Friday Night Lights Feature - Needville High School Twirlers

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

What a fun weekend of field twirling! It never gets old! This past Friday we had fun watching these awesome twirlers do our Instastory Takeover, and are super excited that the next day all four of them earned Division 1 ratings at their Region UIL Solo & Ensemble contest. Congrats ladies! Now we look forward to learning more about these State Bound twirlers and their twirling experiences.  

This week’s Friday Night Lights Feature is the Needville High School Twirlers!

Needville High School is located in Needville, Texas, and is the home of the Blue Jays! Being close to several awesome twirling studios, NHS has had a great twirling presence in their community, and this Fall is no different. The 2021-2022 Needville High School Twirlers are Emily Wittneben (Head Twirler), Elisabeth Kubena, Hope DeLeon, and Kenzie Dees!

We asked these twirlers what the audition process at NHS is like. Elisabeth told us about Try Out day. “We have a try out day in the spring. On tryout day, we are judged on fundamentals, a twirl solo to music of our choice, and a group routine that we learn the week before during open gym practices.  Sometimes we even have had to play our instrument for try outs.”

A fun fact about these twirlers is that after they made the NHS twirling team for Fall 2021, they trained and took a routine to the 2021 AAU Junior Olympics and earned a GOLD MEDAL for their High School Majorette Line routine. #TeamTexas was so excited to see them earn this honor!

There are many great traditions in Needville, but the twirlers all agree that the Victory Bell is one of the most memorable. As Emily told us, “The best school tradition is ringing the victory bell,” and while Kenzie and Elisabeth agree, Hope has a different favorite. “On every home game we walk from the high school over to the stadium as a band and walk around the track all together.”

They also have a ton of fun being a part of the Needville HS Marching Band program. One tradition their band has that they will always remember is their trips to Golden Corral after marching contests. It has become such a fun outing for the band that, as Emily tells us, the band screams to go there after contests are over. Elisabeth enjoys those trips too, but says she also really loves their “Water Day” during summer band. “On our last day of summer band practices, a fire truck comes and sprays water, and the seniors throw water balloons and silly string at everyone, then the freshman have to clean it all up!”

Now that we have learned a more about being at NHS, let’s learn more about the twirlers themselves!

Head Twirler: Emily Wittneben, Senior 
Competition Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Emily has been twirling for 15 years with School Coach, Patti Jan, KTPS Coaches Patti Jan & Tracey Sweeney, and Jana’s School of Dance Senior Gem’s Coach, Jana Reid. The competition title she is the proudest of earning was the Marching Auxiliary National Twirling Solo Champion, and her favorite field tricks are toss leaps. In baton twirling she has been most inspired by Madi Jan. After High School she plans to go to college to be a Health Information Manager, and also one day teach twirling.

Elisabeth (Lissa) Kubena, Sophomore
Competition Level: Intermediate
Elisabeth has been twirling for 9+ years with coaches Heather Holland Mikel, Jana Reid (Sr. Gems), and Tracey Sweeney & Patti Jan with KTPS. The competition title she is the proudest of winning was the 2021 Junior Beginner Southwest Regional Pageant. Her favorite tricks are elbow pops into a one spin, and anything three baton! In baton twirling she has been most inspired by Rachel Foehlinger and Michael Lopez. After High School she hopes to continue twirling in college while double majoring in Business and Dance. “I am not sure where I want to go to college yet, but my big dream is to have my own dance and twirl studio one day.”

Hope DeLeon, Freshman
Competition Level: Novice
Hope has been twirling for 9 years with school coach, Patti Jan, and KTPS Coaches Tracey Sweeney & Patti Jan. The competition title she is the proudest of earning is the MA State Twirling Solo Champion, and her favorite field trick is a toss illusion. In baton twirling she has been most inspired by her teammate Emily Wittneben. After High School she would love to be a feature twirler at a good college.  

Mackenzie (Kenzie) Dees, Freshman
Competition Level: Novice/Beginner
Kenzie has been twirling for 10 years with school coach, Patti Jan, and KTPS Coaches Tracey Sweeney & Heather Mikel. The competition title she is the proudest of earning was Strut Queen, and her favorite field trick is a toss, stag leap, roll. In baton twirling, she has been most inspired by her cousin and teammate, Emily Wittneben. After high school she plans to go to college and study to become a biochemist. 

Fun Facts!

• Favorite Color – Light Blue (Emily & Hope), Pink (Elisabeth), Purple (Kenzie)
• Favorite Movie – “Aquamarine” (Emily), ”Avengers” (Elisabeth), The Iron Man Movies (Hope), Naruto (Kenzie)
• Favorite Music – “All Kinds” (Emily), “Pop” (Elisabeth), 
• Favorite Book – “The Selection Series” by Kiera Cass (Elisabeth)
• Favorite Class – Health Care/Nursing Career Classes (Hope)

Favorite Quote…

• Emily – “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
• Elisabeth – “Practice like the world is watching.”
• Hope – “What you put in it is what you get out of it.”
• Kenzie – “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” ~ Mae West

When they are not twirling, they love to…

• Emily – “Hang out with my friends.”
• Elisabeth – “Dance (especially ballet and pointe) and play my flute.”
• Hope – “Spend time with my little brother and watch him grow (he was born just a few months ago).”
• Kenzie – “Hang out with friends and read or draw.”

