When Kobe Bryant brought his Mamba Sports Academy youth girls basketball team to Phoenix

Dana Scott
Arizona Republic
Kobe Bryant speaks to his youth girls basketball team Mamba Sports Academy with his daughter Gianna Bryant (far right) at the PHHacility in Phoenix.

After he retired from the NBA in 2016, Kobe Bryant became a leading advocate to build women's college basketball and the WNBA. 

One week prior to Bryant and his daughter Gianna's tragic death on Sunday, he engendered media discourse by saying Phoenix Mercury legend Diana Taurasi and fellow WNBA stars Elle Della Donne and Maya Moore had immense talent to cross the gender gap and play in the NBA.  

Bryant's passion for women's basketball was largely driven by his 13-year-old daughter Gianna (aka “Gigi”) Bryant.

Michael Jordan acknowledged this as part of his tribute for Kobe Bryant, stating that the Los Angeles Lakers icon "took great pride in his daughter's love for the game of basketball."

That was evident when Bryant brought Gianna and his Mamba Sports Academy middle school-aged girls basketball team to the Arizona Girls Report Desert Invitational at The PHHacility in Phoenix May 17-19, 2019. 

The inaugural all-girls AAU basketball showcase had mostly high school-aged players.

It hosted 40 teams including Arizona-based teams AZ Select and 602 Lady Nation, among the top AAU teams in the state.

The event's organizer, Ron Coleman, met with Bryant about the event, and the NBA legend agreed to travel with his girls team from their Southern California base to Phoenix to enter the tournament's 15U age division. 

"It was at the PHHacility, so we met with their representatives several times to make sure it was secure. Then I had a meeting with Kobe," Coleman said. 

"He was talking about his Mamba Academy and getting that going, saying that we can push some teams that way and we did."

Bryant partnered with the Mamba Sports Academy's chief executive officer Chad Faulkner to establish it in 2017.

The initiative for the "360-degree training facility" went beyond brand marketing behind Bryant's on-court moniker and alter ego.

Bryant wanted to inspire girls to develop their basketball skills and adopt a tireless work ethic, which he called the "mamba mentality."

"Some of our Arizona teams went out there to his Academy. He wanted to promote girls basketball," Coleman said.

When Bryant and his girls team arrived at The PHHacility, his presence caused pandemonium as expected. 

“When (he) decided to come over, I thought it was a cool deal. I knew it was going to be received well but that’s when I knew how many people follow him and wanted to be around him," Coleman said.

"I had so many requests from people to have access to him by so many of the female players. I didn’t know he was that popular among female players. Obviously, the male players for sure but this was an all-girls event.”

There were only a few people who were granted access to Kobe, at his own request. 

South Mountain Community College women's basketball assistant coach and journalist Michael Dominguez was covering the showcase for Prep Girls Hoops Arizona. 

"I was on the court and everyone was freaking out because Kobe Bryant’s there. Everyone’s trying to take pictures," Dominguez said. "So, I walked up to a security guard and said, ‘I’m not trying to take a picture of him specifically. I’m just trying to take a picture of the team to post it on my site Prep Girls Hoops Arizona and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, for sure, man. Go through ...

"I walk up right to the bench and then told him, ‘Hey I’m not trying to be a fan. I’m just trying to take a picture of the team for my site.’ And he said that was cool, I took the picture and then went back to my seat."

That picture of Bryant and his girls team became worth a thousand words in a private conversation between him and Dominguez thereafter.

It was about their mutual diligence to help popularize girls basketball via their coaching and Dominguez's coverage of women's basketball.

"After the game, I’m just hanging out upstairs at The PHHacility. (He’s) got his own private room that no one can go into," Dominguez said.

"The guy who runs the complex comes to me and goes, ‘Kobe wants to meet you.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Kobe Bryant wants to meet me?’ He said, ‘Yeah, he wants to talk to you, if you want to go into the room ... We go in there and he introduces himself, ‘I’m Kobe Bryant,’ like I don’t know who he is. It was funny.

"He was asking what the site Prep Hoops was about, the girls side specifically, just really asking deep questions about my background because I had coached boys up until then and I decided to not to coach boys anymore and really pursue the girls game and get them more exposure.

"I told him my story and he thought that was cool that I walked way from the boys side to help the girls side. I said, ‘If you have any tips or advice on how to promote the girls game let me know,’ because he’s a huge advocate for women’s basketball. He said, ‘Everything that we’re doing, we gotta keep doing it, keep talking about it, keep posting about it and it’s gonna become popular as people pick up on it.”

Kobe was known by his peers as a fervent listener who loved doing research about up-and-coming players. Two players in particular caught his eye.

"We talked about some of the girls in Arizona. He was really impressed with Jess Finney from Chaparral and Lexi McNabb (daughter of former All-Pro NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb) from Seton Catholic," Dominguez said. "When we were in the office, their 16U team was playing and he asked me about those two girls...

"After their game ended, he walked down to both of them and dapped them up. You could just see in their faces that they were excited because Kobe Bryant was telling them they had a good game."

Both players are members of the Arizona Select AAU team.

Donovan McNabb, a longtime friend of Kobe, attended the game and gave his daughter and Finney introductions to their hero.

"Donovan called us up to meet him and we were freaking out," Finney said. "We walked in and he was super nice. He introduced himself to us and we just started talking. Basically he was just giving us advice for our future and how to be the best we could be.

"He told us he was going to watch our game. After that we just started talking. He was super excited about his new baby girl who was on the way. That was when Gigi came up and introduced herself to us."

Kobe also called Gianna “Mambacita” for the way she mirrored his flamboyant moves and on-court idiosyncrasies, slithering her way around the court at will to score and defend.

“She was just a natural competitor just like her dad," Dominguez said. "It was so funny seeing her facial expressions and her movement on the court. It was like a copy and paste like her father.

“From biting her jersey to the little fadeaway on the low block, she was doing all the moves that he was doing and she wanted to win just as bad as he did when he was in the NBA. It was crazy seeing how much she was like him.”

She and Kobe had dreams of her joining the Connecticut women's college basketball team someday.

The Lady Huskies memorialized her by placing a No. 2 jersey on their bench before its exhibition against Team USA on Monday.

"It’s just sad because she had a bright future ahead of her, being so young and that talented and skilled already,” Dominguez said.

“You could tell she was gonna go places.”

Have tips for us? Reach the reporter at dana.scott@azcentral.com or at 480-486-4721. Follow his Twitter @iam_DanaScott.

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