But on May 18, 58-pound Wee, Solodar and two of their teammates from Sunnyvale's Paramount Tumbling & Acrogymnastics gym will be competing shoulder to shoulder with some of the best athletes in the world, at the World Championships and International Age-Group Competition for their sport—Sports Acrobatics.

Sports acrobatics is a floor competition, with a style and presentation similar to those of figure skating and gymnastics because the contestants perform mainly in pairs.

Each pair consists of a smaller person called a top, who does aerial handstands and other flexible moves while the person on the bottom holds them up, at the same time performing his or her own moves.

Competitions have three distinct parts in which teams of two or three athletes compete in balance, tempo and combined events, each consisting of a 2¹/2- minute routine that is set to music. The teams execute a series of choreographed lifts, holds and other moves. Performances are scored based on execution, the difficulty of the routine and the artistic presentation.

After a year-long qualifying process, in which the two teams from the gym went up against the best in the country for a place on the 2004 United States National Team, Wee, Solodar, and a men's pair, Lukas Martincik, 16, and Wee's brother Ting-Tien Wee, 13, are heading to France for two weeks.

For the athletes, it's their first time in international competition and their first exposure to the immense popularity of their sport outside the United States.

Up until this point, the four athletes have excelled in smaller national competitions and haven't been up against teams from Europe and Asia, where many outstanding teams come from.

For their first week in France, the athletes—who normally train for three hours a day, six days a week—are training with the rest of the national team. Solodar's father and coach Anatoliy—who coached the Ukraine National team for 15 years and is considered an international "Master of Sport"—is one of the coaches they will be working with.

St. Francis sophomore Martincik said he is excited about getting to work with the other athletes and coaches but nervous about the coming competition and what it means for his team.

"I'm nervous about competing well. We want to go out there and represent the USA well and show the world what we've been working on," Martincik said.

The competition will also give the younger athletes a chance to watch the U.S. Senior teams compete in the full World Championships.

Martincik and his teammates credit Anatoliy Solodar's coaching and the PTA gym for much of their success, an impressive feat considering the gym has been around for barely one year.

"It's such a family atmosphere, everyone is friends, the team is awesome," Martincik said of the 15-person team. "The support network in the gym is really helpful."

For more information on classes or team competition at Paramount Tumbling & Acrogymnastics, call 408.734.0403 or visit www.ptagymna stics.com.