Bethany Hamilton: Anything’s possible

Bethany Hamilton is known for being a professional woman surfer who survived a shark attack on October 31, 2003 at age thirteen in Tunnels Beach Kauai, Hawaii. As a result, her left arm was bitten off by the shark at the shoulder. Bethany is the definition of determination. In her youth she pioneered to get women to be taken seriously as professional athletes. She has had to overcome many obstacles at such a young age such as the attack, rejection, and equal treatment. But these setbacks and sacrifices have led her to be victorious despite only losing one battle. She had a dream to be a professional surfer but it wasn’t as simple as that.
Bethany Hamilton was born in Kauai, Hawaii into a family of surfers. At such a young age surfing was a big part of her life. At age eight she entered in a state-wide surf competition and won both the long board and short board divisions. Later, she was then the runner up at a national competition.
Bethany had one dream, one goal in life, and it was to become a professional surfer. This all changed in the blink of an eye. At age 13 it was just like any other ordinary day when she went out into the water to do what she loved most, surf. Bethany was waiting for a wave when all of a sudden a shark bit her left arm and pulled her underwater. One shark was all it took to ruin her dream, but not for Bethany. After this brutal attack, Bethany was left with only one arm. She had to go through multiple surgeries just to survive. She lost over sixty percent of blood due to this attack. This not only affected her physically, but emotionally as well. “Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice” (Hamilton, Soul Surfer). There was nothing Bethany loved more than being in the water, but after this horrific event she was terrified of the shark inhibited waters. She had many nightmares of that day, being pulled down into the water but she knew she couldn’t let her emotions get in the way of her dream.
It was like starting all over again, simple everyday tasks were such a struggle for her. Just trying to eat, or brush her hair was nothing but difficult. Her family was very supportive and helpful but Bethany didn’t want that. She wanted to live her own independent life even if it was only with one arm. She had to retrain herself completely on how to accomplish simple everyday tasks on her own. Only one month after the attack Bethany had to overcome the biggest challenge she was ever faced with; to get back in the water. Bethany stated, “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you” (Hamilton, Soul Surfer). As terrifying and traumatic as this was, nothing stopped her because she knew it had to be done. Because of Bethany’s will to achieve her goal she got back on her surfboard. However, it wasn’t as easy as that, she couldn’t get up or stay on the board. Her father came up with a creative technique in order to help Bethany. He screwed on a handle to help her grip the surfboard and be able to get herself up on the board with only one arm. Being a woman and aspiring professional athlete, Bethany was rejected before she even achieved this. It was hard to get sponsored to surf. Bethany practiced every day and never let her fear or disability stop her. Bethany said “I don’t need easy, I need possible” (McNamara, Soul Surfer) and she meant it. Every day was a new day to become a better surfer. She worked her way up in the ranks and eventually found herself competing in a National competition. Judges offered her a five minute head start but Bethany denied their offer. The ocean was like Bethany’s sixth-sense. Toward the end of the competition when surfers began to come in after their being no waves, Bethany stayed farther out. With time winding down a wave finally came, Bethany caught it and with that one wave, that allowed her to surpass everyone and she would be the National Champion. The judges rejected her by saying she didn’t catch the wave in enough time, knocking her down to second place allowing her rival to take first place. Bethany’s story is inspiring and revered all over the world. On the day of Nationals, when her rival Malina won, she had so much respect for Bethany, with only one arm, she was so much competition to her. Malina put her differences aside and invited Bethany to join her on the first place platform. People all over the world honored Bethany and have an out-pouring amount of admiration for her.
In 2007, Bethany achieved her goal of becoming a professional surfer. “Bethany has since participated in numerous Association of Surfing Professionals and World Tour Events with her major highlight being a second place finish in the ASP 2009 World Junior Championships. She competes with the world’s best and travels the globe throughout Europe, South America, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Tahiti, Fiji, the United States and Hawaii.” (Bethany Hamilton, profile) To this day Bethany shares her story. She wrote an autobiography titled Soul Surfer and she also was the subject and inspiration in the documentary Heart of a Soul Surfer. “Bethany has launched her own foundation, Friends of Bethany, which supports shark attack survivors, traumatic amputees, and serves to inspire others through her life story, and is involved in numerous other charitable efforts.” (Bethany Hamilton, profile)
Bethany Hamilton strived to accomplish what she dreamed of even when the odds were against her. She fought for her life, her goal, and for all aspiring professional women athletes. After one of the most traumatizing events, Bethany Hamilton still had the courage, strength, and determination to continue her dream and achieve her goal of becoming a professional surfer.

Work Cited Page: * Hamilton, Bethany, Sheryl Berk, and Rick Bundschuh. Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. New York: Pocket, 2004. * Soul Surfer. Dir. Sean McNamara. Perf. Anna Sophia Robb. 2011. * "Bethany Hamilton | Profile." Bethany Hamilton. 2010 http://www.soulsurfer.com/about.html

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