As she twirls her baton at a Rockets game, bright lights and cameras highlight her on national television.

The cameraman goes in for his close-up, but he’s too close.

She bumps into him, dropping her baton, all while the camera is still trained on her.

“It was the moment I walked out after we performed that I was just like, ‘Oh my God,’” senior Kayla Horn said. “I had to live with the fact that I just dropped [my baton] in front of national TV.”

Prior to performing in Houston, Horn first discovered baton twirling in her mother’s hometown of New Orleans during a Mardi Gras parade.

“In Mardi Gras, there’s marching bands that feature twirlers,” Horn said. “I was really captivated and super impressed. I was like, ‘Wow, look at how they throw sticks in the air. This is really flashy.’ It seemed like a really fun skill to learn.”

Horn first began twirling when she was 6 years old at a short interest program with her sisters in New Orleans during the holidays. Back home in Houston, she joined Calvin Murphy’s Marching Thunder and has been in the company for nearly a decade.

“All the team is composed of youth, mostly people from the Black community,” Horn said. “It’s very, very friendly and a tight-knit group.”

Practice runs for two to three hours every Saturday, with additional practices throughout the week before upcoming performances. As the captain of the twirlers, Horn mentors her team to ensure everyone on the team looks good as a unit to “truly put on a good performance.”

“I love being able to help [the younger twirlers] and teach them a skill,” Horn said. “Even practicing skills myself, when I finally get a move I’ve been working on with my friend all practice, it’s so rewarding.”

Horn’s hard work and leadership don’t go unnoticed, especially not by her coach Ashley Watkins.

“She’s not just someone who says, ‘I’m a leader. I am the best,’” Watkins said. “She is helpful. If she sees that someone is not getting a certain twirl or a certain routine, she’s going to take them to the side, and she’s going to work with them specifically.”

Even before she was promoted to captain two years ago, Horn “shined as a leader” in her company, a sentiment shared by Watkins.

“Kayla was not the captain at the time but took on the role of assisting people even when she was not asked,” Watkins said. “She assists others, and that right there gives her that shine and that sparkle — she is a true leader.”

Horn leads her team in countless performances, one of which was at a Big3 basketball game that was hosted by Ice Cube in August this year.

“We got to actually meet Ice Cube himself, like he was there in the flesh,” Horn said. “It was so nerve-wracking, because we had to perform in front of him. Luckily, we did well and didn’t drop [our batons] at all.”

According to Horn, getting to meet celebrities on the court is one of the highlights of performing on the twirling team, but it’s not surprising considering that a celebrity founded Marching Thunder.

“Our coach, Calvin Murphy, is the one who started the whole thing,” Horn said. “He’s a previous basketball Hall of Famer, so he has lots of connections to people in the Rockets, and whenever we perform at games, we see celebrities.”

Behind the praise she receives from her coach and engaging moments with celebrities, Horn describes her time on the team as “anything but easy” given the work necessary to move up the ranks.

“People underestimate how much practice goes into preparing for competitions, parades and performances, and that repetition is so hard to get used to, especially when you have coaches that always say, ‘Okay, go full out,’ every single time,” Horn said. “It’s very exhausting, but that’s how you build muscle memory in order to succeed in performances.”

Despite strenuous practices to perfect routines, mistakes still happen in performances, but Horn has learned to move past them — an “important skill for any performer.”

“There are times when you did good in practice, but you didn’t do good when you’re on the stage,” Horn said. “Being able to disassociate and disconnect from those past failures, to keep moving forward and not be afraid to try that move again for the next performance, and cope with the idea of messing up sometimes and knowing that that’s okay is so important.”

Moving on from challenges is not unique to twirling in Horn’s company but also at school in the Twirling Club, which she co-founded with senior Ellie Shou.

“We were both passionate about twirling and wanted to share that passion with other students,” Shou said. “We also wanted to create a space in the school that wasn’t related to a class or elective, because some people may struggle to join dance or color guard due to time commitments or having no prior experience.”

At first, it was “difficult” for Horn and Shou to attract members.

“It’s hard to be successful within a place like Bellaire, where twirling wasn’t something people do besides color guard,” Horn said. “When I first started the club, it was really disheartening to see that we weren’t getting members.”

In spite of the initial disappointment, Horn’s support group, including Shou and Watkins, encouraged her to push forward, reminding her that the people who want to find twirling will find it.

“Eventually that happened, [the club] grew, and though we are so small, we have a small, loyal amount of members, and that’s something I cherish very much,” Horn said. “It taught me that despite my doubts, something can be possible if you put enough effort into it.”

While the Twirling Club has taught Horn the importance of working past self-doubts, the lessons she takes away from twirling extend beyond the classroom.

“Twirling has taught me a lot of patience that I would not have otherwise,” Horn said. “There are times when you have to just do the same thing over and over again and again. That repetition is something that builds discipline.”

Aside from becoming a more patient individual, twirling has pushed Horn to become more goal-oriented and cooperative.

“Every effort I make is a progression to get to my end goal,” Horn said. “I’ve also become better at working in teams now. Twirling has taught me to be more considerate of others, especially when working towards a common goal.”

No matter where she ends up for college, Horn hopes to bring her passion of twirling, inspiring others to twirl just as she did in Bellaire.

“I would like to bring that passion of [twirling] and start a twirling club if they don’t already have one,” Horn said. “I would definitely be open to joining a twirling group within the community.”