My favorite athlete is Kobe Dean Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. In my opinion he is the second greatest athlete alive today only behind Tiger Woods. Bryant was born August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
When Bryant was six years old his family moved to Italy where his father played professional basketball. He learned to speak Spanish and Italian fluently, making him trilingual, proving his talents go beyond the basketball court.
His family moved back to Philadelphia where he attended Lower Merian High School. Bryant jumped onto the national spotlight when he chose to skip college and declared for the NBA draft right out of high school.
He was drafted 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets and traded to the Lakers for infamous flopper Vlade Divac. Bryant blossomed into a star right away becoming the youngest All Star starter ever at the age of 19 in his second season. Then by the age of 23, Bryant would become the youngest player ever to win three NBA championships.
In 2004 the Lakers traded away Shaquille O’Neal breaking up the greatest dynamic duo ever and in 2005 the Lakers missed the playoffs. Bryant, however, being the professional he was, persevered and in 2008 he won his first MVP award. That summer he would win a gold medal at the Olympics in Bejing, teaching young stars like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade what it takes to be the best. This most recent NBA season Bryant along with Pau Gasol led the Lakers back to the top and captured his 4th NBA title.
Bryant’s accomplishments are great but what really makes him my favorite athlete is his work ethic, tough mentality, and killer instincts Bryant is also widely regarded as the most clutch player in the NBA. If I needed a last second shot there is no else I would want taking it. After the Bejing Olympics LeBron James, who many people consider to be Bryant’s successor, changed his entire workout regiment after seeing how hard Bryant worked. James knew to reach Bryant’s level he would have to put in more work.
I read a story about Bryant in an article of Sports Illustrated from March 2008. According to the article, in one practice during Bryant’s senior year, “just a random Tuesday,” as his high school coach Gregg Downer recalled, Bryant was engaged in a three-on-three drill in a game to 10. With the game tied at nine, one of his teammates Rob Schwartz, a 5′ 7″ junior benchwarmer, had an opening, drove to the basket and missed, allowing the other side to score and win.
“Now, most kids go to the water fountain and move on,” said his coach, but not Bryant. He chased Schwartz into the hallway and berated him. It didn’t stop there either. “Ever get the feeling someone is staring at you — you don’t have to look at them, but you know it?” says Schwartz. “I felt his eyes on me for the next 20 minutes. It was like, by losing that drill, I’d lost us the state championship.”
This type of competiveness and work ethic that Kobe Bryant has demonstrated throughout his career is something that every kid in America should emulate.
