Every game day before the football players rush out onto the field, music starts and batons go swirling into the air. Crowds cheer as the start of their entertainment has begun. The stadium roars in applause as The T-Bird Twirlers hit their end pose finishing their routine.
The girls on the team are freshman Raelynn Thompson and senior Kinsey Danielson. Shifting from last year to this year the team has been cut in half going from four members to two. This has in turn has undeniably brought the team closer.
“We don’t just do T-bird Twirlers together,” Danielson said. “We’re friends.”
This close knit duo does not twirl only for Bellevue West they perform at the same studio, Sue’s Stepper-ettes. Thompson and Danielson have most of their private twirling lessons and learn their choreography at their shared studio.
“At Sue’s the girls come to lessons about twice a week,” said T-Bird Twirlers Coach Brooke Riley, “and they’ll come to team lessons.”
During these practices and team lessons the girls learn different tricks which they perform in their routines at football and basketball games. An example of a trick is the two turn, where the twirler throws the baton into the air and spins twice before catching it.
“I’d say my toss lay back,” Danielson said. “It’s one of my favorites. It’s basically, it looks like you’re halfway laying down, but you still stand on one leg. So you pick a leg up and basically lay back.”
The girls use the skills they have practiced in their pregame performances. Danielson and Thompson try their best and continue their performance through mistakes and nerves.
“I’m really nervous, and I’m like, Just don’t drop it and smile all the way,” Thompson said.
The T-Bird Twirlers have not always performed at games, or even have been a team at Bellevue West. The idea for a twirlers team started when Riley met with girls at Bellevue West who wanted to twirl.
“I really wanted both of them to be able to twirl at football games and basketball games at the school, and so I just went to the athletic director to try to get that up and rolling,” Riley said.
The T-Birds Twirlers work extremely hard to perfect their routines and grow their skills. Twirling has become wider and more known as more schools create teams for twirling.
