Nothing corny about the title i hope. I have been listening to a lot of Kobe Bryant interviews over the last couple of weeks and i am inspired by his resilience. The mamba mentality is real and i need to adopt a piece of it. I knew about basketball, i mean my elder brother had a court at my parents house. I watched him play every other weekend with a couple of his friends and to me, it was just about dribbling a ball then ducking into a net. I guess the only lesson i learnt from him was that height was not that big a factor, it was all about skill.
Kobe once said;
” If you want to make history, you gotta do historic things.”
As i watched Kobe play, i saw where the dribbling was learnt from. Back in secondary school too, basketball players were very popular and earned a lot of attention from the girls. They were the cool gang. Well, they were somewhat cute too…😊😊😊. All that mattered then was the score card, and when we beat the other big shot school teams, our basketball team was drenched in water, soda and any other beverage allowed.
When asked about his career he stated that the most important thing is how your career moves and touches those around you. How it carries forward to the next generation. That’s what makes true greatness.
Listening to him speak made me realise basketball was an art. I remember how he spoke about waking up at 3 am to get a kick start to his training then make it home for breakfast before his daughters got up. Then rest and resume at 6 pm. He later said that after injuring his ankle ten times, he decided while on a break to analyse why it kept on happening. He knew that he had to go back and finish the series.
Then while taking his daughter to one of her ballet classes, he decided to stay and watch, admiring the foot work as they were trained to balance on their toes, he decided to enroll. This not only helped his ankle heal, but helped with his foot work when he returned to the court. I vehemently recall how he spoke about training and building his skills at every opportunity, and then putting it to use.
However, when they got a new coach for LA Lakers, he introduced mediation and it was compulsory . I learnt that before any game, he took time off to visualise, and also made it his daily duty to do so. During one of his talks he said that he wasn’t getting enough sleep and he didn’t feel like he was playing to the best of his ability. Even after practicing time and again, he found himself missing shots and not getting things right. The lack of sleep was affecting his game, so he changed and gave his body the much needed sleep to rejuvenate and repair itself.
Kobe Bryant played twenty seasons with the LA Lakers. He was;
- 5 time NBA champion (2 time finals MVP)
- 33, 643 Career points (4th all time)
- 18 time all star (2nd most all time)
- 6 career 60 point games (2nd in NBA history)
- Both of his jerseys were retired (number 8 &24)
When he finally spoke about his work ethic, i was in awe of his zeal and positivity. He was asked;
” How do you get up at 4 am if everybody gets up at 6 am?” his response was,
” It is about what is important to you. I know the schedule, that the rest of the guys will be there at 6 am so i am there earlier. If you do that for five years. you will be ahead by five years and caching up with you is hard.”
Basketball is like any other job, learn the dymanics and the rules of the game. It teaches you to be observant, its an emotional escape point, the exposure connects you to your passion and he emphasises trying to be the best version of yourself. His biggest lesson is living a life of no regrets by making the best of every opportunity. His goal was to be the best basketball player that ever lived. As a five time NBA champion, i salute him tremendously…Well done Mister!!!
I watched the game in which he scored eighty one points and the determination on that court sent chills down my spine. No wonder at his memorial at the Staples Centre, Michael Jordan said that Kobe left nothing in the tank, he left it all on the floor. He gave the game his all and the same to his family. He was present and nothing brought him better joy than being a husband to Vanessa and father to Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri.
My life lesson from Mr. Bryant is to give it my all, leave no room for regret. I am taking his enthusiasm on the court to the swimming pool and into every other aspect of my life, that is because i am still dreaming, learning, listening and achieving.
He famously said;
” Keep going because eventually the storm is going to pass and when the storm ends you have to make sure that you are ready.”
No more procrastination. I am going to be the best adult swimmer, friend, work mate, girlfriend, wife, writer, mother, grandmother, God mother, multilingual person and all other things that I am and will be that the world has ever seen. That’s because the world is going to actually see and listen to me one day. I am going to have a story to tell…
Thank you Kobe Bryant, thanks for resonating the spirit of fire in me
May your soul rest in peace, and may the Angels surround you.
You made your mark,waiting to see your Hall of Fame moment♥♦♥♦♥♦
#RawandReal#
Raw and Real 