Around 400 nervous athletes filed into the Sydney Gymnastic and Aquatic Centre over the weekend for the Level 3 Women's Artistic Gymnastics State Championships.
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Among them was ten-year-old Valla girl Halo Campbell, who was competing at state level for the very first time.
"She walked into the arena and her eyes just lit up," Halo's Mum, Ellie said. "It was probably a little daunting for her how big everything was."
Halo needed to pluck up all her courage for what was about to come next.
"I was the first one to go out on the floor - I was so scared," she said.
She'd been wrestling with a special move at her training with Coffs Coast Gymnastics before heading down to Sydney. But as hard as she tried in the run-up to the event she just couldn't pull off the cartwheel, cartwheel, step-in combo.
Halo said the adrenaline of a competition and support from her coach, Alannah Robey, usually lift her performance. Still, she was nervous about her chances of sticking the manoeuvre.
"But I got it! ... just," she said.
I was pretty proud of myself, but I was still shaking.
Not only did she show those cartwheels who was boss, she also scored an amazing 9.123 for her floor routine.
Ellie said that fantastic result eased Halo into a good head space for the rest of the competition.
The next event was the vault, an event that Halo takes to like a natural.
Despite it being her best-performing event, she never dreamed she'd do quite as well as she did.
Both Halo and Ellie were gobsmacked when her score came back at just under a 9.5.
"I really didn't think I would get as high a score as that," Halo said.
The next day brought with it the bars - Halo's favourite: "I get to do like full flips and stuff - it's cool."
But Halo looks solemnly down at her hands as she explains that she didn't quite perform as well as she hoped she would.
What she describes as 'not her best', other mere mortals would be exceptionally proud of; she was awarded an 8.9 for her routine.
The last event of the tournament was the beam, and Halo had reason to be nervous about it.
"I was worried I might fall because I was so nervous and shaky," she said.
I fell at the Country Championships and I was worried I might do it again.
But Halo maintained her grace under pressure and pulled off another high-scoring routine.
While all four scores were being tallied, Halo and Ellie waited nervously to find out whether she had qualified for the gold - a feat that requires a combined score of over 36.
The medal presentations started and, of course, the pair had to wait until the very end to see who would be awarded gold.
"I didn't think I was going to get gold. I couldn't breathe for the whole time. It was very nerve-wracking," Halo said.
When Halo's name was called out in the elite group of gold recipients, her mum couldn't contain herself.
"I did get very emotional - there were tears," Ellie said.
Halo, too, was chuffed: "I was so proud of myself for doing so well at a state level."
But both acknowledge Halo's incredible progress and the weekend's success wouldn't have been possible without the expert guiding hand of her "incredible" coach.
But there was no resting on her laurels; on Tuesday she was straight back into training, in preparation for her debut into Level 4.
"It's more complex. You get to do way more flips and stuff. And there's a lot more competitions," she said.
She can't wait until her chance to perform a backflip in competition.
"But I've got to wait until Level 5 before I can do that," she said. "I'm hoping to go all the way up to Level 8, or even Level 10," she said.
And she's sure to get there too - her passion and dedication to her sport shines through her.
On top of her rigorous gymnastics schedule, Halo also takes on AFL, basketball, cross country, athletics and representative touch footy.
"She doesn't stop. She has one day off a week where she's not training," Ellie said.
But that's exactly how Halo prefers it.
"I just like doing sport - it makes me happy," she said.