Self-Driven Philosophy: the “Mamba Mentality” of Kobe Bryant

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Respect, Hard work, and Self-Driven Philosophy: the “Mamba Mentality” of Kobe Bryant, the “Black Mamba”
Introduction
Kobe Bryant is arguably the best-known basketballer of the modern era. Aptly nicknamed as the ‘Black Mamba’, Kobe gained a lot of fame from his aggressive style of play, humble demeanor off the court and a myriad of accolades from his exploits both in and out of basketball (Bryant np). This paper seeks to put the life and times of Kobe Bryant into perspective, taking into account the various achievements and accomplishments which molded a young high school basketball prodigy into a world-famous sensation. Kobe Bryant first gained fame after a charged high school playing career in Philadelphia, an experience that earned him his first professional accolade as a senior MVP in 1995, before being drafted to the NBA in the following year. Kobe enjoyed a wildly successful career from 1996 until his final playing season in 2016 after winning a myriad of championships and solo awards. This paper seeks to also demonstrate a manifestation of the Black Mamba mentality which pushed him forward to all he has achieved despite various legal issues and struggles with injury.
Thesis statement
This paper aims to illustrate the spirit behind Kobe Bryant’s iconic status as a respectful, hardworking and self-driven individual who grew to the very heights of fame. Kobe nicknamed himself as ‘Black Mamba’, with a similarly adapted mindset aptly labeled ‘Mamba Mentality’. This paper will illustrate how Kobe built himself up to be a global despite the various challenges he faced in his personal and professional aspects of life.
First Claim
Kobe Bryant insisted that an aggressive mentality breeds effort and hard work which leads to success. From his retirement speech, he mentioned his early work outs before dawn as a means of pushing himself forward. This is supported by his ‘Black Mamba’ moniker, likening himself to an agile and aggressive snake.
In his retirement speech, Kobe Bryant echoed a sentiment that he had embodied throughout his career. He attested to the fact that hard work propelled him from a basketball enthusiast to one of the most prolific players in recent history. He said that his dream of becoming successful drove him to work hard to perfect his playing style and ability. He said that he woke up at 4.30 am every morning to work out and train. That was accompanied by a healthy diet and training sessions with his teammates in a bid to better their ability to play together as a team.
Throughout his career, Kobe made his mark as the only player in NBA history to have his two jersey numbers retired by the same team. In his own words, Kobe said that he played wearing jersey number 8 while trying to prove himself to the world, and played with the jersey number 24 in the second half of his career as a period of growth into a significantly better individual.
In an Amazon book review, Kobe stated that the ‘Mamba’ mentality is all about focus and trusting in the process of hard work as an ultimate motivation for the competitive atmosphere (Bryant np). I...