Video: Watch a 15-year-old Utahn do an insane trick shot that won him $10,000
A Utah freshman at Ridgeline High School in Millville, Utah, Zack Whitesides, won Dude Perfect’s first ever trick shot of the month last week.
Dude Perfect is a YouTube channel with 60 million subscribers, dedicated to posting videos like “The World’s Longest Putt” and “Card Throwing Trick Shots.” Some of the channel’s videos have reached over 300 million views.
The group announced they would host their first ever “trick shot of the month” contest, and award the winner a $10,000 prize. Last Friday, they revealed the winner on Instagram, saying, “Thousands of submissions came in. As you’ve seen, we’ve been posting them throughout the month. But of course there has to be a winner.”
The video switched to Whitesides’ submission, which included him doing a backflip to get a bullseye.
Cory Cotton, a Dude Perfect member, said, “I mean, the backflip ... the dartboard. Anywhere on the dartboard would have been special. A bullseye?!”
The video submitted to Dude Perfect took Whitesides 30 attempts, and his dad, Mike Whitesides, told the Deseret News his son “loves a challenge.”
Mike explained, “He’s learned how important perseverance is and how much time good things take.”
Watching Dude Perfect videos inspired Zack and his older brother to start doing trick shots of their own in 2020 during COVID-19 shutdowns.
When Dude Perfect reached out in an email, telling him he’d won the the challenge, Zack “was so excited and really couldn’t believe it.” In addition to the prize money, Zack will be on the Dude Perfect app for a year.
With the $10,000, Zack plans on buying a new mountain bike and some skis. He posts regularly to his YouTube channel, where you can watch more trick shots, skiing and mountain biking videos.
