By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
After practice, it's usually dark out, and that's when her school work begins. Since she works out six-days a week, it leaves little time for an active social life. But, she added, she wouldn't trade it for the world.
And for all the hard work and determination she has put into gymnastics, Harris earned a ninth place finish at the 2002 United States Championships and a spot on the United States Junior National Team. The placement has left her right on course for realizing her dream of competing at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
After the first day of the two-day U.S. Championships, Harris said she had a positive feeling. Though she had a fall on floor, she was in eighth place all-around.
I really said to myself that I had a really good meet with just a little fluke, Harris said.
On the second day of competition, she took two falls on beam, one physically and one technically. But she was able to head to floor with high graces and ultimately finished ninth All-Around.
It's been a long time coming for the young, talented Long Beach native. Unlike most gymnasts who start competing at level five, Harris began at level six. Numerically, level ten is the highest. Harris, though, has surpassed that and achieved Elite status, which allows a gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.
Back as a new gymnast at level six, Harris only competed in two meets. I actually didn't compete the year after level six, she added. I worked on my basics [skills].
Following that year, Harris jumped all the way to level eight and began the journey to her ultimate goal: the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.
After moving to Allentown, Penn., last year to train at the renowned Parkettes gym, Harris spent a year bouncing between her gymnastics friends' homes until she finally settled comfortably into her best friend's house. She spent a year without her family.
I'm glad that I got to do that, but it was rough, she said.
While Harris trains for her goal, it doesn't leave much time to attend school. Instead, the former LB Middle Schooler is now home schooled. While most 14-year-olds are into being with their friends and hanging out, Harris has other priorities.
Honestly, she said, I'm not into all of that. Even if she had friends outside of the gym, she wouldn't have the time to hang out with them, she said.
As with most athletic dreams, pain and injuries are always close by. Harris once fractured the growth plates during an obscure landing which hyper-extended both knees. That kept her out of the gym for a year. Making a come back from that injury, she is still sometimes plagued by a fractured T-12 in her back.
Still, it's her dire love for gymnastics that keeps pushing her towards her Olympic dream.
It's in me, Harris said. When I don't do it, I miss it. It's like an addiction and you don't realize it until you do it. You can have so much fun and you learn so much because it's your life...it's so fulfilling.
