The Mamba mentality is for everyone, athlete or not. Trust me, I’m an ex-athlete.

January 26, 2020: the day Kobe Bryant tragically passed away in a helicopter crash. His death rocked the world. That day, people lost a legend. Kobe was never just a basketball player. He was a son, a brother, a father, a husband and a friend. He was an icon, a symbol of success and immortality. He was the Black Mamba. The man that lived to be his best self, to then teach the science behind it to others. This was The Mamba Mentality. The mentality that oozed out of Kobe's blood, sweat and tears, and which he carried with him off the court, and into the lives of others.

The Mamba Mentality: a term created by the Black Mamba himself, Kobe Bryant. The Mamba mentality represents the emotional and mental ability to strive for self-betterment and self-success. It is the discipline of always trying to be the best version of yourself, and the best version of yourself does not always mean the best athlete. I learned that by being the best athlete, but not the best person.

In order to be the best version of myself, I had to leave sports behind. No, I was not a basketball player. I never was. The closest thing I had to a Kobe Bryant basketball career was the lucky hoop I shot backwards on my 273rd try in 9th grade. I was a ballerina and a figure skater. Yet, Kobe stood lonesome on my podium of role models my entire sports career. Now here I am almost three years later, re-visiting the burial site of that sports career and saying goodbye to Kobe with it.

Kobe Bryant embodied the role of The Black Mamba, the fast-moving venomous snake that poisoned its competitors with envy, and its supporters with power. The Mamba Mentality is not just the voice in your head that tells you to keep going. It's a fire that fuels that push. It was the fire that fueled my passion for dance and skating. It was the fire that fueled my 14-year long sports career. It was also the fire that fueled my decision to leave all that behind.

Why should a mentality implemented by a sports figure be interpreted in one way; the sports way? You can apply this mentality to any aspect of your life. You can be kind. You can work harder. You can text your mother you love her. In that sense, Kobe was limitless. At least, he made it seem that way.

People often think of Kobe as the LA Lakers player and admire what he stood for from a distance. If I'm not a basketball player, this doesn't refer to me. If I'm not an athlete, I shouldn't even look into it. It isn't so black or white, especially not in Kobe's world, which was a canvas overflowing with a myriad of colours painting the brightest of skies across the ever-expanding horizons.

Everyone is capable of aiming toward their best self. You don't have to spend hours at the gym to practice self-discipline. You don't have to run laps to convince yourself not to give up. You don't have to compete to be competitive. We come across people like Kobe Bryant, who just happened to be an athlete, and treat them according to what appears on the surface. What happens once we strip away the coating? What happens once we drain the ocean surrounding the tip of the iceberg? We expose the glimmering skeleton that now seems much larger, much greater and significantly more powerful. This is what Kobe meant by The Mamba Mentality. Once we strip ourselves of our looks, our titles, our money, what do we discover hiding beneath the surface? Hopefully, the best version of ourselves.

Thank you, Kobe, and goodbye.

Mamba out.