Bethany Hamilton

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Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 8, 1990) is an American surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the serious and debilitating injury to return to surfing.

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[edit] Early life

Hamilton was born in North Shore, Kauai. Both of her parents were surfers who moved to Hawaii from the continental United States for the surfing opportunities. Hamilton was taught how to surf by her parents. Her surfing abilities progressed very quickly and, while still 4-5 yrs old, she won first place in the "push and ride" division of a Quicksilver surfing contest. She entered her first major surfing competition at the age of 8, the "Rell Sunn Menehune" contest on the island of Oahu at Makaka, competing in the girls seven to nine longboard, and seven to nine shortboard, taking first place in both. With dreams of a career as a surfer, Bethany began competing more seriously at the age of 9. She won the 1999 Haleiwa Menehune Championships 23rd annual contest. In February, 2000, she placed 1st in the "11-under girls", 1st in the "15-under girls," and 2nd in the "12-under girls" division at the Volcom Puffer Fish contest. She picked up a sponsor, Rip Curl, which aided her with her plans of becoming a professional surfer. And she competed in the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) circuit. Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark attack experience in her personal ministry.

[edit] Shark attack & recovery

On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:30 a.m., she was lying sideways on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 14 ft tiger shark attacked her,[1] ripping her left arm off just below the shoulder. If the shark had bitten 2 inches further in, the attack would have been fatal. Bethany had lost 60% of her blood that morning. Her friends helped paddle her back to shore, and fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash around what was left of her arm before rushing her to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Her dad was supposed to have a knee surgery that morning but she took his place in the operating room.

Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Three weeks after the incident, she returned to her board and went surfing again. Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker which made it easier to paddle. She has observed that she has to kick a lot more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively. She is now back to using competitive performance short-boards again.

In July of 2004 Hamilton won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the Year.[2] She was presented with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards.

In 2005, with one arm, Bethany took 1st place in the NSSA National Championships, a goal she had been trying to achieve since before the shark attack. In 2008, she began competing full-time on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). In her first competition against many of the world's best women surfers, she came in 3rd.

Since the attack, Hamilton has appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Show, as well as in People, and Time'. In 2004, MTV Books published Hamilton's book, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board (ISBN 0-7434-9922-0), which describes her ordeal.

[edit] Heart of a Soul Surfer

The 2007 short subject documentary film, Heart of a Soul Surfer was directed by Becky Baumgartner and is currently appearing in film festivals around the world. Described as a "faith-based documentary", the film portrays the true, coming of age story of Bethany Hamilton. Addressing Hamilton's courage in the aftermath of the loss of her arm in a tiger shark attack, the film follows Hamilton's quest for spiritual meaning and purpose.[3][4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ About. Bethany's General Biography. BethanyHamilton.com (2004). Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
  2. ^ 2004 ESPY Awards: Best Comeback, ESPN.com, March 1, 2007
  3. ^ Heart of a Soul Surfer. Walking on Water. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.
  4. ^ Heart of a Soul Surfer: The Bethany Hamilton Movie. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.

[edit] External links