While most 12-year-olds are worrying about money to go to a movie or the mall, Tamara O’Brien is focused on something bigger. Much bigger.

And thanks to the help of a former world class and Olympic athlete, those worries just got a whole lot easier for the Grade 8 student at Coquitlam’s Como Lake middle school.

“I think there are a lot of similarities between her and me when I was growing up as a young swimmer,” said Elaine Tanner, who formerly excelled internationally in the pool.

“The drive and the passion and the energy and the enthusiasm [Tamara] had in going after being a champion.

“There were so many similarities, we thought why not go and try and help her.”

Tanner and her husband, John Watt, learned about O’Brien after reading a newspaper article.

O’Brien is an elite trampoline gymnast, one who has qualified for the 2009 world trampoline championships.

The competition is being held in St. Petersburg, Russia starting tomorrow (Saturday), but O’Brien’s participation was in jeopardy without funding.

After hearing about O’Brien’s plight, the story struck a nerve with Tanner, who came from a working family and had no funding herself to rely on.

“But poor Tamara, her mom is a single mom,” Tanner said. “How can a family budget for a world champion? You just can’t write it into the budget.”

Tanner said O’Brien is a perfect example of what is wrong with the Canadian sport funding system.

The athletes at the top get funded, which is great, she said, but more needs to be done to help those at the grassroots level.

“There is such a large gap between the elite athletes and the ones at the grassroots,” O’Brien said. “And where do our future Olympians come from if we can’t support the kids starting out?”

O’Brien, without a home gym to call her own, has been training wherever she can for the past few months, including a considerable time at Langley’s Flip City Gymnastics Club.

“Tamara is one of the not-so-normal athletes,” said her coach of the past six years, Barb Fraser.

“Athletically, she was exceptional when she started and she just kept that up. There is only so much you can teach, the rest is talent.”

Fraser said O’Brien won right from the start and is definitely a gifted athlete with loads of potential. O’Brien has qualified in all four disciplines of trampoline and most grateful for the generosity exuded by Tanner and Watt.

“It is incredible,” she said prior to departure. “[Tanner] is so nice and they are just amazing people.”

A Scotiabank account has since been set up in O’Brien’s name. The transit number is 80200 and the account number is 0132128.