Zaila Avant-garde facts for kids

Zaila Avant-garde, born on February 9, 2007, is an amazing American speller, basketball player, and juggler. She became famous for winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Zaila is the first African-American contestant to win this competition. She is also the second Black winner, following Jody-Anne Maxwell from Jamaica.

Zaila's Life Story

Zaila Avant-garde was born on February 9, 2007, in Harvey, Louisiana. Her parents are Alma Heard and Jawara Spacetime. Her father chose her last name to honor a famous musician named John Coltrane. Zaila has shared that people like Malala Yousafzai, Serena Williams, and Coco Gauff inspire her. In basketball, her heroes include Stephen Curry, James Harden, Diana Taurasi, Kevin Durant, and Maya Moore.

Becoming a Spelling Bee Champion

Zaila reached the national level in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee. To study, she used a special tool called SpellPundit. With this, she learned about 12,000 words every day! Her coach was Cole Shafer-Ray, who had also been a finalist in the Scripps Bee before. He also coached the second-place winner, Chaitra Thummala.

In the 2021 competition, Zaila won the top prize by correctly spelling the word "Murraya". Winning first place came with $50,000 in cash and other prizes. Because of the pandemic, only the 11 finalists competed in person. This final round lasted less than two hours. Zaila made history as the first African-American contestant to win the competition. Before her, MacNolia Cox was the first African-American contestant to reach the final stage in the 1936 Bee.

Zaila's Basketball Skills

Basketball, I'm not just playing it... I'm really trying to go somewhere with it. Basketball is what I do. Spelling is really a side thing I do. It's like a little hors d'oeuvre. But basketball's like the main dish.

Zaila is considered one of the best young basketball players in the United States for her age group (class of 2026). She holds three Guinness World Records for basketball skills and shares another one. Her parents gave her a copy of the Guinness book for her eighth birthday. This gift sparked her dream to break records.

On November 14, 2019, Zaila broke her first record. She achieved 231 bounce juggles with three basketballs in one minute. On the same day, she set another record for most bounces of four basketballs in 30 seconds, with 307 bounces. Later, on November 2, 2020, she set a new record for most bounce juggles in one minute using four basketballs, reaching 255. She also shares the record for dribbling the most basketballs at one time (six). She set this record on January 26, 2021, matching a record from Joseph Odhiambo in August 2000.

Juggling Talents

Zaila Avant-garde is also a talented juggler. She won a silver medal at the International Jugglers' Association 2020 championship in the Juniors Division (for ages 18 and under). She is also an expert unicyclist and can juggle while riding her unicycle!