Photograph and interview by JAMIE FRANCIS
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 23, 2002

Calli Campo is a 15-year-old gymnast from Mandeville, La. She was in St. Petersburg with her teammates March 1 to 3 for the annual Tampa Bay Turners Optional Invitational at the Bayfront Center. She has been a competitor all her life and says she can't imagine giving up her sport.

The trophies were bigger than me for a long time. In one room of our gym there are so many that you can't even walk. We've started giving them away to small kids at fun meets. They love them so much, I guess like us when we walk through an airport with one of those huge team trophies after winning a meet. People just watch and finally they ask, what do you do?

I've been a gymnast since I was 3. I'm known as the loud, laughing one, but you are seeing my "evil get-out-of-the-way" face. It's not a normal look for me, honest! Rebecca is my second cousin and we've competed together forever; she understands that look. We were getting ready for beam and I was trying to focus my head, trying to imagine myself being perfect in every little form.

Beam makes me really nervous. It's my most challenging event, and I'm shaky emotionally when it comes to that 4 inches (the width of a balance beam). That big bruise, the one on my right leg, I got that on beam. I was doing a back handspring layout; that's when you flip backwards without using your hands. Well, my feet slipped, and I smacked down pretty good.

Injuries are common in our sport. We train 20 hours a week, 30 in the summer, so there are lots of chances to get knocked around. But I love gymnastics; it's my life and I couldn't change even if I wanted to, even after what happened in 2000.

That's when I broke my neck. I was at a friend's gym in Georgia doing a routine on bars that I've done for years. It was a freak accident. I was going from high bar to low and landed on my head. I've seen that view before, looking up at the bars and seeing a coach looking back. I didn't think the fall was too bad, but the doctor said I was very lucky.

And I believe him. Life is full of risks and some people may not get a second chance, so I'm going to take advantage of my luck.

I'm still trying to come back, trying to get to where I was before. It's frustrating when everyone is doing good, and I'm just pulling along. I compete with the 10s, that's the highest level, well there is elite but that's for Olympians, so the competition is tough.

Some people always come with their evil face and they leave it on, but I just want to do my best. Sure, I'd love to win first every time but that's not going to happen. I'm thrilled to compete, and I love that feeling.

Ever since I was 4 or 5 years old I have wanted to earn a college scholarship and that has been my motivation, especially since the neck injury. I'd love to go to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, any school who will take me. I can't let that dream go.

Right now it's not looking good, but in gymnastics the thing I've learned is that nothing is consistent. If you're going great, get ready for the bad. If your tired or peaked-out or injured, well, that will change too.

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