Some pictures of the little Kobe Bryant, when he started playing basketball in Italy following his dad (still image from YouTube)
RIETI – Little Kobe Bryant was an anarchist from the basketball point of view. This was revealed by his first Italian coach , Gioacchino Fusacchia, during an interview with Eduardo Lubrano for "la Repubblica – Rome edition". Little Kobe started playing basketball in Rieti, following his father who was a Sebastiani Rieti player.
The Italian Kobe Bryant? Talent and anarchy.
Kobe was already a talented boy but he had to be educated from the basketball point of view. We report the declarations of his first coach in Rieti from the pages of the Republic – Rome Edition: “The little Kobe? An anarchist. He did everything on the pitch: he scored, he returned to defense, he recovered the ball and went on the attack again without passing the ball and scoring again ".
Coach of Kobe is a big word – says Fusacchia who trains today at La Foresta Rieti – Claudio Di Fazi and I with whom I was in charge of Sebastiani's minibasket we tried to teach him to dribble, as is done with all children of that age, trying to entertain everyone. Let's say that we managed not to let him want to play.
On the other hand he was not trainable from a "tactical" point of view: he worked very hard, he never pulled back in the exercises, he was always the first. But then he always wanted the ball in the game and decided everything by himself. It would be easy for me to say it today, but it was clear that he had a great desire to emerge. Physically he was the same as the others.
But from a technical point of view it was superior. One year we did a test in the Coca Cola tournament, at the time very important. It was reserved for those born in 1975 and we decided to let Kobe play too, thinking that those three years of difference (he was born on August 23, 1978, ed.) Could have kept him in check. No way.
We were forced to call him back on the bench because even with the older ones he did everything and always made a basket. He got very angry and instead of sitting on the bench he went to complain to his mom and dad who glared at me. In the end we awarded him as the best player of the tournament "(source Eduardo Lubrano for" la Repubblica – Rome edition " ).
Source: Blitz Quotidiano