At only 14 years old, Zaila Avant-garde made history at the Scripps National Spelling Bee being the first African American and second Black champion to win in the contest’s 96 year history. From the attention of the win, Zaila’s prodigious basketball skills were highlighted all over social media. “Basketball, I’m not just playing it. I’m really trying to go somewhere with it. Basketball is what I do, Zaila said. “Spelling is really a side thing I do… but basketball’s like the main dish.”
Zaila holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple basketballs simultaneously. Her records include most balls juggled in one minute with four basketballs, most dribbles in 30 seconds with four basketballs and most basketballs dribbled by one person.
Not only can she do insanely impressive tricks off the court, she is also a talented point guard.
Zaila told People she wants to continue her athletic journey and go to Harvard University as a basketball player and student. She believes “it’s a good way to open doors to maybe being an NBA coach” one day. “I like working with NASA and doing gene editing. I have a lot of different things I’m interested in,” she added.
“I want to inspire everybody, especially African American girls … I’m hoping that inspires a lot of African girls everywhere to really look into this type of thing,” Zaila said. She is doing just that, showing Black girls everywhere that they can do anything they put their mind to.
Postgame Reports 