A Twirling Tradition: the Story of Kylie Cates

(Courtesy Photo/ASU Feature Twirlers)

Fans are gravitating towards quirky sports like marble racing, rock-skipping, and sign-flipping to get their fill now that America’s major sports leagues are halted due to COVID-19.

But for Kylie Cates and her family, twirling — an activity that combines complicated dance routines with skillful baton-flipping — isn’t just another quirky sport.

Cates is an 18-year-old freshman at Arizona State University majoring in chemical engineering and a member of the school’s feature twirling team. As she explained, feature twirlers are distinct from the majorettes that perform alongside marching bands at college football games.

Cates says feature twirlers are “elite” and they possess a higher level of skill while competing in national and international competitions throughout the year.

Cates is distinct even among the feature twirler group at ASU. She’s twirled since age two, and won her first national championship at six years old.

As a young girl, Kylie practiced close to six hours a day. She went on to win five more national titles over the years, and has amassed over 300 total titles at the state, regional, national and world levels.

However, when Cates mentions her extraordinary successes, she’s unassuming and casual. It’s as if she’s commenting on the weather.

Her mother, Nicole, said that’s what she expects from her daughter. She’s trained Kylie since the beginning, accompanying her to practices and competitions for the last 16 years.

“That’s one of our big lessons,” Nicole Cates said. “You always have to stay humble, and kind.”

But if there’s one thing the freshman is not, it’s complacent. Even after winning so much, she’s training and competing as hard as ever.

In February, she went to Orlando, Florida for the Twirl Mania International Championships and won the Collegiate Classic, a competition involving feature twirlers from schools across the U.S.

“That was a great accomplishment for me because I was a freshman. I’d never done it before,” Kylie said. “I didn’t know how it was going to go, but it went really well.”

Then, earlier in March, Kylie competed in the Arnold Baton Twirling Championships in her home state of Ohio. She won the collegiate division there, too.

Nicole is especially proud of her daughter’s performances so far this year because the circumstances leading up to those victories were different than they’d ever been.

“The reason those titles are so special to me is because she was practicing on her own at ASU,” Nicole said. “She just kind of went and did it herself, which means she does truly love it, and she isn’t just being pushed by family. She’s twirling better in my opinion, because she’s doing it for herself.”

Nicole has a special perspective as Kylie’s coach, because she’s been in the same position. She competed as a twirler for 19 years, and was coached by Kylie’s grandmother, Annette Sylvester.

Sylvester started the family’s twirling legacy, opening the MDTA Stars Baton and Dance Studio and helping Nicole and her sister Michelle to successful careers as feature twirlers at Indiana State and Boston College, respectively.

“I opened my studio when I was 19 years old and we have been in business for 54 years,” Sylvester said via text message. “I tell everyone that I will never get rich teaching baton twirling but I can say I love going to work every day and knowing how many young ladies’ lives I have touched.”

Sylvester is immensely proud of her granddaughter’s career, and believes she has the “same love and compassion for twirling” that her grandmother has.

“Kylie has surpassed any dreams that I had for her,” Sylvester said.

Kylie isn’t done yet, though.

“I want to go back to the World Championships again and try to win a few more things,” Kylie said. “I also have two more national titles that I still want to win, and I have one title at the Twirl Mania competition called the Gold that I want to win. Until those are met, I will [still] be competing.”

Nicole said she wants her daughter to reach her goals, and eventually be able to “retire.”

“We set those goals a long time ago,” Nicole said. “To go through and win all the titles that she would like and to be able to retire, as we call it in twirling once you’ve won all of the titles. Then she’d be able to coach and judge and all those things if she really wants to.”