A Young Fan’s Selfie Captured Kobe Bryant a Day Before Fatal Crash

George Rodriguez, an assistant coach for Hoop Dreams Idaho, which arrived early to watch Mr. Bryant’s team play, said, “Our girls, coming from a small town and getting to be a part of that buzz, it’s amazing.”

In their first game, the Mambas lost, 46-29, to Cyfair Nikecoop 2024, an elite travel team based in Texas. Mr. Bryant had approached Todd Cooper, Cyfair’s coach, beforehand and jokingly asked him to take it easy on the Mambas.

“I said, ‘With all due respect, we’re going to go hard,’” Mr. Cooper recalled, adding that he was impressed to see Mr. Bryant chat and snap photographs with girls on all of the teams.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/us/mamba-sports-academy.html?emc=rss&partner=rss