World champion baton twirler wows crowds at University of Georgia games

ATHENS, Ga. - There's always a lot of action to watch in Sanford Stadium, even before the players take the field. You might have spotted the University of Georgia's feature baton twirler's stunning performances, some are literally on fire.

It's hard to look away when Ally Duda takes the field.

"When you see a picture like a painting of Sanford Stadium like of everything, how it's just a bunch of red dots, that's exactly what it looks like when you're on the field," Duda tells Good Day's Lindsay Tuman.

She's been perfecting her craft since she was 8 years old.

"So my mom is actually a coach and my older sister twirled. So I've kind of been in the gym since I was little and then just picked it up," she said.

That's also the age she decided she wanted to be a Bulldog. She's originally from Maryland.

"And from the moment I stepped foot on the campus, I just knew, and I told my mom, 'I'm coming to school here.' She said 'OK, we'll see,' because I was 8 years old at the time. And 10 years later, I was coming to Georgia," Duda said.

Duda also competes on the global level and is a world champion.

"I'm very focused. I try really hard just to zone in on my baton and really hone in on all of my training and really trust that process that I've gone through at all of my practices," she said.

In total, she's won 11 gold medals, one silver, and three bronze. Most recently, she earned a gold and bronze medal at the International Baton Twirling Federation in Liverpool, England.

"I heard them call second place and I had this kind of moment of realization when they didn't call USA. And I was just kind of looking around, and I was like ‘Oh my God! What is going on?’ And they called my name, and it was just so amazing," the twirler said.

After a summer of practicing for hours nearly every day for competitions, Duda says performing for the games is like her off season.

"I like to say that football season is the fun stuff just because it's not as intense as being on the competition floor where you have to make sure that you have your technique and your difficulty there. Because on the field it's just for entertainment," she said.

Proving every week she can juggle school, competitions, game days, and even fire.

Ally is a senior studying human development and family science. She says she wants to do occupational therapy when she graduates.