Mamba Sports Academy offers star expertise
LOS ANGELES – A handful of NBA stars stared at the whiteboard. Not only did they become engaged with the X’s and O’s. They became intrigued with who drew up the plays.
It was none other than former Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who held a minicamp last summer at his Mamba Sports Academy training facility in Thousand Oaks. Bryant hosted a workout and a tutorial for a handful of NBA players, including Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Jamal Murray, De’Aaron Fox, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Thomas and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
“Kobe is drawing things out. Kyrie is talking about how people need to go, ‘This way and that way,’ ” recalled Chad Faulkner, the CEO of Mamba Sports Academy. “These guys are the masters themselves. Then to have the other room full of guys commenting on it and asking, ‘What about this’ and ‘what about that?’ There was an amazing amount of learning going on.”
Expect that learning process to continue. Bryant held a similar summit two weeks ago for some WNBA players. And for the past two years, he has coached his 13-year-old daughter’s team there.
“From a mental level, it was kind of how to mentally get into a space where you’re performing at a high level day in and day out,” he said. “Then, from a tactical level, it was always about how to handle zones and how to handle certain defensive packages where you put guys on the floor.”
Not everyone’s experience was the same. Leonard said he only attended the first day to ensure “talking to Kobe and bouncing ideas off of him.” George went for the second day.
As for everyone else, Bryant, Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy and a handful of other NBA assistants oversaw two detailed practice sessions. The group spent the first day completing on-court drills before scrimmaging. After oncourt drills during the second day, Bryant drew up plays on a whiteboard before implementing them. As Faulkner observed, “He’s teaching them how to fish instead of just throwing them fish.”
“He broke down a couple of plays and explained the way he thinks it through,” Caldwell-Pope said. “That was amazing. He tried to see every position and every option that he has.”
Just as he did during the tail end of his NBA career, Bryant has often offered feedback to any NBA star or young player who wants it.
Through ESPN+’s “Detail,” Bryant has analyzed player performances in an honest and constructive manner. When he attended Lakers games this season against Atlanta and Dallas, he embraced LeBron James and Anthony Davis; he encouraged Dwight Howard on his revitalized career; he talked trash with Dallas guard Luka Doncic; and he encouraged Atlanta guard Trae Young.
Bryant has done the same thing for Gianna’s AAU team, with a lighter touch. “When you start out, they may travel and they may do all these other things. But you don’t point those out,” he said. “If you start overly criticizing them, then it affects their self-esteem. It’s just doing it piece by piece. It’s been beautiful watching them grow.”
Two years after Faulkner opened the Sports Academy, Bryant partnered with him to have what he called “a 360degree training facility.”
The facilities, in Thousand Oaks and Redondo Beach, offer more than a handful of basketball courts, volleyball courts and a track to professional athletes and youth sports programs. They also offer more than the handful of classes and personal training than most gyms provide. They have trainers’ rooms. They have a doctor’s office. And they have a cognition lab, which analyzes an athlete’s reaction time, decision making and ability to read coverages. Those labs have game simulations for baseball, football and soccer and will feature basketball soon.
It appears Bryant is just getting started.
“The way Kobe and I approached it so far is we are going to grow on quality. We won’t sacrifice quality for anything we’re doing,” Faulkner said.