Something most people might not know about them is... 

• Emily – “I love dachshunds.”
• Elisabeth – “I love to cook and bake.”
• Hope – “I really enjoy twirling, and I hope to become better and better every day so that I have a good chance of making a college feature twirler spot one day.”
• Kenzie – “I like to watch anime.”

#1 non-twirling life skill they have learned from baton twirling…

• Emily – “Work hard for what you want.”
• Elisabeth – “Definitely time management!”
• Hope – “If you really want something accomplished you will put in the effort to make it happen.”
• Kenzie – “I have learned that in everything you do you have to be confident about it.”

Most memorable advice from their coaches…

• Emily – “Just have fun.”
• Elisabeth – “Don’t let other people undermine your confidence. You know what you are capable of, so go for it!”
• Hope – “Always pay attention and focus on what you are doing.”
• Kenzie – “The best you can do is the best you can do.”

Advice to future twirlers...

• Emily – “Find your motivation to practice.”
• Elisabeth – “Just put on your favorite music and practice what you need to. Good music always helps!”
• Hope – “Always count to stay together because it looks so much better when the team is together. If just one person is off count, the team doesn’t look good.”
• Kenzie – “Stick with it and make it your whole life if you love it that much.”

Favorite moment as a baton twirler …

• Emily – “My favorite moment is the ending of the halftime show when you’ve done your best and you do the fight song off the field.”
• Elisabeth – “Just anytime I am having fun with my twirling friends.”
• Kenzie – “My favorite moments are when we perform on the big floor as a whole big group. It is so much fun!”

Funniest moment as a baton twirler… 

• Emily – “A memorable twirl moment was finding a mouse in the twirling room walls.”
• Elisabeth – “While we were marching a half time performance last year, my fake hair scrunchie flew off my head during a spin. I didn’t know it had flown off and I just kept twirling like normal. My band director saw something on the field and thought it was a squirrel – but it was my fake hair!”
• Hope – “We four twirlers are always laughing and smiling, but I would have to say that the funniest twirl moment was when we were doing the fight song and the football players came out on the field. I turned and did a big loop and accidentally hit a football player in the head, but luckily he had a helmet on.”
• Kenzie – “The funniest thing that has happened to me was when I hit my eye in the middle of a routine and started crying, but finished the routine with no more drops.”

Favorite thing about marching season...

• Emily – “My favorite thing about marching season is showing everyone what we have practiced so hard for.”
• Elisabeth – “Eating at Golden Corral after marching contests.”
• Hope – “Just spending time together as a band and as a group.”
• Kenzie – “Performing for the judges.”

What will you miss the most when marching season is over?

• Emily – “I will miss the special and funny moments most after marching season is over.”
• Elisabeth – “The fun of Friday night games.”
• Hope – “What I will miss most is the practices and time we spend together. We have become very close.”
• Kenzie – “I will miss being with my friends and how close we have become.”

We experienced a very unprecedented year last year. How did you keep yourself motivated?

• Emily – “I knew that this year we had to work hard coming off of a year with not as many opportunities to twirl.”
• Elisabeth – “There is a park close to my house with a basketball pavilion.  I would go there almost every day to practice and try to teach myself new things.  I didn’t feel the pressure of competition and I really improved my twirling skills more than I realized.”  
• Hope - “I kept practicing and knew that I would get better and better the more that I practiced.  So, know that I put a lot of work into this it makes me want to go out there and show everyone what I have been working so hard on.”
• Kenzie - “Everybody said it was so much fun when they did it before, so I worked hard so I could try it!!”

Over the last year, what lessons did you learn from the experience of dealing with COVID?

• Emily – “I learned that everyone will learn to adapt in challenging times and learn to work together for the benefit of everyone else.”
• Hope – “Never take things for granted!”
• Kenzie – “I developed really bad anxiety over quarantine and I helped overcome it by twirling.”

How has COVID affected your school's football season last year vs this year. What are you looking forward to this year that you didn’t get to do last year due to Covid?

• Emily – “Last year, we were not allowed to travel to all of the away games, and I’m glad that we now get to show our skills with our football team everywhere.”
• Elisabeth – “We were lucky to be at a school that, other than having to wear masks, were able to have a somewhat normal year last year.  We have been able to still twirl at the football games both years.”
• Hope – “Last year there were no pep rally’s and it was hard wearing masks at every football game. Our make up would be ruined and would leave marks. This year, my freshman year, I had to miss what would have been my first high school football game because I ended up testing positive on the third day of school, which made me really upset.”
• Kenzie – “It was a big difference because last year I was in Jr High and they only had about 5 games while this year we have a full season and are in full swing with Marching Season!”

We want to say thank you to Emily, Elisabeth, Hope, and Kenzie for sharing their game day and their twirling experiences with us. We with them tons of luck with the rest of marching season and we can't wait to hear how they do at the Texas State S&E Competition in May! Go Blue Jays!

Each season this blog likes to get to know many of our awesome Texas twirlers a little better by learning about their experiences. We will be meeting many HS twirlers on Fridays throughout the season with the Friday Night Lights Features and discovering more about our Texas Collegians with the Collegiate Twirler Spotlights during the week. We will also be having many of our HS and Collegiate twirlers take over our Social Media Story for their Game Days. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @twirlingiscatchingtx or at facebook.com/twirlingiscatchingtx so you don't miss a thing!