The Louisiana teen who made history as the first Black Scripps Spelling Bee champion has proven herself to be multi-talented.

Although Zaila Avant-garde knocked out her competition with her impressive spelling, she's also capable of beating her opponents on the basketball court. 

On June 1, the 8th grader tweeted a video of herself practicing her basketball skills, which got her multiple Guinness world records.

In another video, she can be seen dribbling while on a pogo stick. 


Avant-garde currently holds a Guinness world record for most dribbles in 30 seconds with four basketballs. Additionally, she holds another Guinness world record for the most balls dribbled within one minute, simultaneously.

In 2019, Avant-garde set the record for 231 bounce juggles. 

The 14-year-old who has dreams of becoming a professional basketball player was applauded by the WNBA for her historic spelling bee win.

She can SPELL and she can HOOP ???? Her name is Zaila Avant-garde

Shoutout 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-garde. Shoutout to Zaila for becoming the first African American Scripps Spelling Bee Champion," the league wrote on Twitter. 

As Blavity previously reported, the teen aspires to be a coach for an NBA team and join NASA. She also has appeared in a commercial with Stephen Curry.

Of her spelling bee win, Avant-garde said she's happy "I can go out like my Guinness world records, just leave it right there and walk off."

The 14-year-old cemented her win with the spelling of "Murraya." The word is defined as “a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees (family Rutaceae) having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals.” 

Guinness World RecordZaila Avant-garde