A Coach's Diary

  Jim Gray hosted one of Kobe Bryant’s first post-retirement interviews. About 18 minutes into the interview, Jim asked Kobe how he felt after his coach, Phil Jackson, wrote negative things about him in one of his books. Jim said most people think professional athletes don’t have feelings, and when something is written or said, it rolls right off. But when it's your coach, it has to sting and hurt. Jim asked Kobe how we reacted to it. Kobe said he was really good at taking negative things and refocusing them. He used those things to help him get up at 4 AM and hit the weight room, hit the track, and then take the shots. He used everything as a source of motivation. No matter what is said, positive or negative, have the mindset that it will fuel your passion, and then there is nothing anyone can say that will move you backward. SOMETHING(s) TO THINK ABOUT 1 - What is your biggest takeaway from the video? 2 - What is something that motivates you to be the best you can be? 3 - How can...

NBA legend Kobe Bryant was known for having a killer mentality, and he took that killer mentality onto the Redeem Team when he teamed up with Lebron James and the rest of the 2012 USA Basketball team. Here is what Kobe Bryant said about teaming up with Lebron and teaching him how to have a killer mentality: “The main thing LeBron and I discussed was what constitutes a killer mentality. He watched how I approached every single practice, and I constantly challenged him and the rest of the guys. I remember there was one half when we were messing around. I came into the locker room at half-time and asked the guys—in a less PG manner—what in the hell we were doing. In the second half, LeBron responded in a big way—he came out with a truly dominant mindset. And I’ve seen him lead that way ever since.” Every great team has at least one person with a killer mentality. Kobe Bryant was that person on his Lakers teams, and for Team  USA. In his own words, “I always aimed to killed the opposit...

I have always had a love/hate relationship. I need them to call fouls and control the game, but I don't need them calling too many fouls on me or my team. I tell my athletes and parents to never forget that referees are people with human feelings and human emotions. My strategy is to never work for the last call but to always work for the next call. When a referee makes a call that goes against our team and we yell at them or argue with them, will that help or hurt our team get a call when it really matters? That is something to think about any time you engage a referee. Also, it is important to know that every referee sees the game and calls the game differently. Some will let you be more physical, and some call games much tighter. Some don't mind talking to players and coaches, and some are more ready to give talkative players and coaches technicals quicker than others. But learning how to manage and work with referees effectively is an important skill to learn and master. Th...

Like many star players and their coaches, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson had a complex relationship. They had a lot of success together, but it was not without their struggles. They won three championships in a row together, but Phil Jackson wrote that Kobe Bryant was uncoachable, and after losing in the finals to the Detroit Pistons, stopping them from winning four in a row, Phil Jackson left the Lakers. Jackson returned to Kobe and the Lakers, and they won back-to-back championships during their second run together. Kobe said: "It took us until our second stint together to realize how we were perfectly suited for one another. During our first go-together, Phil thought I was uncoachable. He thought I questioned his authority and questioned his plans. He thought I didn't listen. When he came back, he realized that I was just very inquisitive and unafraid to ask questions. He realized that that's how I process information and learn. Once he put his pulse on that, he was more ...

In his book, Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant wrote, “A good coach is of utmost importance.” Young Kobe was out to prove himself to the world, and I’m sure he gave his earlier coaches headaches, but as he aged, so did his wisdom, and he spoke highly of and with respect for great coaching. Kobe also wrote this: “Coaches are teachers. Some coaches—lesser coaches—try telling you things. Good coaches, however, teach you how to think and arm you with the fundamental tools necessary to execute properly. Simply put, good coaches make sure you know how to use both hands, how to make proper reads, and how to understand the game. Good coaches tell you where the fish are, and great coaches teach you how to find them. That’s the same at every level. In certain situations, like in the midst of a game, good coaches relay execution information. They point out what specifically is and isn’t working. Based on that and your own feel for the game, you utilize some of that information immediately and you save...

In 2007, we were still trying to figure out who Kobe Bryant was. The US National team was coming off an Olympic loss to Argentina, and a World Basketball Championship loss to Greece, and they needed leadership. To answer this need, they went out and recruited Kobe Bryant. Nobody brought more baggage to the Olympic basketball team at that time than Kobe. He ran Shaq off of the Los Angelos Lakers, everyone thought he was selfish, and he demanded a trade from the same Laker team in the parking lot of a grocery store.  It was an exciting point in his career. He had taken a few hits and was fighting to regain his place and restore his name. He had to prove to the NBA and to the world hat he was a good person and a team player.  Kobe told a reporter "I'm glad you're here; you're going to see something. You're going to see the USA be great again. This is my challenge; this is bigger than anything I've ever done." The same reporter then said,  "This was the s...

