When I was in sixth grade I had started competing level 7. It was my ninth year doing gymnastics. I loved it and it was my dream to do gymnastics in college. I wanted to go to the University of Georgia and be a Georgia gymdawg. My friend and I were going to the summer camp in the end of July. I would be considered a level 8 at this camp. I would be doing back handspring back layouts on beam, double fulls on floor, and double backs off of the bars.

I did not have much competition this year. I went to meets within the state and out of state. My first meet was a home meet where I placed first in all four events and all around. We traveled all around Louisiana where I placed first in every single meet. I was very young for this level so there was only about five other girls I would be competing against. We traveled to Disney World and Atlanta, where of course I placed first again. This was going to be the first year that I could advance on to regionals and/or nationals. This year I was an 'optional'. This means I was either in level 7,8,9, or 10.

Although beam was the scariest event is was my favorite, and also my best. My routine consisted of back handspring-back handspring, jumps, leaps, turns, and a round off back tuck off the beam for my dismount. I was also very good at floor because I loved to tumble. I was doing front handspring-front layout, round off back handspring full and back layouts. My routines were very advanced for level 7. I hated the events bars and vault. Although they were the least scary they were my least favorite. They were the easiest events and I guess that's why I didn't like them because they didn't challenge me.

The state meet was coming around in late March. This meet told me if I qualified for nationals. Only 7 girls from each state can advance to regionals. The age groups did not matter. The top scoring seven girls from level 7 advance. This meet put tons of pressure on me. I worked extra hard and went to extra practices to perfect all four routines. This means my friend and I would be competing against each other for a spot on the regional team.

The meet was finally here and I had had butterflies all week. We competed at Southeastern early Sunday morning. Vault was my first event, then bars, then beam, and then finally floor. I remember the meet so well. I did great on all four events. But for some reason I was really nervous for beam, I just had a weird feeling in my stomach while I was warming up. The meet went fine and it was time for awards. We sat and waited while they called all other age groups and of course they started with the oldest age group and I was in the youngest. They finally reached the age group of 10 &11. I sat there shaking as they started from 10th place. Luckily, I placed first in all four events and first in the all around. But my nerves weren't over yet. I had to wait and see if I had made it to regionals. They call the highest all around score of level 7 first as the captain of the team. This person would have had the best score out of all levels 7's at the state meet. My friends and I sat there praying that I made the team. And I did. I was the team captain, I had the highest all around score of all level 7's.

I felt like this was the best day of my life. I had just won state, made it to regionals, and was the captain of the Louisiana team. This was going to be my first regionals and a major step in my gymnastics career.

I practiced even more than I did for state. Any extra or free time I had I spent at the gym. I never did anything on Friday nights because I was in the gym by 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. Gymnastics meant everything to me.

Regionals was in early May in Panama City Beach. It came around so fast. We were scheduled to compete Saturday night. We drove up on Friday afternoon. Meanwhile I was freaking out while another Louisiana teammate, Lyndsay, tried to calm me down. Lyndsay and I became very close and supported each other through every event even though we would be competing against each other in the end for a chance to go to nationals.

It was competition time and the nerves had really kicked in. We started on vault, we had a good warmup and the Louisiana team did great! I placed 3rd on vault. Then we moved on to bars. I had the most difficult routine from Louisiana so they chose me to go last. Warmups were scary because we had so little time to warmup up such a difficult routine. Everyone rushes around and pays attention to only themselves. I placed 5th on bars.

The next event was beam, my favorite. We went into the warmup room, I started by warming up my jumps, leaps, and turns. Then I moved onto my back handspring-back handspring. I hit it perfectly the first time so I moved onto my dismount. The dismount was the hardest part of my routine. We were all in a rush, I took a deep breath and went for my dismount hoping to land it perfectly. I did the opposite. I did the round off, one foot slipping off but of course I still went for the back tuck. I landed on my neck with my wrist folded completely under my body. All I remember is seeing black and not moving. I had three coaches there. Cay was my favorite coach who I had known since I was about four who ran and got the doctor and ice. Mikey and MJ ran over and picked me up and moved me out of the way so the other gymnasts could continue to warm up. I remember my whole body going numb, I did not only just hurt my wrist but also my back and neck. I didn't know what to do. My wrist was swollen but I wanted to compete beam, it was my favorite. I could not even put any weight on my wrist at that point and I had chosen to go first. I knew I would be so shakey and worried about my wrist that I might fall and hurt myself even more. So I had to scratch on beam. This means I would get a 0.00 and have no chance of going to nationals. The last event was floor and I wanted to compete so bad. I took Advil and put a tiger paw on and was going to try and warm up. I knew I could try and bare through the pain for 2 and a half minutes. And I did. And that routine was one of the beast routines I have ever competed; I placed first at regionals on floor with a hurt wrist.

After I got home from Florida, I thought I was going to go to the doctor. My mom always tells me "you're fine, just rest it." She refused to take me to the doctor. I continued to go to practice but couldn't do much because I couldn't even put weight on my wrist. Ten days later, my mom finally decided to take me to the doctor. They took X-rays on my wrist and saw that I had a fracture through my growth plate. I was put into a cast for one month. That month went by slow. It was summer so I couldn't go swimming and my arm was constantly hot. I went back a month later to get it off but my wrist still wasn't healed so they put me into another cast for another month. Let's just say that that summer was not fun.

I was worried that I would loose my skills in those two months and not have the skills to become a level 8 the next year. After I got my cast off, I was weaker and still had pain in my wrist. The doctor told me I would have a permanently cracked bone in my hand and it would cause pain sometimes. I became scared and afraid to do skills. I didn't love gymnastics as much. It wasn't my passion anymore. After Georgia camp, I was going to decide if I still wanted to do gym. We had a blast at camp but I realized gymnastics wasn't for me anymore. I quit gym in September of my 7th grade year and decided I was going to tryout for cheerleading the following year at SSA.