Kobe Bryant’s Gladwellian Success
By: Josh Rosa
Tags: Basketball, Bethel University, Malcolm Gladwell, Mamba Mentality, Kobe Bryant

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke University Blue Devils prepared his 2018 team for a tournament in Canada and on this particular day of practice in Durham, North Carolina, Krzyzewski started by telling the team a story. Not of a former Blue Devil or even a college basketball player, but he talked about coaching the United States men’s basketball team and working on the stand still three-point shot. Kobe Bryant told Coach K he never got to shoot that shot because he was always double-teamed. Krzyzewski responded by saying Bryant will get this shot because other all-stars on the team, such as Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony, would not get double-teamed. Initially, when Team USA started playing games, Bryant missed the open threes. This led Bryant to shoot one-thousand shots every night until that shot became more routine (“Be As Tough As Your Mother” 1:30–2:00).

Bryant did not need to put that much time into working on that shot because no other country in the Olympics could match the talent and skill that Team USA possessed that summer. Bryant could have easily just let that issue go and keep missing those threes, or not take them, but inevitably still get the gold, but he had the grit to put in the time to improve that aspect of his game while still attaining the gold medal.

Bryant’s Gladwellian traits of grit, 10,000 hours, and extraordinary opportunity led to him not only being one of the greatest basketball players to ever lace up the sneakers, but one of the most successful, hardworking, and inspirational people to ever walk the face of the earth. Many children all have dreams like Bryant’s of playing in the NBA. However, Bryant showed that dreams are not just handed to you. If you want to achieve your dreams, you need to work for them and not just wait for them to come to you and if you want to be the MVP, a five-time champion, an Olympic gold medalist it requires even more. This level requires devotion, sacrifice, and being the hardest worker in your field, but in order to do this, we need to find the mamba within use and nothing will prevent success both in and outside of athletics.

WORKS CITED

“Be As Tough As Your Mother.” Earn Everything, season 1, episode 3, ESPN +, 2018.

Bissinger, H.G. Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and A Dream. Boston: DaCapo Press, 1990.

Chopra, Gotham, director. KOBE BRYANT’S MUSE. Showtime, 2015. Web.

Duckworth, Angela, guest. “The Power and Problem of Grit.” Hidden Brain: A Conversation about Life’s Unseen Patterns, Season 1, National Public Radio, 05 April, 2016. Web.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story Of Success. New York : Back Bay Books, 2011. Print. 3, April 2020

Herbert, James. “How Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ Changed the NBA.” CBSSports.com, CBS Sports, 1 Feb. 2020, .

Reising, Bob. “Interscholastic Basketball.” Clearing House, vol. 70, no. 6, 1997, p. 292. Web.

Smith, Gary. “The Chosen One.” Going Deep: 20 Classic Sports Stories, by Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated Books. 2008, pp. 38–58.

Submitted photo.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Rosa, a freshman from Plymouth, Minn., seeks a degree in Missional Ministries and a minor in Business from Bethel University and a career as a Youth Pastor in the Twin Cities and to coach high school football and lacrosse on the side. Rosa loves to watch and play sports, chill with friends at the lake while jamming to music, and eating chicken wings.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

Success does not just come from talent and hard work. Malcolm Gladwell showed me that there are many underlying factors that lead to success.

It is okay to write sentences that have every few words and it can even provide more detail than long sentences.

Scott Winter never makes a mistake. Scott also showed me that writing can be fun and entertaining for school. It does not always have to be about serious and academic topics. You can write about literally anything. From your morning routine, to writing about Kobe Bryant. Taking the small and boring things, and making them entertaining, is possible.

Gary Smith reminded me how influential sports are to this world. Specifically, Smith showed this through Tiger Woods and how before his career started he was impacting the world. From receiving a larger deal from Nike than Michael Jordan, to being destined to change the world. Wood’s impact has surpassed what the game of golf presented him.

Kobe Bryant taught me that if you want to be the best, you have to obsess. You need to devote yourself to your craft and make the sacrifice of having a normal life to be great.

I found out that academic journals on sports heroes are hard to come by. I searched for hours over a span of nights and only found a few that hardly related to my hero.

I learned that research can be fun, if you care about the topic. While researching Kobe Bryant, I came across multiple documentaries such as “MUSE” that were interesting and made the research not feel like a chore. Plus, I got to watch a movie for homework.

I learned COVID-classes are the worst. However, it taught me how to be more disciplined with my studying due to the lack of having a set schedule. I had to make sure that I was actually staying focused while doing class work. It also prepared me for what video meetings will be like in a work atmosphere. I learned how to deal with the awkwardness of not having people in the room while I am talking, but they are still present and seeing my body language.