Kobe Bryant, a name synonymous to basketball and internationally recognised as an NBA superstar, passed away in a helicopter crash on the 26th of January, along with his daughter, Gianna. Millions of people were moved to tears after hearing of his sad demise and grieved the loss of the great basketball player. He has been an inspiration to countless children and athletes, especially his determination and passion for the game spoke a lot about how he was as a person.
Kobe possessed an unquenchable thirst to learn and improve with every passing day. He started The Mamba Sports academy to motivate children and pass on the knowledge through generations. He always believed that it is important to inspire people so they can be great in whatever way they want to. The entire sports world mourned his death, not only basketball players but athletes and the people around the globe.
As a storyteller and a creator off the court, he had inspired many kids through the multiple children’s books that he has published. He wanted his stories to positively impact them and plant in them the seed of perseverance. He won an Academy Award for “Best Animated Short Film” for his movie, “Dear Basketball”.
Northeastern University’s basketball coach, Bill Coen, commented on how it impacted his team, the Huskies. He said, “We just opened up the discussion to see how they were feeling about it, what his life meant, and how can we learn from this? Is it just a day in the news, or is it going to have a profound lasting effect on you individually? And we talked about the man he was—he wasn’t perfect.” As the coach, Coen wants his team to learn from Kobe’s perseverance and hard work, he wants them to seek inspiration from him and work on winning their games in the future.
Subarna Basu