APTER young and Talented obe Bean Bryant was born on August 23 1978 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania He has two older sisters Shaya and Sharia His par ents are Pamela and Joe Bryant Basketball runs in the Bryant family Kobe's father was a profes sional basketball player in the 1970s and 1980s He was a power forward QUICK FACTL for the Philadelphia 76ers San Diego Clippers now L A Clippers and Kobe Bryant s parents chose his Houston Rockets Young Kobe used to first name from the expensive watch his father s games on television type of beef they saw at a He would wear a team uniform that Japanese restaurant His middle matched his dad s and pretend that he name is a nod to his father's was playing the game too nickname
young and Talented This photo of Kobe and his parents was taken in 2000 after the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA
KOBE BRYANT NBA SCORING SENSATION Growing up in Italy When Kobe was six his father moved the family to Italy so that he could play professional basketball in the Italian league In Italy Joe Bryant flourished and was a high scoring II player Kobe remembers that when he QUICK FACT watched his dad's games fans sang songs about him There are athletes on both sides Kobe started playing sports at a O of Bryant s family His mother s young age He played soccer as well brother is Chubby Cox who as basketball before he decided to played professional basketball in concentrate on basketball He played the 1970s and 1980s basketball as a club sport At one point his club was the youth league of the professional team that his father played for Their uniforms even matched Joe Bryant sometimes brought Kobe along to watch him practice with his team By the time he was thirteen Kobe had gotten so good at basketball that he could beat some of Joe's teammates in games of one on one Bryant has said that the style of basketball he learned to play growing up in Italy is similar to how the game was played in the NBA in the 1950s and 1960s He thinks this on the fundamentals QUICK FACT of the expectinlupe says that kids grow ing up in the United States in his Kobe learned to speak Italian generation were taught what he thinks and learned to read books in of as a flashier style of play When Latin at his Italian schools he returned to the United States Bryant became determined to add these stylish moves to his already great skills He called this putting icing on the
young and Talented Bolzano TRENTINO FRIULI ALTO ADIGE VENEZIA GIULIA ALLE D AOSTA LOMBARDIA VENETO Trieste Piemonte Milano Verona Torino Joe Bryant played on teams based in the Lazio Calabria Toscana and Emilia Romagna regions of Italy Venezia Bologna LIGUR Genova EMILIA ROMAGNA Firenze MARCH TosCANA Perugia UMBRIA Italy escara A BRUZZO OM Lazio MoLISE Foggia CAMPANIA Napoli Bari PuGLIA Sassari BASILICATA Taranto SARDEGNA Cagliari CALABRIA Messina Palermo SICILIA Catania
