needs.
“We strive to show everyone that they can be an athlete and that athleticism comes in all forms,” she said.
There are a variety of packages available including the Exquisite Star Program for students with special needs.
The Diamondettes attended the 2023 All East Baton Twirling Championship on the weekend of April 28-30 at the Wildwoods Convention Center on the boardwalk – a convention center and indoor arena located on the Boardwalk at 4522 Ocean Ave.
Placca said it’s run by some of the biggest names in the baton-twirling industry.
“It was the first time my studio has ever attended this event,” she said. “In one of these categories, they actually won an All-East state title for a small twirl team, baton and dance category. Five girls were competing from my team. There had to be more than 30 teams, but in the category they were in, it was small. But just to get there was amazing.”
It was an honor to be in attendance, she added, but the fact that the team won a first-place State Dance Twirl title was a huge victory for the newly established group of novice twirlers.
“Some parents stayed all night, some drove up, but I was there all weekend,” Placca said.
“Their success hasn’t stopped there.”
For the second year in a row, the Diamondettes attended the United States Twirling Association State Championships on Sunday, May 7. Here they won first place in the Juvenile Dance Twirl Small Team Category.
But for all her school’s success, Placca alway has her eyes on the future, and that means offering her baton-twirling classes to even more students.
“I offer classes in many Union County towns, in particular Union,” she said. “That is starting to become more consistent with growing students and, most importantly, Diamond Gym, which has been the main home.”
Photos Courtesy of Nicole Marie Placca