‘I didn’t want being a mom to stop me...’
Exclusive interview A horrific shark attack could not halt Bethany Hamilton, but motherhood nearly did, she tells Pippa Field
When surfer Bethany Hamilton was flung from her board in a heavy fall during the 2014 Women’s Pipe Invitational in Hawaii, the competition co-commentator took a sharp intake of breath. It was a reaction borne more out of admiration than anything else. A former world tour surfer herself, Rosy Hodge was well aware of the dangers associated with riding one of the “most treacherous waves in the world”. So, too, Hamilton, but for altogether different reasons.
Outwardly it appeared Hamilton was winning the physical battle as she launched straight back into the competition, eventually finishing third. But inwardly her mind was a jumbled mess of emotions. Hamilton was pregnant – unexpectedly, reluctantly – a fact weighing on her mind that she did not yet feel comfortable enough to tell anyone about. It was not surfing while pregnant that worried her, it was the daunting thought of motherhood itself.
“I knew that I was destined to be a mom one day or at least I hoped I would be,” she tells Telegraph Women’s Sport. “But then when it came my way, I kind of felt the opposite of that hope and desire and it shocked me,” Hamilton, now 29, adds, referring to the moment she discovered she was pregnant with first son Tobias a few months before the invitational competition in Hawaii. “I’d only been married for just about a year, I wanted more time with my husband. I was pushing it with my sport and I was surfing better than ever. It was fun and challenging and I had a lot of drive. I felt like this was going to stop me.”
So far in her life, nothing had stopped Hamilton. Not even the horrific attack by a 14ft Tiger shark, when she was just 13, which caused her to lose 60 per cent of her blood and almost the whole of her left arm. From her hospital bed she vowed defiantly: “I know I’m going to surf again.”
It took her barely two months to get back on her board, finishing a remarkable fifth on her first competition outing. Although needing intensive physical therapy and strengthening exercises to adjust her balance and movements to compensate for the missing arm, the only concession made to Hamilton’s handicap is on the surfboard, which allows her to duck-dive under approaching waves when she paddles out.
Her triumph-against-adversity story made
her the subject of an insatiable public interest, and her story quickly went global. She appeared on the Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres television shows, and was the subject of books, documentaries, and the 2011 Hollywood feature film Soul Surfer.
Hamilton never enjoyed the attention. It was a high-pressure lifestyle that she gradually learnt to cope with. But, falling pregnant in 2014, impending motherhood prompted a whole new set of fears, including that the surfing career she had worked so hard to build might be compromised.
Immediately she consulted her team. Her husband Adam Dirks promised her they could find a balance. Her health specialist discussed the risks of surfing while pregnant and a plan was put in place to strengthen her body around the hips and back in particular.
For some, the decision to compete in Hawaii may have been seen as reckless but Hamilton was fully briefed and, as her pregnancy later progressed, she inevitably dialled back on the bigger waves.
“I definitely take on the waves confidently as I’ve had a lifetime of preparation. But I have a respect for the ocean,” she says, now a mother to two boys, Tobias and second son Wesley, born last year. “I wasn’t really worried. For me, surfing is part of my daily life. You get on a bicycle or go for a walk, I go for a surf. It’s second nature to what I do every day. I found that it made me really happy and kept me healthy while pregnant.”
With few complications and also making sure to adjust her position on her surfboard so as not to exert excessive pressure, she was able to surf until around six and half months pregnant – with both her children. The experience brought with it a surprising discovery. “I actually got better [at surfing] while I was pregnant. It helped me slow myself down and do things more thoughtfully. I’m a very powerful, aggressive surfer. It smoothed me out a bit,” she says.
In the case of Tobias’s birth, her return to surfing remarkably came just six weeks later. “It was very light hearted. But I remember just feeling so weak and completely out of shape,” she says. “Surfing really requires solid core strength for your balance and connecting the body. It took a lot of time in the gym, cross training, rebuilding my core and abs and just my overall body strength.”
Another motivation to return was a wild-card invitation to compete at the World Surf League Swatch Women’s Pro competition at Lower Trestles, southern California. But while putting in the physical work to be ready an impressive three months post-partum was one thing, getting mentally focused was another altogether.
“Becoming a mom, your life is completely changed and there is way more on your plate,” reflects Hamilton, who quickly learnt to adapt in motherhood, including changing her children’s nappies with a combination of her feet and one hand. “To go into a competition very freshly adjusting to all that, my little guy wasn’t sleeping good so I wasn’t sleeping good. Having a young colicky baby and trying to compete and focus is a lot to ask yourself.”
Over time, she and her new family unit got accustomed to life on the road. In May 2016, just short of a year after the birth of Tobias, Hamilton finished a headline-making third in the World Surf League Fiji Women’s Pro, beating world No 1 Tyler Wright and six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore before being defeated in the semis by eventual winner Johanne Defay. It was about as powerful a statement any sportswoman could make – delivering a world-class performance on the surfboard and then coming back to the competition boat to breastfeed and care for her son.
French surfer Defay was awed. “The craziest part for me is seeing Bethany here, as a mom, and multi-tasking between heats, holding Tobias and making it all happen.
“I was always, ‘I’m going to wait until my career is over and then have kids’. But it’s cool to see you can do both.”
Hamilton’s surfboard from the lifechanging shark attack in 2003 is on display at the California Surf Museum, but she is determined that the incident should not define her. In 2016 she withdrew her ESPY award nomination for best female athlete with a disability, on account of connotations of “being put into a box”.
“The loss of my arm – you wouldn’t wish that on yourself,” she says. “But that’s the way my life has panned out. As a Christian I really see the good that God has brought out of it. It’s been amazing to see how sharing my life story has brought so many people hope of all different ages.”
Hamilton’s wider endeavours also include Friends of Bethany – a nonprofit organisation dedicated to sharing the hope and love of Christ worldwide – as well as year-long online mentorship course to help people tackle life’s challenges, the recent publication of a children’s book alongside her husband and her new documentary Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable.
She is also stepping up competitive surfing again and next year hopes to qualify for the top tier of the professional tour.
“I definitely wouldn’t want to continue on in my sport if I couldn’t be as involved with my kids as I am,” she concludes.
“Having my sons and my husband balances out life. Rather than constantly focusing on myself and surfing and my success, there is more to life than that. There are others who I love and need me, and who are waiting for me.”
‘I got better at surfing while I was pregnant. It helped me slow myself down and do things more thoughtfully ’