Bethany Hamilton rides a big-screen wave 'Soul Surfer'

In real life, Bethany Hamilton is among the top women's surfers the world.
In reel life, her story, "Soul Surfer," which hit theatres today, would rank among any sport's top comeback flicks of all time. Not even Hollywood could mess up this script.
More than seven years ago, before dawn on Halloween morning, she had her left arm taken off by a 14-foot tiger shark while they were both sharing the waters off the shore of Kauai, Hawaii.
"When can I surf again?" the 13-year-old asked after her emergency surgery.
She returned almost immediately, and began to spread the word of her story, in hopes of helping others overcoming obstacles put in front of them.
Hamilton, now 21 and on the women's pro tour since 2007, talks about the reaction so far to her life story, and why it still resonates:
QUESTION: How did you gauge the reaction from the audience after you attended the "blue carpet" premiere recently in L.A.?
ANSWER: I thought everyone was stoked on it. That's really nice. I had heard it was hard to get good feedback from L.A. because everyone can be so critical about movies. It was cool. Everyone enjoyed it, and we had a wonderful night with my family and some of my best friends.
Q: As a competitive athlete now, do you find yourself actually some kind of psychological advantage over opponents? In that you're able to do what you do so well without both arms?
A: Surfing is very different from a lot of other sports, because there's so much arm movement, and having to paddle fast, and position yourself properly. For me, I really have to focus and think through my heat and study the lineup. I really don't think of it as having any kind of advantage. If anything, it can still hold me back in certain waves. But once you're up on the board, and as long as I get two good waves, I'm good. The girls I compete against, we're all good friends, so once we're on land, we don't talk much about the competition or who has advantages.

Q: Does competitive surfing at times take anything away from the pure fun of riding the board?
A: I can see where there are times when I'm so focused on getting better in a competition, I forget to just have fun and be in the ocean. I always come back to being grateful just to be able to continue surfing, especially after those long trips. I'm stoked to get back in the water. I know the name of the movie, and when you talk about 'soul surfers,' most of them you don't consider to be competitive. I interpret it as: If you find something you're passionate about, no matter what, you love it. And whether I'm competing or not, I'd be in the water loving it. Some do get burned out and lose their passion. But that's not the case for me. When the waves are good, I'll be out there all day.