Kobe Bryant's book comes out in Russian

Kobe Bryant is a legend of American and world basketball. The heart of a champion beating in his chest, striving to be the best every moment of his life. In February 2020, Kobe tragically died in a helicopter crash. It was a huge loss for the entire sports world, but all the more precious is the legacy he left us.

In 2018, the legendary Los Angeles Lakers player released the book The Mamba Mentality: how i play, in which he shared the peculiarities of the training process and talked about the most difficult moments of his career. In a few days the book, translated into Russian, will be available for purchase, and you can already pre-order it on major book platforms.

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A talented person is talented in everything

Bryant played his last game in 2016, then his team defeated Utah, and the basketball player himself addressed the fans after the match and said: “Mamba is leaving”. But the legend’s journey didn’t end there. In 2018, a short animated cartoon “Dear Basketball” was released, Kobe became his ideological inspirer and scriptwriter. In addition, Bryant acted as a producer of the movie and read the text behind the scenes.

The movie was based on a poem written by Bryant before the end of his career. Coby’s soulful and sincere work won an Oscar as the best animated short film. It’s a story of a touching love for his work, carried through a lifetime.

In the spring of this year, the world received another confirmation of Bryant’s versatility – a lost music album recorded by the athlete back in 2000 appeared on the Web. It’s an hour-long record consisting of 16 tracks, including features with Tyra Banks, Destiny’s Child and 50 Cent.

But Kobe considered his most extensive work off the basketball court to be the book he worked on for several years, which he left as a legacy to all athletes. Despite Bryant’s death, his family profits from the sale of the autobiography: the sum from the sale of 300 thousand copies of the book has already amounted to $ 20 million.

What is the book “The Mamba Mentality. The Philosophy of My Game”?

This book is dedicated to the next generation of great athletes. I wish you to draw strength from understanding the path others have traveled to pave your own path.
And may it be better than this one. – KB.

In the book, Bryant talks about his understanding of the game and documents what he was inspired by and learned from, how he played through pain and why he never accepted defeat. Kobe reflects on the need to constantly learn and work on himself.

The autobiography is accompanied by photographs by Andrew D. Bernstein, NBA Hall of Fame photographer, and the foreword is written by Pau Gasol himself. This book is a symbol of how a great athlete dedicated his entire life to his vocation and his main passion, basketball.

I remember getting my first real basketball as a kid. I fell in love with the feeling you get when you hold it in your hands. I fell so in love with the ball that I didn’t even want to throw it and hit it against the floor because I was afraid of ruining the grainy leather and flawless grooves. I was afraid of losing that feeling. I also loved the sound of it. The bam, bam, bam – when the ball bounces off the parquet. The liveliness and purity. Predictability. The sound of life and light.
These are examples of why I fell in love with the ball, fell in love with basketball. That’s what was at the very core of my development and skill process. That’s what made me go through everything I’ve gone through, give everything I’ve given, and go as far as I’ve gone.
It all comes back to that special “bam, bam, bam, bam” that drove me crazy when I was a boy.

The mamba mentality is the ability to observe, watch, listen, analyze, and then psychologically push on the sore spot while making the person stronger and better, help them overcome fears and complexes, and give them the opportunity to develop further.

The game, in fact, taught me the art of storytelling. Without it, I wouldn’t have an Emmy, I wouldn’t have an Oscar, I wouldn’t have the creative dreams and visions that have yet to unfold. Yes, basketball followed me everywhere. Now I follow everywhere with this game.