| Sterling
Girl, 8, in National Pizza Dough Contest |
By Katie Murphy
Observer Staff Writer |
| Next Thursday, Juliana Zarou is doing something no other
female in the United States has done before and she's only
8-years-old. Zarou is competing in a national pizza dough-spinning
competition. |
| Pizza dough spinning is an international sport that has
been gaining interest in the United States. In 2000, the first
U.S. pizza team consisted of three members. Now, the team
has 15 members and a team trainer. The 2005 U.S. team has
been featured on television, and so far has won four gold
medals, one silver and one bronze. |
| Caroline Felker, team coordinator, is one of the organizers
for the national championship this year in Orlando, Fl. She
said Juliana is the first female ever to enter as a pizza
spinner. "She's the first in every category, from the
junior competition to the upper division and even on the U.S.
Pizza Team," Felker said. |
| Juliana said she's practicing half an hour a day. Her family
owns Don Corleone's Brick Oven Pizzeria in the Cascades Market
Place and passersby often see her practicing out front. "She
practices a lot out front of the shop so she gets used to
people watching her," said Waleed Zarou, her father and
owner of Don Corleone's. |
| Juliana learned about the competition from her dad and started
training for the event four months ago. Waleed Zarou said
his daughter has been around him and his employees while they
were spinning pizza dough and she wanted to learn. "She
really got taken to it and we've had a lot of fun," he
said. |
| Juliana said her technique for spinning the dough is by
holding it on her fingertips and twisting it at the same time
she tosses it. She can already throw it pretty high. "I've
hit the ceiling in my house," she said. |
|
| Juliana can spin blindfolded and is working on perfecting
a 360-degree spin while she throws the dough into the air.
|
| Her father said he can't believe that already she is getting
better than he is. "If she stays with it and likes it
she could be on the official pizza team, but you have to be
16 for that, so right now she's being groomed to be the first
girl on that," said Waleed Zarou. |
| But if Juliana wins in Orlando, she'll get a paid trip to
defend the title next year and a paid trip to the world competition
in Italy as the national junior champ. |
| Felker said the national competition is Aug. 10 to 12. It
is divided into two age groups: 11 years old and under and
16 years old and under. The performance is scored on a 10-point
scale on three categories: originality, presentation and difficulty
of routine. |
| Originality is judged on the creativity in routine, music,
new approaches to tossing, and new tricks. Presentation is
determined by the entertainment value, choreographed, smoothness,
and the connection with the audience. Difficulty is based
on the variety of tricks and the difficulty of tricks. Drops
are point deductions for the older age group. Contestants
will have up to five minutes to perform their routine. Medals
will be awarded to the top three winners. |
| Last year, Felker said, the junior competition had five
competitors. This year there are 10. The pizza spinning competition
collaborated with the World's Yo-Yo Contest this year for
both events to gain more recognition. |
| The competition is open to the first 10 people to register
in each division. The registration fee is $55. |
| Juliana's sisters, 7-year-old Nina and 4-year-old Sophia,
will be in Orlando, too, cheering their sister on. "I
have a lot of people rooting for me and my friends talk about
it every day," Juliana said. |
