“I was really sad, and it felt like a part of me was miss Max Dattilo takes a deep breath. “You have to scare yourself if you want to be the best,” he thinks as he begins his routine. High bar is Max’s favorite event to compete in gymnastics, and as he completes his final dismount, he releases his grip and flips through the air, defying gravity until he sticks his landing.

But those days are over now. this year, Max has gone from the gymnastics star to the outgoing social butterfly. Max ended his 12-year gymnastics career to move on to new things when he started high school, but leaving gymnastics was not an easy decision.

“The people were so supportive, and I loved the adrenaline rush and nerves,” Max said.

Originally Max began gymnastics because his parents were looking for a way to help him get rid of his energy, but it turned into one of his greatest passions.

“[Gymnastics] wasn’t my decision,” Max said. “My parents put me in it because I was super hyper as a kid, and they wanted to burn off my energy, then I fell in love with it.”

Although it was a love of his, Max still had a fear of being judged, and he was teased because gymnastics is not something most people think of as a male sport.

“I wasn’t playing the same sports as everyone else, so some people judged me for being different,” Max said.

When Max started at FHN, he decided that gymnastics was taking up too much time in his life. The 24 hour a week practices didn’t let him try new things. So he gave it up in pursuit of things like football and baseball, but it was hard to make the adjustment.