While the NFL season may be in the rearview mirror, a group of first graders in Kansas City is “shaking it off” and racking up wins. Meet the KC Swifties, a girls’ flag football team that’s just as serious about Taylor and Travis as they are about touchdowns.
It all kicked off when global superstar Taylor Swift started showing up at Kansas City Chiefs games to support her then-boyfriend, now fiancé, Travis Kelce, in 2023. Suddenly, football Sundays looked a little different for these girls.
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Soon they were saying, “Look what you made me do,” as their interest in football skyrocketed.
“They became a little bit more interested every Sunday and wanted to watch with their dads,” team manager Krystn Maher told TODAY.com. “And slowly, their interest started evolving.”
But these first-grade girls didn’t want to just watch from the sidelines, they wanted to play. So Maher’s husband, Aaron, stepped up as coach, and their daughter and her friends formed their own team in fall 2024. The girls picked the Kansas City Chiefs as their team, but with a twist: their jerseys featured the names of popular Taylor Swift songs.
And the fun didn’t stop there. When they weren’t on the field, the girls were on the sidelines baton-twirling, cheerleading, and performing music video dances with Taylor Swift-inspired banners.
Then came the wins.
“They started winning, and we didn’t expect it at all,” Maher says. “To have a team that not only has so much energy and so much joy, but then to have them be good was the icing on the cake.”
Their infectious team spirit caught the attention of a Kelce Brothers fan page, and even the NFL shared their story. The girls also got to meet some U.S. women’s national team players and, in true Swiftie fashion, handed out their signature friendship bracelets.
“To get this attention, they’re over the moon,” Maher says.