Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Surfing (orlandosentinel.com)

My hero’s name is Bethany Hamilton. Bethany continues to prove to the world that she has faith, determination, and hope, by never giving up on her dreams. She entered her first surfing competition at the age of eight and won both the long board, and short board categories. These wins sparked the beginning for her love of surfing both competitively and leisurely.

Bethany was born on February 8, 1990 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii into a family of surfers. Her love of surfing was found at an early age after she won her first two competitions. But then tragedy struck. At the age of thirteen while surfing off Kauai’s North Shore she was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark. The attack left her with a severed left arm. Even though Bethany lost 60% of her blood, and managed to make it through several surgeries without infection she was well on her way to making a miraculous recovery; and all with a remarkably positive attitude. The most unbelievable thing that I found was that just 26 days after her shark attack she was back to surfing. And one year after her attack she placed first in the Explorer Women’s division of the 2005 NSSA National Championships – winning her first National Title. I don’t think Bethany has any intentions of stopping!

After her shark attack she has proved to everyone that she has never lost track of what she truly wanted to do, and that having one arm is not going to stop her! She has proceeded to compete in the following competitions: in her first competition with one arm she placed fifth in the NSSA Regional Event (2004), the champion of the NSSA National Championship (2005), she competed on the ISA Hawaii team (2006), Women’s Pipeline Championship: 4th Place (2007), third place at the Roxy pro Surf Festival (2008), placed second at the Billabong ASA World Junior Championship (2009), and as of 2010 she ranked twentieth on the ASP Women’s Tour.

Most of my friends don’t know who this Bethany Hamilton is and to tell you the truth I never knew who she was until I watched the movie Soul Surfer. But after I watched that movie I was in absolute awe of what this girl went through and how she could’ve even had enough courage to get back on her board, let alone 26 days after the attack!! I started to research her and even went to her website and read her blog, she is incredibly humble about the whole thing. You usually find that once a person gets a taste of fame he/she is changed or they become a little bit of a snob. But not Bethany, she is extremely down to earth, or at least she sounds like she is! I guess when you truly love something you won’t let anything stop you from doing it.

To me Bethany Hamilton is a true hero. She has courage and determination, she’s humble, she has faith and hope. I hope that if I ever have to experience a life changing moment like her, I can face it like she did, with determination and a positive attitude. So thank you, Bethany, for being you! You have inspired me and I am sure you have inspired many others around the world. So keep on going, stay strong and never give up!