The members of The Mamba Academy had quite a return upon its reopening this week. It had remained closed immediately following the death of Kobe Bryant and eight others in a helicopter crash Sunday morning near Calabasas, CA. Among the victims was Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who was a member of The Mamba Academy, as were two others on board. Now, it’s the home to a growing memorial for the NBA superstar and the members it lost over the weekend.
Three days after Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died on their way to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury Park, the facility reopened — welcomed by a growing memorial https://t.co/Hb3vwJGUlx pic.twitter.com/pnOrWfw9G5
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) January 30, 2020
According to CBS Los Angeles, members had mixed feelings about walking back through the Academy’s doors. 14-year-old Ben Bass admitted he was “feeling just a bit nervous.”
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“I feel like everyone will be pretty sad now that he’s gone,” he added, referring to Bryant.
Bass also spoke of the kind of motivation the former Laker brought when he joined the academy back in 2018. Specifically, the “Mamba Mentality” that improved morale among the staff and players. “Kind of just means like you do your best, no matter what,” Bass explained. “And don’t give up.”
Fellow 13-year-old Brady Smigiel talked about meeting Bryant in person at the Mamba Cup tournament this past Saturday, the day before his fatal crash.
“I was up, and I saw his car pull up right over here, and I was like, ‘Kobe could I get a quick picture with a couple of my friends,’” Smigiel said. “And he was like, ‘I’ll get you tomorrow. You play here?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and then he just walked out. I got that blurry picture, and then he walked out and got in the car.”
Though Bryant was unable to keep his promise, Smigiel said that he’s “keeping those [photos] forever — as long as I can.
“I’m showing them to all my friends and family, so if anything happened to my phone or my family’s phones, I have it somewhere. It’s just so special to me.”
While the crash site is still under investigation, Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, shared a touching tribute to her late husband and daughter earlier this week on Instagram, where she not only addressed the grief her family are currently trying to process but also how to help the families of the other victims of Sunday’s tragic accident.
“To honor our Team Mamba family, the Mamba Sports Foundation has set up the MambaOnThree Fund to help support the other families affected by this tragedy,” Bryant wrote in the caption. “To donate, please go to MambaOnThree.org. To further Kobe and Gianna’s legacy in youth sports, please visit MambaSportsFoundation.org.”
