The late, great Kobe Bryant was known for many things within the realm of basketball. A champion, a motivator, a fierce leader, a passionate student of the game and so much more. What became one of Kobe’s primary objectives in his post-retirement career was the elevation of women’s basketball and he was widely regarded as its greatest ambassador. Recently on the Gil’s Arena podcast, Gilbert Arenas talked about the project Kobe was working on with the Mamba girls.
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There couldn’t have been a better way to execute his plans than to practice with and coach his own daughter, Gianna. The five-time NBA Champion who prided himself on being the best girl dad was nurturing a group of basketball players who would have gone on to dominate on the highest level.
Arenas, who has seen Kobe’s work up close is well aware of the things that the girls at the Mamba Academy did differently than the others. The three-time All-Star believes that other players lack skills now because they are not compelled to practice before games, and it shows.
Arenas said that the culture of practicing every day and putting in 100% is slowly fading away. But for Gigi and her teammates, that was a prerequisite as demanded by the Lakers legend. Arenas said, “People didn’t really understand what Kobe was doing. Those girls practiced every single day, period. It was an AAU team, but they practiced every day. If you miss one practice, you ain’t starting, you better have an excuse why you couldn’t come to practice.” Arenas said that it was the result of the rigorous practice that when those girls stepped on the court, their confidence level was untouchable.
It is hard to disagree with Arenas, especially on the point of confidence. Only when an athlete has practiced something countless times before, can they perform it with unyielding confidence during a game. Having lived by the same rule throughout his prestigious NBA career, Kobe Bryant understood that more than anybody else, and imparted it to the young women he was coaching. As a result, the Mamba Academy was consistently several steps ahead of anyone it looked to compete against.
Kobe Bryant had a special rule for Gigi in her basketball quests
Otherwise known as the hardest worker in every room, Kobe was a doting father who couldn’t afford to let the Mamba Mentality take over when he coached Gigi. The one rule he had was to let Gigi know that she was his daughter first before she was a basketball player. During a conversation with CBS This Morning, he said that the toughest part of his job was, “making sure she knows that I love her whether she plays well or plays like crap.”
He said that even after a tough or a bad game when they stepped inside the car, the result of the game was no longer relevant. He said, “‘You know, you’re my daughter before you’re a basketball player’, and it’s important that she knows that that’s how I feel.” But Gigi had his genes, and she had all the aspects of his mentality that helped Kobe reach the top. Everyone who saw her game said the same thing about her. So, while it is beyond adorable for Bryant to do what he did, it does seem unlikely that Gigi would have cared anyway.
That said, given that Gianna was still a child, Bryant was beyond right for the measures he maintained to make sure his child was loved and appreciated.
