But for Wodonga gymnast Karina Brooks, the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January curtailed the youngster’s career.

During warm-ups for the competition, Brooks broke the growth plate in her foot which required surgery.

The healing process has taken some time and only now is the 16-year-old back into full training.

“It was just in the warm-up,” she said.

“My toes bent right back and my growth plate broke. It was hard (at the time).

“It’s good to be able to get back into training. I’ve had a few injuries so this has given my body some time to heal.”

Combining school as well as 34 hours of training a week is no easy feat, but for Brooks gymnastics has always come first.

Brooks started in the sport as an eight-year-old and she showed a natural ability towards the sport.

Her family, at the time, lived at Dederang on a hobby farm and moved to Wodonga to cut down on the growing travelling time.

She competed as an international-level gymnast for three years at Gymsports in Albury under local coaches.

But she outgrew what was available to her — so together with her family, she made the decision to move to Brisbane.

She had a week-long trial with Queensland Gymnastics in 2004 and was offered a position on their squad.

In 2007 she was given a scholarship to the Queensland Academy of Sport and has continued to push forward ever since.

While she has ambitions to make the Olympic squad for 2012, firstly Brooks must return to training before competitions round out the end of the year.

“There’s a club-based competition in Canberra which I’m trying to get ready for,” Brooks said.

“It’s more an individual competition and not really for anything.

“It’ll be good to go to ... to have some time back in competition.

“At the moment, I’m just trying to get my fitness up.

“I need to get strength back in my foot before I can compete properly.”