Kobe Bryant explains why he loves basketball: the smell of the ball, new sneakers, the sound of the net. He says parents should let kids try many activities so they find what they naturally gravitate toward, not what adults push them into.
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Idea is a very simple one. And, you know, the Mamba mentality simply means trying to be the best version of yourself. That's what the mentality means. It means every day you're trying to become better. And it's a constant quest. It's an infinite quest.
We talk about being passionate, being obsessive, being relentless, being resilient, and being fearless. These are the five pillars of the Mamba mentality. So we'll kind of break that down today.
Sure.
The first one is just to be passionate.
You know, what.
What is that? Is there. Is there. Is there a moment where you can define your passion for the game, or was it just something accumulated over time?
Well, I mean, you know, the passion came from the love for the game. You know, I loved everything about it. Like, the smell of the ball.
You love the smell of the ball?
Yes, the ball. You know, the smell of, like, brand new sneakers and, like, the sound the ball makes when it hits the ground.
Sneakers in the gym?
Yeah, the ball going through the net. Like, all those things I. I love. And so the passion comes from that, because once you have that love, you just want to be a part of this thing all the time.
When you. When you talk about this love, when does it develop? Were you. Did you like it when you were five? Or is this something that kind of gradually.
I was born and I was born to play basketball, you know what I mean? And I played a lot of different sports, but nothing brought me the sense of peace and of escape that the game of basketball do.
Is it an escape when you get on the court? Is that your Zen time, your solitude time? Even though it's a teamwork game? Yeah.
When I need that escape, it's there for me.
Right.
When I need a friend, it's there for me. When I need to vent and don't dunk and the mama comes out, it's there. So, yeah, the game is absolutely everything for me.
Mm. When. When you. When we talk about trying to get kids to be passionate, I don't think every kid. I don't think your situation is the norm. Not every kid is. Knows their passion at 2 or 5. Right. How do kids find that passion then? Well, I think as parents, you embraced it right away.
I think as parents, we try to put them in different things, try to expose them to as many things as possible, then see if there's one thing that connects with them. Because if it does, you don't have to tell them to do it. Whether it's writing or painting or drawing, if they have that passion. You don't have to tell them they'll go off and do it because it's just fun. They'd rather do that than anything else. But as parents, it's our job to just expose them to as many things as possible and see which one they gravitate to the most.
It's interesting because you talk about kids, right? Originally we were talking about you. Now you're talking about your kids and their passions. Do you kind of feel that passion for them and say, hey, let's go play some basketball or volleyball or let's go swimming?
Yeah, we expose them to all kinds of. I mean, they play a lot of different sports. They do a lot of things creatively in writing and things like that and designing. And you just sit back and you just watch which one they move to. And then it's our responsibility as parents to try to set them up for success as much as we possibly can.
