Juliana Zarou will return to Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 8, to defend her title as "Dough Girl."
In July 2006, Zarou was the first girl to compete in the Throw Dough National Finals Junior Division for the under 18 division. She placed third for tricks, like the "whip," when she tosses throw dough in the air, catches it, brings the dough down to her bellybutton and makes a figure eight, rolling the dough over the palms of her hands and back to her fingertip.
"I was the only girl in the place," she said.
ON FRIDAY, Aug. 31, Juliana Zarou tossed a piece of practice dough made of rubber and sprinkled with flour, called throw dough, outside of her father Waleed Zarou’s restaurant, Don Corleone’s at The Cascades Marketplace in Sterling.
Her sisters, Nina, 8, and Sophia, 5, watched her toss throw dough high above her head, under her leg and back above her head again.
"That one’s called the ‘under-whip,’" she said. "I made it up."
Although the 9-year-old has been practicing for a couple of weeks now, she said she has a long way to go.
"I haven’t practiced as hard as I could," she said, "but I’m going to work hard over the next few days."
This year, Juliana Zarou is sponsored by Antico Mulino Caputo pizza flour, from Naples, Italy.
<1b>— Kim Centazzo