Kobe Bryant was hungry to learn, and he was always looking for people from which he could learn. Here is what he said about his relationship with NBA legend Bill Russell: “I knew there was a reason Bill Russell had more rings than fingers. Years ago, then, I picked up an autobiography of his and devoured it. There were a lot of valuable lessons in there. There’s one anecdote Bill shared that stuck with me. He recounts how people always said he wasn’t a good ball handler, just didn’t know how to handle and shoot the ball. He said sure, he could do all of those things, but why would he lead the fastbreak when Bob Cousy was playing with him? Why would he shoot jumpers when Sam Jones was on his wing? The message was that if you want to win championships, you have to let people focus on what they do best while you focus on what you do best. For him, that was rebounding, running the floor, and blocking shots. I thought that teaching was simple, yet profound. It was an insight I had never hea...

One of my good friends has a son who is a high-major athlete at a power 5 school. The advice he gives to parents of athletes going through the youth sports experience and recruitment process is, "Just make sure they are good enough. If they are good enough, they will have an opportunity to play on top teams and play in college, but the second they stop being good enough, the opportunities stop too." In his book, The Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant writes that he learned a lot from studying and watching Muhammad Ali. Here is what he wrote about Ali: One of the main takeaways was that you have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light. Meaning: It takes a lot of work to be successful, and people will celebrate that success, will celebrate that flash and hype. Behind that hyp, though, is dedication, focus, and seriousness - all of which outsiders will never see. If you stop being dedicated to the craft, the commercials and contracts will all fade away. Success comes down to ha...

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready to drop bombs But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out He's choking how everybody's joking now The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow! Eminem’s lyrics to Lose Yourself describe how I feel before big games when I let my nerves get the best of me. One thing that has helped me control my emotions and nerves is meditation. Kobe Bryant, one of the best basketball players and athletes of all time credited much of his success to meditation. Kobe said that he would meditate every morning for 10-15 minutes. Doing so would set him up for the rest of the day. It was like having an anchor, and when he didn’t do it, he felt like he was constantly chasing the day as opposed to being in control. When he meditated in the ...

One of the most common types of questions that I get from athletes and their parents are, “What should do for training?” Everyone wants to know what kind of workouts they should do to get better. My first and second questions are usually, “What do you do in the games?” and, “What part of your game do you need to work on?” In his book, “The Mamba Mentality,” Kobe Bryant talked about his workout routine: “I would start off short and work on my touch. Always. Always. Always. Get my muscle memory firing. Then, I’d move back, work for a bit, move back again, and repeat the same process. After that, I’d start working on situational looks that I was going to get that night. I’d walk my body through the scouting report, and remind it of things it had done thousands and thousands of times before. I never had a set routine, an ironclad formula that I practiced night after night. I listened to my body and let it inform my warmup, because there are always variables. If I felt the need to shoot ext...

Even though he is no longer with us, I love studying the mind, habits, and work ethic of Kobe Bryant. Kobe was known as a true student of the game, and one of the hardest workers we have ever seen. Kobe had a lot of talent, and he had God-given size and athleticism, but Kobe became one of the best ever because of how hard he worked on and off the court. Kobe Bryant was a true student of the game of basketball and of life. Kobe was so focused on being great that he focused on every detail in his daily life so that he would be able to pick up even the smallest details on the basketball court. Kobe said, "By reading, by paying attention in class and in practice, by working, I strengthened my focus. By doing all of that, I strengthened my ability to be present and not have a wandering mind." From a young age, Kobe devoured film and watched everything he could get his hands on. He said it was fun for him, and the most important question to ask was: Why? Kobe knew early on that he ...

In his book, The Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant wrote, “When it came to basketball, I had no fear.” He then wrote what that meant to him: What I mean by that is: If I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind. I always focused on the fact that I had to try something to get it, and once I got it, I’d have another tool in my arsenal. If the price was a lot of work and a few missed shots, I was OK with that. As a kid, I would work tirelessly on adding elements to my game. I would see something I liked in person or on film, go practice it immediately, practice it more the next day, and then go out and use it. By the time I reached the league, I had a short learning curve. I could see something, download it, and have it down pat. From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearn...

Kobe Bryant was known for his Mamba Mentality. The Mamba Mentality means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better." One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is Fearless. Kobe Bryant was asked, " Why is being fearless such an important part of the Mamba Mentality? " He said: "I think the greatest fear that we face is ourselves. It's not anything that is external; I think the greatest fear you face is yourself because we all have dreams, and its very scary sometimes to accept the dream that you have, and it's scarier still to say okay, I want that. It's scary because you're afraid that if you put your heart and soul into it and you fail then how are you going to feel about yourself? Being fearless means putting yourself out there and going for it no matter what. Go for it. Not for anybody else, but for yourself." He was then asked, "When you got to the le...

