When Kobe Bryant was six years old, his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, moved the family to Italy to begin playing professional basketball. It was during these formative years in Italy that Kobe Bryant played football and basketball. When his father retired in 1991, Bryant’s family moved back to the United States, but his passion for football remained.
As a young fan of AC Milan, Bryant had aspirations of being a professional football player; even claiming that if his family had stayed in Italy, he would have chosen professional football over professional basketball. He remarked to the Milan sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, during this summer’s World Cup in South Africa:
“I love soccer since the time I was a boy. From when I lived in Italy and supported AC Milan. Dreaming one day to be Marco Van Basten, one day Diego Maradona and one day Roberto Baggio.”
Byrant has more than just a passing appreciation of football and after these many years, he still feels at home on the pitch and with the football at his feet:
The 2010 NBA season begins tonight and there have been lingering concerns about Bryant’s surgically repaired left knee throughout this offseason. If Bryant could remain relatively healthy through the upcoming season and if he could endure a rigorous football training regimen, his size and athleticism would be an ideal template for a football goalie, backline defender or a forward on set pieces.
If Bryant was in his prime, it is likely that he could have played a center forward position given his athletic and attacking style of play; a style of play that has been very successful for him on a much smaller playing field—the basketball court.
Assuming that we have a Kobe Bryant in his prime, the thought of his potential role as a defenseman (D) or forward (F) in a blended football-basketball G node or a as transitional wing playmaker (W) between football and basketball nodes is tantalizing.
As a defenseman, Bryant, who is already an elite defender in the NBA, could fit in well is as a backline defender who can quickly counter and lead an offensive attack in a defense-offense transition formation (the middle of the three different formation modules bracketed in the diagram below). Given that Bryant’s main sport requires quick bursts of offense to defense and vice versa, his transition as a defender into an offensive catalyst in the defense-offense transition formations would be a relatively easy adjustment to make.
As a forward in the defense-offense transition formation in a blended G node, Bryant could slot into the left or right wings since he possesses the requisite skill set: very good speed, length, strength, long shooting range, passing and decision-making ability, and a strong defensive presence.
As a transitional wing player linking two or more nodes (football and basketball in this example) that are not completely blended but exist in two separate forms simultaneously, Bryant could transition into and out of football and basketball in some of the following ways:
- Shots made from specific spots on the basketball court could activate football set pieces for Bryant or another player to take during the next pause in football and basketball action.
- Long distance shots made from specific spots on the basketball court could award the football team on the same GAME team a man advantage on the pitch for a short finite period of time; much like man advantages in ice hockey.
- A G.3-designed field with a basketball court side by side with a football pitch would allow Bryant to concentrate on his basketball assignments while providing additional zonal marking on the pitch when he is in the corresponding basketball court-football pitch areas (by crossing over the sidelines and freely traversing into and out of the two fields of play as needed).
Elite G.3 performers must excel in multiple individual nodes while at the same time have the flexibility to excel in G nodes that link or blend two or more nodes together. Kobe Bryant may not be the young man he was half a decade ago, but his versatility, athleticism, intelligent play and competitive makeup continues to secure his status as one of the NBA’s and G.3’s elite.
