Kobe Bryant. What do you think when you hear that name? For most people they think about one of the greatest basketball players of all time. To me when I hear Kobe Bryant’s name, I think about someone who persevered and was hardworking. One quote that shows that he persevered is “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.” This quote shows that he persevered because persevering is defined as “continuing in a course of action despite difficulty or delay in achieving success”, this shows that he persevered as he believed that pressure and challenges were an opportunity for him to rise to the occasion. Kobe’s quote means a lot to me as this shows how Kobe even in the face of adversity when he could’ve given up he believed that it was an opportunity to rise and that’s how I want to be. Next, teammates of Kobe, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh stated about Kobe, “We’re in Las Vegas and we all come down for team breakfast at the start of the whole training camp,” Bosh said. “And Kobe comes in with ice on his knees. He’s got sweat drenched through his workout gear. And I’m like, ‘It’s 8 o’clock in the morning. Where is he coming from?'” Wade added, “Everybody else just woke up. We’re all yawning, and he’s already three hours and a full workout into his day.” This shows how much passion he played with and how hardworking he was because he would get up 3 hours before his teammates and workout before everybody else. Kobe’s quote hits hard for me because this shows how he went the extra mile as it was the olympics where most athletes are more relaxed and he was the best player in the world as he had just won the MVP. It also shows me that hard work pays off as because of his work ethic he enjoyed a very successful career as he won 5 championships, is a one time MVP, and is in the hall of fame. To conclude, to me Kobe Bryant is a role model as he has traits that I want to have which is that he persevered through difficult situations and was extremely hardworking.
Joel Cisneros – St. Ignatius – DMSF