FORT WORTH, Texas — When most kids his age were learning to walk, Max Geritz was doing flips and somersaults on his parents’ bed.

Against the advice of friends and family, his mother Terri, living in Oregon at the time, purchased a trampoline for Max at age 3, hoping to exhaust some of her son’s high-flying hijinks. It worked.

Max fell in love with the exhilaration the trampoline provided and before long, he was tumbling, balancing and twisting in organized gymnastics.

Ten years later, on Sunday, Max found himself standing on youth gymnastics’ biggest stage, the U.S. Gymnastics Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, for the second time in his young career.

“Most of the meets we do are in local gyms, so it definitely gives the kids nerves,” Terri said. “I know that the younger kids just have to tune it out and pretend like they’re in their little gym.”

Max did just that, though it didn’t come easy.

In front of hundreds of people, after two tough runs in the early rounds on Friday and Saturday, the 13 year old from Bath Elementary School put together a near flawless double-mini routine, besting 17 other competitors for first place.

“I just knew that it was a new day and I was going to do my best,” Max said.

The double-mini is a small trampoline with a sloped front and a flat bed. The gymnast is required to get a running start, explode from the front, come down, hit the second part of the trampoline, twist in the air again and stick the landing. It’s one of the more complex trampoline maneuvers in gymnastics and requires perfect timing.

“He was very upset with himself (after the early rounds) and you wonder if he’s going to bounce back. He did,” Terri said. “The third day we were there at the very beginning when it started and we got to sing the national anthem. It seemed much more like a sporting event. The other days we got there in the middle of the day and we didn’t get to experience the beginning. I don’t know if that gave him a better mindset, but I think it helped.”

Max is no stranger to the big stage. In 2013, he competed in the same competition held in Kansas City, taking first place in the tumbling portion of the national championship. To qualify for the showcase, Max first had to earn one of the top scores at the southern regional competition.

Under the tutelage of coach Brian Rose, the owner of Rose’s Gymnastics in Greenville, Max has pieced together a gymnastics resume worthy of attention, one he hopes to improve during his high school years. The sport itself has been more than simply an outlet to expel energy. It’s helped Max grow as an individual.

“Since he’s always been doing it, I don’t know what he would be like without it,” Terri said. “He’s just confident. His coach was saying he’s just very much a leader on the team and helps the other kids. He’s good at seeing something they might be doing and can coach and help them. It’s really helped him develop into a leader.”

While none of the high schools in Beaufort County have a gymnastics program (few North Carolina schools do), Max is looking into other competitive platforms like diving, Terri said.