Friday Night Lights Feature - Westlake High School

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

It was another wonderful week with those Friday Night Lights, and a great way to kick off September! 

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 High School twirlers throughout the season with the Friday Night Lights Features and discovering more about our Texas Collegians with the Collegiate Twirler Spotlights. We will also have many of our High School and Collegiate twirlers take over our Social Media Story for their Game Days! Make sure to follow us on Insta @twirlingiscatchingtx or at facebook.com/twirlingiscatchingtx so you don't miss a thing!

Our next Friday Night Lights Feature is the Westlake High School Twirler!

Westlake High School, located in Austin, Texas, is a football powerhouse, and the home of the Chaparrals. It is also the home of the amazing Westlake Chap Band and their Feature Twirler, Emma Regalado!

A fun fact about twirling at Westlake is that Emma is the first WHS Twirler in more than three decades! This made the audition process a little unusual. “Since I’m the first twirler in over thirty years there wasn’t an audition process in place. I got in contact with my head band director right before my freshman year and asked about twirling. Thankfully he said he would love to have a twirler! During May music camp I performed a quick routine with 1,2, and 3 baton, to just show him what I can do. Then I was accepted on the spot as the feature twirler!”

Another interesting fact is that not only does Emma twirl, she also plays Mellophone in the marching band, and french horn during concert band. During Game Days she starts halftime with a featured twirling routine as the band marches out onto the field. Then, while the dance team performs, she transitions to her instrument and returns to the field to play mello in the competition show. 

As a school known for high achievement, we wanted to know what the best advantage to being a WHS student is, and she told us it is all the programs. “Due to Westlake being such a big school there are so many different programs and clubs that are offered! There is pretty much a program or club for everything and anything people are interested in!”

With Westlake also being such a legendary school for athletics, there has to be some great traditions, and Emma assured us there were many, but the one she is most looking forward to are the Senior Girls Decorations. “At the beginning of each year the Senior Girls all get together and decorate the commons for the first day of school with streamers, balloons, and confetti. It’s just such a staple that adds more fun to the first day. I can’t wait to get to do it next year with all my friends!”

For Emma though, being a part of the band is something she treasures. Each year she has two events that she is especially looking forward to attending with her fellow Chap Band Members. “The best events are either our rival game against Lake Travis or the BOA San Antonio competition! Our game against Lake Travis, which is also known as “Battle of the Lakes”, is such a fun one because the stands get totally packed on both sides! BOA San Antonio is also really fun because performing in the Alamodome is such a unique experience!”
 
Now that we have learned more about being a Chaparral, let’s learn more about Emma!

Emma Regalado, Junior
Competition Level: Intermediate
Emma has been twirling for 8 years. She is a member of Twirl ATX where she is coached by Ashley Wood as well as Whitney Coons. The competition title she is the proudest of earning was the 2024 Junior Beginner Texas State Solo Winner. “Strut is normally my stronger event, so I was so proud to win my state solo this year!” Her favorite competition trick is an illusion one spin, and her favorite field trick is a toss kick-back head kick-catch on my shoulder. In baton twirling, she has always looked up to former Miss Texas/UT & Baylor Feature Twirler, Caroline Carothers, in addition to her Twirl ATX teammate, and NC State Feature Twirler, Amber Sorenson! After High School she plans to attend college, and hopefully twirl, but right now she is just excited about visiting different universities and seeing which campus feels the most like home! 

Fun Facts!
• Favorite Color – Pink
• Favorite TV Show or Movie – Beauty and the Beast
• Favorite Book – The Inheritance Games

Favorite Quote or Life Motto…
“Life is like a camera. Focus on what's important. Capture the good times. And if things don't work out, just take another shot.”

Must have Game Day Snack…
“Twizzlers!! I always have twizzlers with me on the bus!”

When she is not twirling, she loves to… 
“Hang out with friends or with my family!”

Something people might not know about her…
“I used to dance! I danced from age 4-14! Unfortunately I became too busy when I got to high school and had to stop, but it’s helped me become the twirler I am today.”
 
The best non twirling life skill she has gained from baton twirling is… 
“Self confidence!! Thanks to twirling I’ve gained a lot of self confidence!”

The most memorable advice from her coach…
“‘Toss your baton straight!’ It’s such a pretty obvious fact, but it always makes me laugh.”

Advice to future high school twirlers… 
“Have fun! I used to worry so much about drops and how clean I was, but then I remembered at the end of the day drops don’t matter! It’s just all about having fun!”

Funniest memory as a baton twirler… 
“At one of my team practices when I went to throw a big trick, it got stuck in the volleyball net that was on the ceiling. Then my teammate threw one of hers up to try to get it down and got hers stuck. Then we tried another and got it stuck. After that we decided to ask the gym staff to bring the net down and we were finally able to get them out. We were all cracking up though because it was so funny that we got three different batons stuck.”

Favorite thing about marching season… 
“I love almost everything about marching season! I truly think my favorite thing is performing! Whether it’s when I twirl or play mello it’s so fun!! There really is no feeling like it!”

Best traditions within the band program…
“One of my favorite traditions is where the trombones do side to side swings with their trombone slide where they have to turn or bend forward at just the right time so they don’t hit each other while playing. At our senior night all of the seniors perform this together. The seniors learn them the week leading up to the game and even have to pass them off to the trombone section leaders. It is always so funny to watch. Another fun tradition is that we get to bop the fight song if our football team scores over 50 points (and thanks so having a great football team, we get to bop a lot!)”

What she will miss the most when marching season is over… 
“I will definitely miss the feeling and all the vibes during marching season!! During marching season I love how much of a family the band becomes! Everyone gets super close and the environment is just so fun! That’s always what I miss when we transition to the spring semester!”


Thanks, Emma, for sharing your awesome game day takeover. It was so much fun to see a Westlake W and follow the amazing Chap Band. We wish Emma a fantastic rest of the season, and Go Chaps!

We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it.