Biographical Information
Childhood
Bethany Hamilton was born on February 8th, 1990 in Kauai, Hawaii. She lived a happy life with two married parents and two brothers. Her dad Thomas grew up in Ocean City, New Jersey. Her mothers name is Cheri, short for Cherilyn. Her brothers names are Noah and Timothy, Bethany was born to a family of surfers.Bethany was home schooled most of her childhood, in high school she went to Port Richmond High. Bethany started surfing at age 5, having her parents help her get on top of a wave, but at age 8 Bethany entered her first surfing competition, she ended up winning both the long and short board competitions. At age 13, on Halloween morning, Bethany went out surfing with her best friend, Alana Blanchard, Alanas brother Byron, and Alana's father. The waves had been calm and Bethany was laying on her board with her left arm dangling in the water, all of a sudden she felt a big rip on her left side, she didn't really panic, but there was blood surrounding her, she called for Alana and they all swam to shore, this is how Bethany started her inspirational story. http://bethanyhamilton.com/about/
Education
Bethany was a home-schooled student for most of her childhood, except high school. Since Bethany was such a good surfer, she had a surfing career. Her best year in Surfing was 2005. She is sponsored by rip curl, she didn't think she would be sponsored after the attack, but since she continued to pursue her dreams and be inspirational, she continued to be sponsored. Her surfing major was a ESPY award that she got in 2004. http://www.success.com/article/your-personal-best-bethany-hamilton-is-back-on-the-board
Career
Bethany had such a good surfing career, she didn't really need to go to college. By choice Bethany went to Calvary Chapel Bible school, her goal was to create “Young Life,” a youth ministry group, on the island of Kauai, her goal was to create this with friends. She only wanted to volunteer for a year. Even though she didn't volunteer for that long it was still a great opportunity. Bethany has recently been surfing in the ASP qualification series, this leads to the ASP world tour, which is like major leagues.
http://betanyhamiltonjesse.weebly.com/
http://betanyhamiltonjesse.weebly.com/
Accomplishments
Bethany has had many accomplishments, she managed to become a normal girl who was living a surfer life, to days after the attack, her story became viral. Bethany made it into a hit magazine, “People Magazine,” Bethany created her own youth group, she went out of the country to help kids in Thailand not be afraid of the water, she started off as a beginner and ended up being a pro surfer who only has one arm, she also has her own movie, “Soul Surfer,” and many books written by other people and also one she wrote herself. Bethany has become such a role model, to this day she continues to inspire people.
http://www.soulsurfer.com/story.html
http://www.soulsurfer.com/story.html
Death
Bethany is still alive today living an amazing life with her husband, Adam Dirks. She still continues to live in Hawaii, surfing almost everyday, she tells herself every day how blessed she is to have an amazing family, and still be alive.
http://www.soulsurfer.com/
http://www.soulsurfer.com/