Soul surfer biography

(1990-)

Who Is Bethany Hamilton?

Born in Hawaii in 1990, Bethany Hamilton began competitive surfing at age 8. Her promising career was seemingly derailed at age 13 when a shark bit off her left arm, but she resumed surfing shortly afterward and won a national title in 2005. A successful author and public speaker, Hamilton has shared her experiences in documentary films and appeared on several popular reality TV programs.

Early Years and Surfing

Bethany Meilani Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990, in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, to parents Tom and Cheri. Raised in a surfing family, along with older brothers Noah and Tim, Hamilton learned to handle the waves at an early age. She began competitive surfing at age 8, and by age 9 she had earned her first sponsorship.

A member of the Hanalei Surf Co. team, the home-schooled Hamilton proved capable of beating more experienced surfers in competition. In May 2003, she won both her age group and the open division of Hawaii's Local Motion/Ezekiel Surf Into Summer event. Shortly afterward, she finished second in the open women's division of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) National Championships at San Clemente, California.

Shark Attack

On the morning of October 31, 2003, Hamilton went out to surf at Tunnels Beach in Ha'ena with her best friend, Alana Blanchard, and Blanchard's father and brother. While lying on her board, Hamilton suddenly felt intense pressure on her left arm and was pulled back and forth for a few seconds before the flurry passed. Initially feeling no pain, she noticed the water around her had turned red, and her shocked friends realized that her left arm had been severed nearly to the shoulder.

"I was holding onto my board, with my thumb, because I probably didn't want to get pulled under. It was like pulling me back and forth, not like pulling me underwater. Just like, you know how you eat a piece of steak? It was kind of like that."

Blanchard's f

Bethany Hamilton, who YM magazine called the “Bravest Girl in America,” has been surfing since she was seven years old. After her shark attack, Bethany participated in numerous competitions and received the 2004 Teen Choice award for Most Courageous Teen and the 2004 ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete.

Sheryl Berk most recently collaborated with Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn DiScala on her memoir, Wise Girl, and with Britney Spears on her autobiography, Stages. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Peter, and their own little miracle, daughter Carrie.

Rick Bundschuh is a surfer, writer, and cartoonist, and serves as one of the pastors at Kauai Christian Fellowship. He makes his home in Kalaheo, Hawaii, along with his wife, Lauren, their four kids, a weenie dog, and a quiver of surfboards.

American surfer (born 1990)

Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 8, 1990) is an American professional surfer and writer. In 2003, she survived a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off; ultimately, she returned to professional surfing and wrote about her experiences in the 2004 autobiography, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. The book was adapted into the 2011 feature film, Soul Surfer. Hamilton attributes her strength to her Christian faith.

Hamilton is also the subject of a 2018 documentary, Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, in which she discusses how marriage and motherhood have affected her professional surfing career.

Early life

Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990, to Tom and Cheri Hamilton in Lihue, Hawaii. She has two older brothers, Noah and Timothy. After learning how to surf at the age of three, Hamilton began surfing competitively at the age of eight and gained her first sponsorship by age 10. Hamilton was home-schooled from sixth grade through high school by her mother, a housewife, while her father was a waiter at a town café.

Shark attack and recovery

On October 31, 2003, 13-year-old Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai, with her best friend Alana. While Hamilton was lying

2011 film by Sean McNamara

Soul Surfer is a 2011 American biographicalsportsdrama film directed by Sean McNamara, based on the 2004 memoir Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board by Bethany Hamilton about her life as a surfer after losing her left arm in a horrific shark attack and her recovery. The film stars AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, and Lorraine Nicholson with Carrie Underwood, Kevin Sorbo, Sonya Balmores, Branscombe Richmond, and Craig T. Nelson.

Filming took place in Hawaii in early 2010, with additional filming taking place in Tahiti in August 2010. Soul Surfer was released in theaters on April 8, 2011 in the United States and Canada by a partnership between FilmDistrict and TriStar Pictures, and was a commercial success, earning $47.1 million on a $18 million budget, but received mixed reviews from critics. It has a soundtrack that was released with it.

Plot

In the year 2003, 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton lives in Kauai, Hawaii with her parents Tom and Cheri, and two older brothers, Noah and Timmy. All are surfers, but she and her best friend, Alana Blanchard, have grown up with a passion for the sport and have competed together most of their childhood.

When Bethany and Alana place first and third respectively at a competition; they become sponsored by Rip Curl who offers them a photo shoot. Both drop out of a church mission trip to Mexico in order to train for the next contest, much to the dismay of their youth leader Sarah Hill. On Halloween, Tom goes to the hospital for a knee surgery, while the girls go surfing with Alana's father Holt and brother Byron. As Bethany dangles her left arm in the water while she is talking to Alana, a tiger shark unexpectedly attacks and bites off her left arm just below the shoulder. Holt, Alana, and Byron get her out of the water where Holt makes a tourniquet out of his swimshirt to put on her while Byron calls