"Come on everyone, let's stretch!"

As I formed a circle along with eighteen other girls, we began to stretch and prepare for the first day of gymnastics practice. I was scared and unsure if I had enough strength to overcome my fears of getting back into gymnastics again.

When I was young I lived for gymnastics and ballet. Everyday I'd go from ballet at 4: 30 to gymnastics till 7: 00. It was tough, but I loved it! Then, my coach moved me into a league with girls at least three years older than I was and quickly I was thrown into the competitive side of gymnastics. But I caught on to all of the routines and started getting firsts and thirds in competitions. There were many pressures .

I remember one day at the gym when another girl and I were told to do back walk-overs on the beam. She went first and was spotted by a teacher and then she was told to do it by herself. I could tell by her facial expressions that she was really scared, but she had to do it. Now if you ever get scared before you're gong to do a move, the chances of getting hurt are about 86% most of the time. So, she took a breath and down she went, her arm missing the beam. She flipped over and broke her arm! From then on I became very scared of the beam and actually everything in that gym.

After this, my life as a gymnast began to decline, and I quit. Well, years passed and I still would play around with splits and cartwheels in my living room and often I would dream that I still did gymnastics, but I never got back into it.

Then in my sophomore year of high school, people started saying that I should start gymnastics and compete for our high school. Last year some girls on the team would always say that it was really fun and it didn't really matter how good you were, as long as you had fun. I became excited and I joined the team. Let me tell you I don't think I've ever had so much fun doing gymnastics.The team is really close and we all work hard and, to tell you the truth, we have what it takes to make it to the championships in February!

I'm very happy I got back into gymnastics because I really enjoy it! So all you who want to quit gymnastics, please don't, because later on in life you'll regret it. n