Kobe entered the NBA through the draft in 1996, when he was only 17 years old, and officially announced his retirement in 20 16, with a career of 20 years! Kobe was only 4 1 year old when he died, so he devoted almost his whole life to basketball. We all know that Kobe entered the NBA as a high school student, so what was Kobe like in high school? Bian Xiao found a video of Kobe 17 giving a speech in class. Let's look at some pictures.
Kobe Bryant studied at Raul Merion High School, a suburb of Philadelphia, USA, and was a member of the school basketball team. He has shown his superstar demeanor on the court, but after leaving the basketball court, Kobe rarely communicates with others and spends all his free time training. It was not until Kobe was about to face a choice (whether to go to college or participate in the draft) that he gave a speech to the whole class for the first time in English class.
At that time, Kobe was still very young, but the whole person didn't look like a student at all, and his appearance was not much different from that when he worked hard in the NBA later. At that time, Kobe didn't have a hairy hairstyle. Like later, he was bald. Kobe said that when he was 6 years old, he and his father went to live in Italy. At that time, he was still a child and didn't understand anything. He could only agree with the decision of adults. When Kobe 13 years old, his father Joe Bryant decided to retire from the Italian League and return to the United States. Kobe came back with his family.
In other words, from the age of six, Kobe went to live in Italy. He grew up in contact with Italians. Usually at home, everyone communicates in Italian, which makes Kobe almost forget how to speak English as a teenager. /kloc-after returning to the United States at the age of 0/3, Kobe found it difficult to make friends, mainly because of the language barrier. He can't understand what others are saying, and his pronunciation will be laughed at by his classmates, so Kobe spends all his time on basketball.
In Kobe's own words: "I find it difficult to integrate with my peers, so every weekend, I will accompany my beloved basketball." In fact, the reason why I was fascinated with basketball at first was that I didn't understand English very well, and no one wanted to play with me. "
"But I soon found that my peers and I have a common hobby, that is basketball! It is because of basketball that I have made many friends here, and I like the days with them very much. Basketball not only helped me solve the problem of communication with people, but also made me famous. Actually, many people know me. When I walk in the street, many people will come up to say hello, but I have never seen them, so I can only smile at them and say something like' OK, thank you'. "
Over time, Kobe will inevitably "drift", but this time it was his parents who stood up in time to stop his expansion. "If I just played a beautiful game, such as scoring 40 points, everyone would flatter me, and I would feel like the best player, which would inevitably lead to some inflation. At this time, my parents will immediately remind me that although you just performed very well, you can't just float away. You think you are number one in the world, and there are many better players than you. All successful players must have the quality of humility. "
This is Kobe Bryant's first and last public speech as a student. When he spoke in front of many people for the second time, it was that famous saying: "I decided to skip college and bring my talent directly to the NBA." It has been 24 years since this video was released today. Perhaps no one thought at that time that this young man, who could not speak English fluently a few years ago, later became one of the greatest stars in NBA history.