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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Lifestyle
Thursday, July 22, 1999
Carr receives state award in competition
Ray Chel Carr, the 17-year-old daughter of John and Mozelle Carr
of Sundown, recently won the Miss Majorette of Texas award at the state
twirling competition in Denton.
She is the granddaughter of Bill and Nancy Carr of Levelland and Punk
and Mary Belle Jones of Mentone.
The competition was held at North Texas State University. Carr made
a clean sweep of the tournament placing first in the modeling, first in
X-strut, first in solo presentation for her age group, and first in overall
solo competition.
Carr competed in the 16-year-old division as well as the overall division
which includes 16-24 year olds.
Each twirler goes through the routine twice before the totals are tabulated
and the winners are announced. They present a two minute strut and solo
program and a one minute model and interview program. They have to be able
to perform tosses and turns.
Carr has been twirling for eight years and competing for six of those
years. She is also an instructor at Sundown and the featured twirler for
the Sundown High School Band. Carr is under the tutelage of Bethany Tolley
out of Lubbock.
This past year, she has competed at regionals in Amarillo over the past
spring break. She won first at this competition. She competed against twirlers
from Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas.
At the state level, Carr was in competition against some 25 twirlers
in a division.
With the recognition of winning at the state level, Carr received an
invitation to compete at the national level.
The World Open and National Championship Contests will be held at the
University of Notre Dame the last week of July.
This competition brings together the best baton twirlers, teams and
corps in the world for a series of national and world open championship
contests. It is baton twirling's most prestigious event of the year.
Carr will compete against over 1,000 twirlers. This is the second trip
to this level of competition for her. She went in 1996 and placed sixth
in strut and eighth in baton.
The next step from this event is the World competition held in England.
Carr will be a Junior at Sundown High School this coming year. She is
an honor student and is currently working as a student trainee at Covenant
Hospital Levelland.
Massage important in healing
Massage isn't just for sore muscles anymore.
"Massage has become an important component of rehabilitation programs
for patients recovering from a variety of injuries, including broken bones,
joint replacements and back problems," said David Brennan, an exercise
physiologist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "Massage increases circulation,
decreases muscle spasm and allows muscle and tissue to recover more quickly."
Typically used as part of a physical-therapy regimen, massage is designed
to complement, not replace, traditional rehabilitation. It can also be
used to ease the pain of arthritis and treat migraine headaches.
Different types of massage therapy target specific problems. The nature
of the patient's complaint can help determine which type of massage would
be most beneficial.
"People with lower-back pain, for example, shouldn't have a deep-tissue
massage," said Brennan. "This type of massage could actually do more harm
than good. A Swedish massage, which involves light, soothing strokes, is
more appropriate for these patients."
For patients experiencing muscle spasms, massage that zeros in on "trigger
points" has been successful. This technique pinpoints sensitive areas in
the muscles that lead to the spasms.
There are other type of massage approaches, but virtually all center
on a common objective: manipulating and heating the muscles to increase
blood flow to the affected spots. This helps heal muscle and tissue.
However, unlike other disciplines in medicine, some states have few
requirements to become a massage therapist. Brennan recommends checking
credentials to ensure a therapist is licensed. The National Certification
Board for Therapeutic Massage can provide information about certification
of massage professionals.
"While massage might look easy to perform, the techniques are very detailed
and require hours of training," Brennan said.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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