BALANCE IN BURBANK; GIRL GYMNASTS COMPETE, SHOW OFF PROWESS.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

As girls tumbled and flipped through their floor routines behind her, gymnast Erin Kobashigawa shook her head in frustration.

Twice during Sunday's competition, she had fallen off the beam, a kind of padded, shoulder-high fence on which athletes leap and spin. Worse, Kobashigawa, 11, lost her balance during maneuvers she usually nailed.

But with several hours left in the Golden State-Jewel City International Friendship Challenge, the Studio City native put the spills behind her.

``I was so worried about the beam,'' she said. ``Now that it's over, I'm going to have fun.''

Fun and fierce competition mingled at the three-day amateur meet, held at the Burbank Airport Hilton. Drawing more than 500 girls - most between 8 and 18 years old - from four countries, the event included novices and young gymnasts already rising in the sport.

For many of the athletes, the annual meet provided their first taste of serious competition. Dozens of cheering parents and friends filled the bleachers of a makeshift gym, videotaping every move while girls in spandex and crushed velvet attacked the vault or uneven bars.

``This is how they learn to compete,'' said Hal Halvorson, the event's founder and one of its organizers.

As young as many of the athletes are, some already show great promise, said Dick Mulvihill, director of the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Eugene, Ore.

A former coach on the U.S. Olympic team, Mulvihill said some of the girls competing in Burbank on Sunday had the combination of physique, concentration and flair needed to reach the sport's highest levels. Many more had at least the potential for a college scholarship, he said.

``They have to have the ability to focus and zero in on what they're doing,'' Mulvihill said. ``Not all kids have that.''

Danielle Swett did. Three medals bobbed against her warm-up suit after her portion of the competition ended Sunday.

``I had a really awesome meet,'' said Swett, 13, a member of the National Academy team. ``My vault was a little low, but my beam and my bars were good.''

She took seventh overall in her category, a feat she said she accomplished by concentrating on her own performance instead of watching her opponents.

``When you see there's a lot of competitors, you think, this is going to be tough,'' Swett said. ``I just try to compete with myself, compete against my own score. I makes me less nervous.''

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Erin Smith, 9, prepares to take on the balance beam at the Golden State - Jewel City International Friendship Challenge.

(2) Sarah Zelek, 10, performs her beam routine at a girls gymnastics meet Sunday in Burbank that drew athletes from four nations.

(3) Gymnast Stacey Goto, 10, is congratulated by coach Brenda Browning after her performance in the floor exercise Sunday at the Burbank Hilton.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News