Gymnast vaults to second in New York state

Many children dream of being able to flip and fly through the air. For 9-year-old Kaylee Guarascia of North Bellmore, such acrobatics are a part of her daily life.

That, in part, explains why the Newbridge Road Elementary School fourth-grader recently took second place at the New York State Gymnastics Championships in Buffalo.

Kaylee competes for Mid Island Gymnastics in Hicksville, and was the youngest gymnast in Level 7 at the gym. After the championships, she will now compete at Level 8, two steps away from Level 10, the highest in competitive gymnastics. Kaylee’s Level 7 team also took second place in the group competition in Buffalo.

On average, Kaylee practices three hours a day at least five times a week. She said she enjoys the hard work, and wouldn’t want to spend her free time doing anything else but gymnastics.

Mid Island Gymnastics is sanctioned by USA Gymnastics, the same organization that oversees the U.S. Olympic team. As a USAG-certified gym, Mid Island draws young, committed athletes from across Long Island.

Kaylee’s mother, Allison, said it was an easy decision to sign her daughter up for gymnastics at a young age. “It was one of the first things she could do,” Allison said. “She just took to it.” Anyone who speaks with Kaylee can immediately see that gymnastics brings her joy. When asked if she ever gets scared during her routines, she laughed and shook her head. “It feels like happiness,” she said with a smile.

Kaylee’s best –– and favorite –– apparatus is the balance beam. Having taken second place at Level 7, she will now move on to Level 8, and harder skills on each apparatus.

In particular, she said she looks forward to trying a Yurchenko on vault, which is a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the vault, followed by one of a number of landings. Learning new skills can be a daunting task, but it’s worth the hard work, Kaylee said. “At first it’s scary, but once you try it, it gets easier,” she said. Kaylee said she just enjoys performing on the different apparatuses. One of her favorite skills is a flip on the balance beam.