Friday Night Lights Feature - Lake Highlands High School

Hello Texas Twirl Fans!

We have returned and those Friday Night Lights are back to brighten up our weeks! As those Friday Night Lights return, we look forward to enjoying the sights and sounds of football teams, marching bands, and our favorite, lots of talented Texas baton twirlers! 

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 be having many of our High School 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!

This season’s first Friday Night Lights Feature is the Lake Highlands High School Feature Twirler!

Lake Highlands High School, located in Dallas, Texas, is the home of the Wildcats, and a football field nicknamed “The Boneyard”! With a name like that, you know you will have some exciting games, which are only made better by the wonderful Lake Highlands High School Feature Twirler, Breckyn Steele!

Sporting the Red, White, and Black, Breckyn is proud to be the first twirler in LHHS in over 25 years! To earn this position, she went through a slightly different audition process. “Since there was no twirler, I met with the band director when I was in 8th grade and he allows me to twirl 4-5 games a year, but I also play in the front ensemble of percussion with the band.”

Being a part of a spirit organization really puts Breckyn on the forefront of the LHHS community. “I love how the community comes together and supports EVERYTHING about Lake Highlands! All the sporting events are always packed with fans!”

Having such a supportive community always means the best traditions! We had to know what Breckyn’s favorite game day tradition was. “The Band always marches from the school, around the stadium and into the stadium before every home football game. The fans always stand on the sidewalks and watch the band enter!”

With this being Breckyn’s senior season, we wanted to know what event she was most looking forward to, and she told us about their Elementary School night. “It is so fun to perform at! The elementary school kids get SO excited! And after halftime I will meet so many kids and teach them a few fun tricks. I love seeing their faces light up!”

Now that we have learned more about twirling at LHHS, let’s learn more about Breckyn!

Breckyn Steele, Senior
Breckyn is an advanced level twirler that has been twirling for 14 years. She is a member of the Texas Touch of Class where she is coached by Sheila Rigelsky, and was previously also coached by the late Shirley Payne. The competition title she is the proudest of winning is a tie between earning the Jr. Miss Majorette of Texas title in 2024 or being named the Advanced Senior X-Strut Champion at the 2026 Super West Regional. Her favorite twirling trick is the split trick in her solo where she tosses it up and switches her split under the toss. In baton twirling, she has been most inspired by her coaches, Miss Sheila and Miss Shirley, but all of the "big girls" that really helped her grow and love twirling even more were Erica Kuntz, KK Tunnell, and Chailie Alsaffar. After High School, she hopes to become a dyslexia teacher.

Favorites!
• Favorite Color – Purple
• Favorite Movie – Frozen 

Must have Game Day Snack…
“Sour Patch Kids.”

Favorite Quote or the Life Motto… 
“Miss Shirley used to always quote Winston Churchill and say ‘Never, Never, Never Give up!’ It has always stuck with me.” 

When she is not twirling, she loves to…  
“Go to our lake house to ride the jet skis, swim, or go on the boat.”

Something people might not know about her… 
“I am dyslexic and my dyslexia teachers played a HUGE role in me wanting to be a teacher myself.”

The best life skill she has gained from baton twirling is… 
“Interviewing and being able to talk to adults.”

The most memorable advice from her coach…  
“Never, Never, Never give up!”

Advice to future high school twirlers… 
“Enjoy every moment. Take every opportunity you can to perform, and show your community what an amazing talent twirling is!”

Her funniest memory as a baton twirler… 
“In 2021 at Regionals we had covid protocols, so there wasn't an awards ceremony.  I went into the awards gym to get my bag of awards and there was a crown in the bag and I didn't realize it was because I had won the Intermediate 10-12 Southwest Pageant. I asked Ms. Ashley (Wood) what this was for! At that same time my Mom came in and hugged me because they had posted the results on the Band App and she saw I won. It didn't really register with me that I had won until I saw the sash and scoresheets!”

What will she miss the most when football season ends? 
“That means my High School twirling career is over and I will be 1/2 way through my Senior Year. However, it will be the start of a whole new chapter!”

We want to thank Breckyn for sharing her Game Day with us. We know she will have the very best senior season, and we are excited to see what the rest of this year will bring! Go Cats!

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.