La. native, bee winner named SI SportsKid of the Year

Louisiana native Zaila Avant-garde, the winner of the 2021 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee held in July, was the first African-American to win the national contest.
Now she has earned even more national recognition.
Last week, Avant-garde was named 2021 SportsKid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids, which described the young woman as a “dazzling dribbler, a spectacular speller and a scintillating scholar.”
The ninth grader holds world records for dribbling and is an elite-level basketball player.
“Basketball, at least for me, is not played just to score or something like that,” Avant-garde told Sports Illustrated Kids.
“Of course you want to score in a basketball game, but you also want to do art. And my four-ball dribbling and five-ball dribbling is art.”
And once again she has gained the attention, of Gov. John Bel Edwards.
“Whether she’s dribbling on the court, winning the national spelling bee, or encouraging fellow Louisianas to get the COVID vaccine, Zalia Avant-garde makes Louisiana proud,” said Edwards on Twitter.