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Local Gymnast Beats The Odds After Arm Fracture

FORT SMITH (KFSM)- Justin Moore was swinging on the high bar when he fractured his right wrist, forearm, hand and fingers in June of 2012. “I was doing front gi...

FORT SMITH (KFSM)- Justin Moore was swinging on the high bar when he fractured his right wrist, forearm, hand and fingers in June of 2012.

“I was doing front giants,” Moore said. “My arm gripped around the bar, and what we call grip-lock, is when your hand stops because the grip sticks to itself and it stuck to itself, and I just kept going around the bar twice.”

The 18-year-old has been a gymnast for nearly a decade.

“I was jumping around in my house jumping around, jumping off counters and stuff, and the Olympics were on that year and my mom was like, 'Oh you should  get in gymnastics,' she put me in, and I started excelling pretty early, so they put me on the team," Moore said.

It took him nearly two years to recover from his injury.

“A year to get the plates in and then to recover from that, and then I took the plates out, the metal plates in my arm, all the screws and all that, I took that out because it was actually hindering me,” he said.

Justin`s coach said relearning the skills he once knew was just as much mental as it was physical.

“Justin is one of the most amazing people that I've ever worked with,” Scott Lawless, Flame Gymnastics said. “The maturity that kid shows is astounding, and for him to have the mental fortitude to go through what he`s done and still have the attitude about him and just not be beaten down.”

“I knew I had a chance, but more important than winning is just getting back out there,” Moore said.

Today Justin is making moves on the pommel horse, vault and rings again, spending three hours a day, and at least four days a week in the gym.

“I won the state championship this last year, I won states before, but this last year definitely meant the most.”

Justin will compete in the regional championships in Oklahoma City later this month.

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