As she sticks the landing to finish off her routine and lets out a breath of relief freshman Stashia Campbell proceeds to leave the mat, as she hopes to place in the national competition. This is normal for Campbell as she works five days a week to prepare for the multiple competitions that she attends. Not only does she compete in Michigan, but in competitions all over the west coast. She has been doing this for years and plans to continue into the college level.

“It has been six years since I started doing gymnastics with my team, Academy of Gymnastics and Arts [AGA]. I’m at level 10 which is the highest level you can be at in my age,” Campbell said, “To get to the level that I’m at you have to put years of work in because you have to go through all the level you can’t skip levels.”

Campbell practices every week for multiple hours to prepare for the competitions she competes in.

“In seventh and eighth grade I didn’t have a fourth block, I would leave early to go to gymnastics.”

“I practice about 30 hours a week,” Campbell said. “I practice Monday through Thursday and Saturdays. When we first get there we start with stretching and then we go over all the events. We normally do floor first then we go beam, bar, vault. When we are done with the event practices we go and finish off with conditioning. Because of all the practice I have gotten a lot of medals and trophies at competitions like Nationals 4th place level nine on floor.”

With the hard work and words of encouragement from her older teammates Campbell has been shaped into the gymnast she is today.

“I started at seven and half years old when my mom got a brochure in the mail for the gym,” Campbell said. “She asked my sister and I if we wanted to do it and we both agreed to start gymnastics. And since then I have looked up to most of my older teammates, they are great role models because of hard work, dedication and the encouraging words, this has helped me be the gymnasts I am.”

Campbell throughout her career has had minor injuries that have stopped her from competing for periods of time.

“I have never had any major injuries, but I did break both of my thumbs,” Campbell said. “Two years ago, I broke one of them when I was going from the higher bar to low bar and I grabbed it wrong. I again broke my thumb last year, when I was doing a back handspring and I landed on it with my thumb underneath my hand. I was out for three to four weeks for both injuries.”

With the dedication that Campbell puts into her sport she misses multiple days of school with causes her to miss assignments and doing them on the road.

“The last two year I haven’t had a fourth hour,” Campbell said. “I would leave to go to gymnastics. But now that I don’t have the extra time I do miss school a lot. So if I know I’m going to be gone I have to go in a couple of classes before the day to get the work that I’m going to miss.Then I normally do my work when I’m driving to practice or meets..”

With the dedication that Campbell puts into her sport it has forced her to missed school and assignments because of the hours of practice and traveling to different competitions. But without any of this she wouldn’t be the gymnasts she is today.