Spelling Bee Champ Zaila Avant-garde Is a Basketball Star, Too

In Friday’s Hot Clicks: the spelling bee winner’s other remarkable skill, Giannis’s outstanding Game 2 performance and more.

Remember her name

Zaila Avant-garde is one impressive 14-year-old.

After wrapping up her historic win at the Scripps National Spelling Bee (she’s the first African American to win in the contest’s history), people started to take notice of Zaila’s other remarkable skill: basketball.

Zaila owns three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple basketballs simultaneously. A video posted recently by the International Jugglers’ Association shows her doing all kinds of mind-boggling tricks, like dribbling three basketballs while riding a unicycle and dribbling five balls while balancing on top of another.

Her incredible dribbling has earned her an appearance in a shoe commercial beside Stephen Curry and a chance to perform with the Harlem Globetrotters.

But she doesn’t just do cool stunts, she has legitimate skills as a point guard. Her highlight reel is full of impressive plays. She can finish at the rim with both hands. She has good court vision and throws crisp passes. She even has a slick Eurostep.

Spelling Bee 👑 x Certified Bucket

Zaila Avant-garde can do it all!

(via @Basketballasart)pic.twitter.com/pXNPpjjDaq

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 9, 2021

Even though she’s the nation’s top speller, Zaila views spelling as a secondary hobby to her first love: basketball. She said after winning the bee that she hopes to play in the WNBA or coach in the NBA one day. She may end up doing that, but first she has to start high school. 

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Get a load of this baby giraffe

A good song

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