Spring Break
These girls can twirl
For UConn's baton twirlers, the real show starts at halftime
Marc Gauthier
Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: Sports
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After the UConn men's basketball team heads into the locker room, both of UConn's feature twirlers prepare to take the court.
They aren't 7-foot-3. They can't throw down a put-back dunk. But what McLaughlin and Kane can do is just as - if not more - impressive.
When the two make their way to center court, many people, who are getting up to stretch their legs, sit back down in their seats.
The music starts - a nice medley of current hip-hop songs - and the two twirlers go to work.
Kane launches her baton in the air, spins around, falling into a split and catches the baton, while McLaughlin throws the baton nearly 40 feet up and across the court, before reeling it in - all without missing a beat.
"Alyssa [McLaughlin] and I have always done performances, but now this is on a regular basis where we're performing for our student body and that's so much fun," Kane said.
For McLaughlin, an 8th-semester math and psychology double major, and Kane, a 6th-semester communications major, baton twirling has been a part of their lives since they were children.
As a 4-year-old, McLaughlin's mom enrolled her in a competitive baton twirling team in her home town of Derry, N.H. After she was signed up, McLaughlin continued taking lessons and never wanted to quit.
"I remember going to practice and looking up to the older girls on my team and saying, 'I want to be able to do that,'" McLaughlin said.
One of the biggest reasons McLaughlin stayed with the sport was the friendships she made throughout her years with the team. McLaughlin said that some of her best friends, who are still her best friends, started twirling at the same time as her.
As the years went by for McLaughlin, she garnered support from her mother, the one who started her down the twirling path.
"She has always been so supportive," McLaughlin said. "She's attended every football game since I was a freshman and she's only missed one basketball game that I've twirled at. She makes the two-hour drive down every time I have a performance."
While McLaughlin started her twirling career at 4 years old, Kane, on the other hand, has a much longer history with the sport.
Kane, who is a Weston, Mass., native, was essentially born into a family of baton twirlers. All of Kane's aunts twirled and her mother was a baton twirler for UConn in the late '70s.
"Basically, right when I was born, I was handed a baton," Kane said. "And the rest is history."
Kane's first twirling experience came at age 2, when she marched in a parade alongside her aunt. Her performance, while very basic Kane says, made it into the local newspaper.
As the two succeeded in their independent careers, both McLaughlin and Kane were vague acquaintances during their pre-teen years. While competing on separate teams, both would occasionally bump into each other at various competitions.
"It wasn't like you meet someone; you grew up competing with them," Kane said. "We would see each other at regionals. If there was a competition in Massachusetts, her team would come down. It's like how you know football players from other teams. It's not like you shook each other's hands and said 'hi,' you just talked to each other at competitions."
Neither of them can pinpoint the time when they first "met," but their guesses put it between ages 8 and 10.
In 2005, McLaughlin entered UConn as the first baton twirler on the marching band in seven years. It wasn't until the alumni football game in the fall, that the two Alyssa's would finally reunite.
At that game, Kane's mother was persuaded into performing during the half-time show that featured many of the alumni twirlers. As McLaughlin recalls it, Kane simply walked up to her during the game and said, "Hey Alyssa."
"I went to the game because I knew I was going to UConn all throughout high school," Kane said.
Since the two have been twirling side by side as UConn's feature twirlers, both have represented the Huskies at the National Championships held at Notre Dame every summer in late July.
But being UConn's feature twirlers doesn't come easy. Before claiming the title, both McLaughlin and Kane had to submit videos of them twirling to UConn's Band Director David Mills. In addition to that, both had to partake in a live performance. Ultimately, it's Mills who decides whether or not you make the squad.
As a part of the marching band, the two are required to attend every band practice, every competition and every home football game. And balancing a rigorous practice schedule on top of school work isn't easy. When the football team has a game at Rentschler Field at noon, McLaughlin, Kane and the marching band have to be at the band field at 7 a.m. And football game or no football game, every Saturday is a full day of dedication to baton twirling according to Kane.
But all their practice and hard work has paid off for McLaughlin and Kane. In 2008 at the National Championships, McLaughlin placed second in the collegiate halftime performance, which requires the performer to use their school's marching band music. McLaughlin also placed in the top-10 in 2006 in the Miss Majorette competition, which critiques twirlers in three categories: interviewing, performing without a baton and performing with a baton.
In her years with UConn, Kane's accomplishments include a fourth place finish in 2008 and a fifth place finish in 2007 in the Miss Majorette competition.
While baton twirling isn't recognized as an NCAA sport, the National Coalition for the Advancement of Baton Twirling (NCABT) hosts a competition every summer to support its efforts of making baton twirling a sport. Both Kane and McLaughlin are supporters of the NCABT.
"There are twirlers at most colleges out there who are competing but aren't getting recognition for it," Kane said. "[The NCABT competition] isn't the big shot; this is not what we're really going for. But it's a side prerogative for baton twirlers to get this recognized as a sport.
This one issue has been problematic for McLaughlin and Kane. As only members of the marching band, the two struggle to find places to practice and perfect their routines. Sometimes the two will grab a spot in the field house when there's open gym from 6 to 7 p.m. More recently, the two have practiced on the first court that is being repaired in Guyer Gym.
"It's really hard to get gym time," McLaughlin said. "We're not a sport so we weasel our way in."
"It's really bootleg," Kane added.
The philosophy behind awarding scholarships to the feature baton twirlers is another key issue. According to McLaughlin and Kane, there are a lot of schools, such as Iowa and Hawaii, that give scholarships for their feature twirlers.
"My mom told me that if I went to Hawaii and got a full scholarship for twirling, she'd be out there for every single football game," McLaughlin said.
While Hawaii sounded great to McLaughlin, it was less appealing to Kane. "What's going on in Hawaii?" Kane said. "What connections are there?"
Hawaii or no Hawaii, the fact is, McLaughlin and Kane have established themselves as two of the premier twirlers in the country. And after countless hours of practice, countless Saturday mornings dedicated to twirling, the two have found a passion that brings nothing but smiles to their faces.
"I just absolutely love the sport," McLaughlin said. "When I have a baton in my hand, I just can't put it down."
"There were times when, personally, I wanted to quit," Kane said. "At the same time, my parents pushed me; they said, 'you will regret it,' and I knew that I would. I love competing and now that I'm in college there's this new phase of my life where I'm twirling in front of people who appreciate what I'm doing."
From the dimly lit section in the XL Center to the bright lights under Gampel Pavilion, McLaughlin and Kane are pursuing what they love.
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