Spelling isn’t the only thing Zaila Avant-garde is good at.
The Scripps spelling bee champion is also a basketball star.
Zaila Avant-garde the FIRST African-American to win the Scripps National #SpellingBee. 👸🏾🏆She’s also really good at basketball and holds a Guinness World Record‼️Here are some of her 🏀 highlights from middle school. #blackgirlmagic pic.twitter.com/W8E6QtqGTo— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) July 9, 2021
Zaila Avant-garde the FIRST African-American to win the Scripps National #SpellingBee. 👸🏾🏆She’s also really good at basketball and holds a Guinness World Record‼️Here are some of her 🏀 highlights from middle school. #blackgirlmagic pic.twitter.com/W8E6QtqGTo
Avant-garde won the spelling bee on Thursday, correctly spelling ‘murraya’ for the win. In the process, she became the first African American winner of the bee and only the second Black champion in its history. Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica won the bee in 1998, making her the first Black champion as well as the only international winner.
Avant-garde, who hails from Harvey, Louisiana, currently owns three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple basketballs simultaneously, highlighting just how much of a prodigy she is.
🤹🏾♀️ pic.twitter.com/BrwAEA6SSV— Zaila Avant-garde (@Basketballasart) April 17, 2021
🤹🏾♀️ pic.twitter.com/BrwAEA6SSV
She hopes to one day play in the WNBA or coach in the NBA – or both.
She can SPELL and she can HOOP 🤯 Her name is Zaila Avant-gardeShoutout to Zaila for becoming the first African American Scripps Spelling Bee Champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/tp17Ly4fWk— WNBA (@WNBA) July 9, 2021
She can SPELL and she can HOOP 🤯 Her name is Zaila Avant-gardeShoutout to Zaila for becoming the first African American Scripps Spelling Bee Champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/tp17Ly4fWk
Is Avant-garde the world’s most interesting 14 year old? A spelling bee champion and basketball prodigy, we have a feeling she’s only just getting started.