Every season, it seems, Naomi Nari Nam is told to wait another year.

First, she was too young. Then, she was too inconsistent. Now, after finally reaching the right age and finding the right balance, her body is too injured.

"This was supposed to be my comeback year," Nam said before withdrawing from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Tuesday because of a stress fracture in her hip. The injury kept her off the ice for eight weeks at the end of last year.

"It's OK. It's better this year than next year."

	Once again Naomi Nari Nam must play the waiting game.

Nam gave a hint she might be the next big star in U.S. skating in 1997, when she won the novice title at just 11. She was a dazzling spinner - better than some of the women at the senior level - but still so tiny her backpack was almost as big as she was.

Two years later, she stunned the skating world by finishing second to Michelle Kwan in her first senior nationals. She was all of 13.

Though barely a teen-ager, her athletic skills and artistry were breathtaking and made her seem much older. But no matter how mature she appeared, international rules said she was two years too young to go to the world championships.

There was a loophole: Medalists at the junior world championships can compete at senior worlds. But Nam was too young to meet the cutoff for that event, too.

"She's had such a strange career in what I call ups and downs," said John Nicks, her coach since she was 7. "The first time when she skated so well at nationals, she had the blow of not being allowed to go to worlds."

Nam might have faced the same problem last year, but she was never even a factor at nationals. So eager to please everyone else, she lost focus on her own skating and dropped to eighth place.

"After the first year, it was too much too soon," Nam said. "I put a little too much pressure on myself. ... I didn't really think of my skating. I think I thought what other people would think if I didn't do as well. I put a little too much pressure on myself.

"I just need to focus on my skating, not what other people think."

That important lesson learned, Nam was hungry to get back on track this season. Instead, her right hip began hurting during the summer. Diagnosed with a stress fracture, she was told to stay off the ice for eight weeks.

It was a devastating diagnosis for a girl who never was off the ice for more than a day or two at a time in the past eight years.

"It's just different, because you really have to be patient and not get so frustrated," she said. "I went through that. I was frustrated and I was depressed."

So much so that Nicks barely recognized her.

"She's a very up psychological young lady. I've never seen her so depressed," Nicks said.

Her family and friends were great, Nam said. They kept reminding her she was only 15; that the Salt Lake City Olympics were next year, not this year; and that her career definitely was not over.

Between that encouragement and yoga, Nam managed to make it through the long recuperation.

"Yoga ... was good for me. It helped me relax and take my mind off everything else," she said.

But nothing was better than finally stepping back on the ice last month.

"I kissed the ice," she said, giggling. "I knew I had to be slow. All I could do was stroking for days and days and days. I just wanted to go out and do all my triple jumps, but it wasn't that easy."

Nam wasn't able to even practice her programs until about three weeks ago. Though she was hoping as recently as last week to compete at nationals, there just wasn't enough time.

So, once again, she'll have to wait until next year.

"I know I'm still young," she said. "I still have a lot more years ahead of me."