Kobe Byrant was known for his Mamba Mentality. The Mamba Mentality means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better." One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is Relentlessness. Kobe Bryant was asked, "What does relentless mean to you?" He said: Relentless means to be unyielding, never give an inch, and to always go after it, always go after it, always go after it. If there is a challenge that ensues, good - I want to see how I stack up to that - so I go after it and go after it. It's fun because get a chance to compete against opponents and see where you stack up against them. Maybe I'm not good enough today, but that's fine because I'll be good enough the next time I see you. You get a chance to always measure yourself, and it's fun. When he was asked if he was born with this relentlessness or if it was something that he learned over time. He said he had to learn ...

Kobe Bryant did a Ted Talk for TEDxShanghai where he talked about giving a group of athletes a new pair of shoes; all they had to do was touch the line. One kid didn’t touch the line, and Kobe talks about how he held the kid accountable and why: You can’t short-change yourself; you’re not cheating anybody but yourself. You’re tired, but you are literally this far away from the line; why would you not go that extra to touch the line?   If I let you get away with that, all of a sudden you’ll start to cheat something over here, or not give your best over there. And as years go on, you’re not going to reach your full potential because you’ve been taking these little shortcuts that just add up, add up, add up, add up. I can’t let that happen. Our job as teachers and mentors and inspirers - it’s our responsibility to hold you accountable to those things. - Kobe Bryant

One of the pillars of Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality is OBSESSIVENESS. Kobe was known for his obsessive work ethic. Kobe once gave an ESPY award speech where he talked about how his obsessiveness and 4 A.M. workouts led to his success: “We’re not on this stage just because of talent or ability,” Bryant said.  “We’re up here  because of 4 a.m . We’re up here because of two-a-days or five-a-days.  We’re up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way. If anything tried to bring us down, we used it to make us stronger.” Here is how Kobe defined being obsessive: "Whatever you are doing at that moment is what you are doing at that moment. Obsessiveness is having attention to detail for the action that you are performing at the time you are performing it, and if you can have that kind of focus, you can't help but to have a certain level of obsession." When he was asked how he developed his level of obsessiveness and where he learned it, Kobe said: "Being...

Kobe Bryant was known for his Mamba Mentality. The Mamba Mentality means, "Trying to be the best version of yourself." It means, "Every day, you are trying to become better." One of the pillars of Mamba Mentality is passion. Passion is love in action. It was no secret that Kobe looked up to Michael Jordan. Here is what Jordan said about passion: "The greatest thing about the game of basketball, to me, is the passion; the love that I have for it. Because when you have love for anything, you'll go to the extreme to maintain that love. That's what love does; love drives you to do everything you need to do to maintain that connection. If I didn't have that love for the game of basketball, all of the things that have panned out in my career would have never been achievable. It was truly my love for the game that kept me pushing to be the best basketball player that I can be. To be the best, at anything, you gotta have a certain love for that to overcome ...

I’m at the Nike Nationals girls basketball tournament. It is the biggest tournament of the year for high school girls basketball. The best of the best players and college coaches are competing for scholarship opportunities and rankings. Do you want to know the statement I hear the most? “They have to want it more than I do.” I hear that from both coaches and parents. They are frustrated that they seem to want more for their athletes than their athletes want for themselves. And they are right. Former NFL player and ESPN analyst David Pollack said, “There is only one person in the end who will determine if your kid will be great, and that is your kid - not you. Only your kid can decide if they will be great.” So, what can we do? Kobe Bryant said: “We have to try to put them in different things and expose them to as many things as possible, and then see if there is one thing that connects with them. Because if it does, you don’t have to tell them to do it. If they have that passion, they’...

Kobe Bryant was asked what Mamba Mentality was. He said: The Mamba Mentality simply means trying to be the best version of yourself. It means every day, you are trying to become better. It is a constant, infinite quest. Always ask questions, and try to get better every single day. Be very observant and constantly look for things to learn from. Life is all about choices. You always have a choice: become the best version of yourself, or don’t. Every choice that you make either helps you come closer to becoming the best version of yourself, or it pushes you further from becoming the best version of yourself. Kobe said, “Ask good questions, ask a lot of questions, and be observant.” Life is a learning contest. Find ways to learn, grow, and improve so that can live out the Mamba Mentality and become the best version of yourself.

Kobe Bryant was asked a simple question, "Who was your greatest teacher growing up?"  Kobe said he had a lot of great teachers, and that included his parents. They instilled in him the importance of imagination and curiosity. They also taught him that he could do whatever he wants, but he has to put in the work to get there. Kobe grew up with the fundamental belief that he could do anything he wanted if he was willing to put in the work. But basketball wasn't always easy for him. When he was 11 years old, he played in a very prominent summer league in Philadelphia called the Sonny Hill League. His father, his uncle, and NBA legends like Wilt Chamberlain and Earl the Pearl Monroe played in this league. He went the entire summer without scoring one point. Kobe said he was terrible and still growing into his body, but he didn't score a single point at all. He said that he remembered crying about it and his father just gave him a hug and said, "Listen, whether you sc...