DERRY — She tossed a baton in the air as a young girl and is still seeing stars.
For Gina Hutchinson, it's been decades of hard work, perseverance and an end result connecting her to young women who love to twirl.
For 34 years, Hutchinson has coached the Derry-based Red Star Twirlers, an organization known around the country and the world for its baton skills. And it's more than a coaching job, she said. It's a family.
Hutchinson, 61, recently returned to the helm, following the death of her mother, Rita Willey, on Christmas Day and then a January car accident. It's the best medicine possible, she said, for feeling better and moving forward.
Sitting in a wheelchair Saturday at Veterans Hall, Hutchinson got back to doing what she loves — teaching the baton surrounded by the young women who mean so much.
"It felt so good; I needed to get back to my team," Hutchinson said. "I have missed them terribly."
She continues to keep her right leg elevated all day and said recovery is a long process.
"I coach from behind a long table with chairs in front of me to protect me from wayward batons," she said.
The Red Stars trace their roots back to Plaistow's Pollard School in 1972. Hutchinson held a first-grade teaching position at the time and taught young girls to twirl in the school hallways while working as the majorette coach for the Timberlane High School marching band. Her small troupe of twirlers wore white outfits with sparkling red stars attached.
When Hutchinson moved to a teaching job in Derry in 1976, her twirlers followed, making Derry their home.
Hutchinson's own history with the slender baton started while growing up in Newton. She loved watching majorettes perform, she said, eventually taking lessons and honing her twirling craft. High school and college years gave her more opportunities to twirl, sing, perform and study for her future as a teacher.
Her sparkly red and white Red Stars are fixtures in community parades and events, performing around the state, the nation, the world. This summer, the Red Stars will travel to China, one of only 24 American groups invited to participate in the Shanghai Music Festival.
Red Star assistant coaches KeriAnn Lynch and Ashley Tiller began their relationships with Hutchinson as little girls and still stand by their leader's side today.
"They were my students during their whole childhood," Hutchinson said. "They are now excellent coaches."
Lynch once called Hutchinson her "second mom" and is one of many Twirlers who chased dreams of becoming Miss New Hampshire as part of the Miss America program. Many of Hutchinson's girls entered — and won — local and regional competitions, earning thousands of dollars in scholarship awards. This spring, five Twirlers are in line to try for the Miss New Hampshire crown.
After retiring from the Derry School District in 2005 after more than three decades of teaching, Hutchinson took on another challenge in 2008, elected as a state representative, and advocating in Concord for education.
Hutchinson said coaching the Red Stars gives many rewards — not always measured in trophies won.
"I love seeing girls I taught at South Range School grow into mature young women," she said. "My life is so rich because of the team I founded, in a totally random way, 34 years ago."
She watched her Red Stars go on to college careers as featured twirlers. Her teams have performed at Bowl games, for world leaders and marched in parades around the globe. Twirling is a year-round commitment,
"Many weekends are spent at competition from here in New England to Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Indiana," Hutchinson said. "Summers mean five days a week. But the dreams they can realize are more than most athletes of any age."
Hutchinson said the ultimate goal is for her girls to always remember to be grateful, to give back, and to know that as long as one has integrity, sportsmanship, education and good health, any problem can be solved.
"I hope they all share their passion for twirling so as to experience the joy I have had," she said. "And I want them to always know they can come home to Red Stars."
