She muttered under her breath, focusing on the corner opposite her, then charged powerfully across the floor.

Completing a tumbling pass usually reserved for much older gymnasts, 11-year-old Randi Lau proved why she has become the first from Hawai'i to reach elite status.

Randi qualified for the prestigious Visa Championships, the national championships for U.S. gymnasts, after her performance at the U.S. Classic at the Virginia Beach Pavilion last month.

"It's what I dreamed of since I started," said Randi, who amassed an all-around score of 32.899, including a high of 8.700 in the vault.

"She is the youngest competitor (in the upcoming Visa Championships), and one of the youngest ever," Hawaiian Island Twisters coach Joe Rapp said. "It's very unusual for a kid this age to make this meet."

Randi is competing in the junior elite division, for ages 11 to 15, at the championships in Indianapolis, Aug. 10 to 13. Sixteen junior girls will be selected for the national team and will compete internationally, partly based on their performances at the championships.

Because she is so young, Rapp said, he wasn't expecting her selection — although he was "very happily surprised" when she did.

"I knew it was possible, but whether it was probable or feasible this year was the question," Rapp said.

Randi, who lives in the Punchbowl/Nu'uanu area and is homeschooled, began gymnastics when she was 6, after having her interest sparked by the 2000 Olympics.

Within the year, she decided she wanted take it more seriously, and approached Rapp.

In a private lesson with Rapp, she went from a level 4 to a level 6 gymnast in two hours.

"Obviously, the talent and ability was there," Rapp said.

The first skill he taught her was a glide kick, which she can do without thinking now.

"I look back and see what I accomplished," she said. "And how many skills I can do now that I only dreamed of doing before.

"What encouraged me to do stuff was when other people wouldn't do it, and I just said, 'Hey, I'll just do it.' "

Randi trains five hours a day — and for the upcoming competition she practices every day.

"At first I was happy I had gotten this far and I didn't need to advance to make me happy," Randi said. "But I reached my goal, so now I have to make a new goal."

She said her new goals are to make it on a world team and win a gold medal.

Rapp said those goals are not out of reach, especially with time and maturity.

"I definitely think within a year she'll be ready for international assignment," Rapp said. "In three years, she'll be ready for the World Championships."

Although the Visa Championships is being billed as the first major competition in preparation for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, it isn't even a thought in Randi's head, because the International Gymnastics Federation raised the age at which gymnasts could start competing in the Olympics to 16.

She doesn't even think about 2012 when she would be 18 because that is seven years away.

Randi's sister Taylor, 6, and brother Robby, 5, haven't shown an interest in following her footsteps, but Taylor is a ballet dancer, and "she's a lot more flexible than me," Randi said. "I have to work a lot harder (on flexibility) than she does."

Ballet was one of the first activities Randi picked up, but because she was so active during classes, her parents needed to find another activity for her. That's when they discovered gymnastics.

Her father, Robert, called Randi a "sickly, asthmatic child," from between the ages of 2 and 4. She took swimming classes at Hongwanji Mission School, and "it led to her getting very strong, to the point where she beat her asthma," her dad said. "By the time she was in kindergarten, she was beating the boys."

He said building strength from swimming was one of the reasons Randi is so competitive with gymnastics.

Rapp has other reasons to explain Randi's success.

"She has all the attributes, besides having an exceptional amount of talent, a good training facility and knowledgeable staff," he said. "But one of the most important things is she has very supportive parents who are willing to spend the extra time and money to get her to this level."

Robert, a data center manager, said at first he and his wife Susan, a data engineer, were hesitant to enter Randi in gymnastics because they knew nothing about the sport. Now, they are in full support of their daughter.

Robert said he tells Randi to do especially well when 15-year-old golf phenom Michelle Wie isn't competing.

"We understand that reality," he said.

For her part, Randi loves being in the spotlight. When asked if she would like the same attention as Wie, she said, "I guess so, that would be nice."

She enjoys talking to the media, has fans who ask for her autograph, knows how to apply her own make-up for events, wants to be in commercials one day, and said part of the reason she doesn't mind putting in the long hours in the gym instead of having free time like other kids her age is because, "I get to have all the glory and be on TV."

At 4 feet 2 and 63 pounds, it would seem as though all the attention would overwhelm her.

Rapp thinks it could be a good idea, in small doses.

"Any time you start getting attention, it's going to raise your confidence. That's what (gymnasts) are there for, to show what they can do in front of hundreds of people." he said. "Too much, to where it becomes a distraction, that's when her parents and I will step in."