Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Kassidy Foster's image and words inspire gymnasts competing in Kassidy’s Rock Star Invitational Sunday in Christiansburg.

Tammy Foster helps in the concession stand at the meet Sunday. She and her husband, Danny, have remained involved in gymnastics, in part because of their daughter Courtney’s continued participation.

Kassidy Foster died in July 2007 from osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer in children. She was 12 years old, a devoted gymnast with a monkey streak on the uneven bars and an infectious floor routine that earned her the nickname ''Sassy Kassy.''

Kassidy Foster was not at this weekend's gymnastics meet in Christiansburg.

But her picture looked down on the dozens of girls in sequined leotards who jumped, tumbled, twirled and sometimes stumbled their way through their routines. The picture, along with inspirational messages and the carefully rounded letters of Kassidy's signature, hung on banners throughout the gym.

The banners were a way to keep the Floyd County girl close, even though she died in July after a four-month struggle with osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer in children. She was 12 years old, a devoted gymnast with a monkey streak on the uneven bars and an infectious floor routine that earned her the nickname "Sassy Kassy."

After her death, her parents discovered a journal in which she had written messages to herself.

"It was a side of her we didn't see all the time," said her mother, Tammy Foster. "We copied it and gave to the coaches."

Some of those messages graced the banners that welcomed gymnasts to Kassidy's Rock Star Invitational at her home gym, Virginia Techniques. The meet was held in her honor.

"It's not just your friends that you cheer on. It's everyone on your team," reads one.

"She was a tough kid," recalled Ashley Lamborn, one of the gym's owners.

On Sunday morning, the gym was packed with parents, many of whom had come with their daughters from as far away as Abingdon, Martinsville and Charleston, W.Va. Fathers trained video cameras on their daughters.

"Come on baby, you can do it. Come on, come on, come on," muttered one man as he trained his camera on a girl teetering on the balance beam.

The gym gave out special awards this weekend to commemorate Kassidy's life. Her 10-year-old sister, Courtney, won one such award Saturday with a score of 9.325 on the uneven bars, one of Kassidy's favorite events.

Courtney's involvement in gymnastics has kept her parents in the sport. They still travel to competitions, and Tammy Foster worked the concession stand Sunday at the meet.

"Stuff like this is healing," said Danny Foster, Kassidy's father, as he watched the gymnasts going through their routines. "We would go and sit at these events from 8 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock at night."

In January 2007, Kassidy's knee started hurting after a competition in Orlando, Fla. In March, a biopsy revealed a tumor in her knee. Doctors had to amputate her right leg.

The girl who practiced gymnastics 20 hours a week received chemotherapy and slept 20 hours a day.

The cancer later reached her lungs. She died July 16.

Stephanie Goetz, 15, was at the gym when she got the news. Afterward, she said, "we didn't do any hard stuff. We just took it easy."

Stephanie had known Kassidy for about five years. She visited her friend the weekend before her death.

"She would always make you happy, cheer you up," she said.

Kassidy's death rattled Virginia's close-knit gymnastics community. Gyms across the state have held fundraisers and events in her honor. A gym in Fredericksburg has named a trophy after her.

"The gymnastics community's been pretty good," Danny Foster said. And the Fosters have rededicated themselves to their daughters' sport.

"I want to do this bigger next year," he added. "Maybe at one of the high schools, get some more people involved, get some Olympians."