Already a member of the USA Gymnastics men's junior national team, 14-year-old Josh Dixon is focused on a bigger goal, competing in the Olympics. While no one can predict how far he'll go, this summer when the world's tunes into the Olympic games in Athens, Josh will be watching his gymnastic heroes and visualizing the road to the medal podium.

Even before Josh could walk, his father, Mike Dixon, remembers his son climbing up child safety gates in the home. Because of Josh's early agility, his parents asked instructors at West Coast Martial Arts on Lincoln Avenue if he could join his parents and one of his older sisters in tae kwon do classes. Instructors were initially reluctant to teach a 4-year-old, Mike says, but after seeing how well Josh followed directions, one of the instructors told Mike he'd never seen a child his age excel so quickly. By age 6 Josh had earned his first-degree black belt.

"That's been his trademark," Mike says. "That natural ability. He pictures what they ask him to do and then he duplicates it."

Practicing over gym mats, Josh taught himself to do aerials—no-hands cartwheels—and didn't tell his father he planned to do one during the Founder's Day parade on Lincoln Avenue years ago.

To Mike's heart-stopping shock, his 6-year-old did a flip in front of downtown Willow Glen crowds.

"He's always scared me to death," Mike says. "But I knew he loved to do tricks."

Seven years ago, with their child eager to learn more acrobatics, Mike enrolled Josh and his two sisters in gymnastics classes at the California Sports Center gym on Race Street.

California Sports Center business manager Chris Brown, who was Josh's first coach, says he immediately recognized Josh's quickness, strength and understanding of complex movements.

"He was phenomenal from the start," Brown says, adding that it's Josh's hard work that has helped him rise in the sport.

This May, Josh competed in San Diego at the Junior Olympic National Championships, where he ranked 12th in his age group of 12- to 13-year-olds. Last year he ranked first in the nation in the same age group. In the sport, birthdays are cut off as of Sept. 1 of each year.

California Sports Center director Dave Peterson says Josh's overall results at the San Diego competition were outstanding, but the youth had a tougher than expected time in some events, especially the pommel horse and parallel bars. And Mike adds that his son was also competing with a fractured wrist. In Josh's best event, the floor exercise, he scored a 9.8, placing him second after a Florida teenager who trains 40 hours a week, twice as many hours as Josh.

"He did really amazing for the amount of training he does," says Josh's coach, Jin Jing Zhang. "He's the only one in his age group from Northern California who made the national team."

Zhang says he thinks Josh found the competition difficult because he is entering a growing stage and had recently learned new skills. Zhang adds that although Josh may not have performed up to his potential, he still did well enough to make the national team.

Being on the junior national gymnastics team means being invited to practice at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., a few times a year for ranking and testing, but the athletes remain in their hometown with their own coach for most of their training season, Brown says.

"The national program serves as a guide and a resource," Brown says. "They're never heavy-handed."

And his father and mother Kathy's relaxed attitude and the light rein of his coaches have helped Josh become a better athlete, Josh says.

In an individual sport with perfect control of the body as the goal, his parents say their job is to support him emotionally, but not become too involved.

"He's so much more knowledgeable and critical, so we don't need to be," Mike says. "He's the expert."

His coach also says his role is to guide, never to push. Zhang says his coaching method is to allow Josh to make decisions about how he wants to improve. Zhang gives Josh the opportunity to choose which aspects of training he wants to focus on because he believes that that keeps Josh motivated to work hard.

Zhang knows firsthand that athletes don't respond well when they are forced into doing what their coach wants. As a gymnast in China, Zhang says his coach strictly controlled his training. Zhang, who has been coaching Josh for a year, won the gold at the 1996 Olympics for all-around performance and a silver medal with the entire Chinese team the same year.

Although Josh's training seems relaxed compared to that of other countries' teams, he practices three hours a day for six days a week.

"It's fun," Josh says. "But it takes a lot of hard work and dedication."

He adds that just like in learning tae kwon do, he followed his older sisters into gymnastics.

"I tried a lot of sports," says the Willow Glen High School freshman, who has played soccer, baseball and run track. "But I like gymnastics the best."

Although he's a "student of the sport" and lives and breathes it, according to Brown, Josh says that sometimes after "rough workouts" when he was younger he thought of giving it up. But over time, he realized gymnastics was his passion.

"He's always chomping at the bit to get to the gym early," Mike says. "If he had the option, he'd spend all his time at the gym."

Peterson adds that extreme devotion to the sport is not uncommon. "They get chalk in the blood and love to be around it," he says. "It's a thrill."

Despite the thrill and the uniqueness of being able to do feats that others can't achieve, the sport can take a toll on these athletes physically and mentally.

Brown says the most common injury for gymnasts is overuse of the wrists. Josh has been wearing wrist guards during practice since a small fracture was discovered in April, but he was still able to compete in the national championships without further injury, Mike says.

Mike adds that he's been very pleased with the California Sports Center coaches' emphasis on safety.

"He's been brought along, not pushed," Mike says. "He's always been young, with no others at his level. Other gyms would have pushed. But these coaches understood there's no rush."

Male gymnasts have time on their side, with their athletic peak coming in their early 20s, much later than female gymnasts, who hit their prime between 18 and 20 years old, Peterson says.

And the pressure of competition is also something gymnasts learn to become more comfortable with as they mature, says Brown, who was Josh's first coach.

Brown remembers that in Josh's early years, he mastered skills before a meet, but then through nervousness would make errors during a competition.

"He was a very normal kid in that he had to learn how to compete," Brown says.

The rigors and discipline of the sport make it a constant battle for any gymnast to stay on top of his or her performance, Brown says.

"Even when you've totally mastered a move in gymnastics, you're always close to the edge of disaster," he says. "But it's his love for it and the fact that he studies the sport that helps him."

Mike says that Josh watches gymnastics routines on videotape for hours and talks online almost daily to gymnasts from other parts of the country that he's met through competition.

The amount of time that gymnasts dedicate to their sport develops strong friendships between teammates and even competitors, Peterson says.

Josh has known many of his regional competitors for years, and the sport is more about personal performance than the competitor's, Peterson adds. But he notes there is still significant pressure at national competitions.

And having teammates to share the experience with is something that Josh values, Mike says. For that reason, Josh chose to stay at the same level—Class III—he competed at last year instead of advancing to Class II, because he prefers to compete with his teammates.

"He was so young and had early success, so he'd always be by himself at meets," Mike says. "With his other teammates, he's happier. They hang out and are a well-bonded team."

For the first time, the California Sports Center took nine boys to compete in the national championships this year.

Zhang says, "I'm really happy nine guys went. They've been training really hard."

With a number of talented, hard-working gymnasts below his level and age, he seems more comfortable at meets, Mike says.

And one of those dedicated teammates is 16-year-old Danny Gram. He says the team's members supported one another at the championships by watching each member's events. Danny is ranked eighth in the nation in Class II, the 14­15-year-olds. That age group only takes the top six competitors, so Danny did not make this year's junior national team. He says he hopes to receive a gymnastics college scholarship, but adds that in recent years the sport has been "dying off" in collegiate sports programs.

Peterson says the coaches have high hopes for Danny and many other young gymnasts behind him.

These high hopes are mirrored by the athletes themselves, who without skipping a beat name American senior national team gymnasts Paul Hamm, Jason Gatson and Sean Townsend, who will compete in Greece, as their sports heroes.

And despite Josh's lower-than-expected placing in this year's national championships, big things may lie ahead.

"It's a matter of time," says Peterson, adding that Josh's growth spurt and his coach's concern about overtraining and injuries may have affected his performance in the national championships. "But he's going to blow them out of the water."