In August 2022, Vanessa revealed her plans to donate the $16 million damages she won in her suit against Los Angeles County to the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation. Mambacita was Kobe's nickname for Gigi, who was also a keen basketball player. After their deaths, Kobe's charity the Mamba Foundation was renamed the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation. Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks at Staples Center on Novemin Los Angeles, California. The charity was renamed in 2020 after Kobe and Gigi's deaths and is now called the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation. The organisation provides funding and sports programming for young athletes in underserved communities, as is stated in its mission on its official website. The Mamba Sports Foundation was a charity launched by Kobe in 2016 after his retirement from basketball, with the name being a nod to his nickname, the Black Mamba. He didn't really talk about upcoming awards, but he did mention this one a week before he and Gigi passed," she added. I know he was really looking forward to being here. "Gigi would be so proud to watch her daddy get enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He and Gigi deserve to be here to witness this," Vanessa told the audience at the induction ceremony, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. "I wish my husband was here to accept this incredible award. The widow also spoke about daughter Gigi in her moving speech. (Top photo of Gigi Bryant and Kobe Bryant: Andrew D.Vanessa Bryant speaking on behalf of Class of 2020 inductee, her late husband Kobe Bryant, alongside presenter Michael Jordan during the 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Mohegan Sun Arena on in Uncasville, Connecticut. Read more Kobe Bryant coverage on this topic page She was poised to write her own story as a tremendous athlete and fierce competitor. Gigi died en route to doing what she loved, but that does not make the loss of a child any easier. The current scene at Mamba Sports Academy where all games were cancelled /uMHoZBTDcA On the morning of the crash, it is believed she and her father and the other passengers were headed to a basketball tournament at Mamba Sports Academy in Newbury Park, where Gigi was expected to play on Sunday. She was just a kid who loved her family, her friends and playing and watching basketball. She had her whole life ahead of her, and she does not deserve to be remembered for the way she died. Gigi woke up Sunday morning to go play basketball, like any other day. Gigi did visit UConn to watch her beloved Huskies play last March during their Senior Day. But Kobe said that Gigi’s heart was set on playing basketball at UConn. When Gigi was 12 years old, Reggie Miller tried to convince her dad to send her to UCLA, Miller’s alma mater. …This S*** can’t be real… this the first moment I was able to meet Gianna Maria, she’s been to only 3 games this year… 2 of them were mine… She told me I was her favorite player to watch□□ I can’t believe this□□ When Gigi and her dad flew to Atlanta to watch Young play, Young joked that he was just as excited to meet Gigi as she was to meet him because he had been watching her highlight reels.Ī few hours after Gigi’s death, Young tweeted: Gigi’s favorite players were Trae Young, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James.īy all accounts, she was developing into a fine basketball player in her own right. But it was Gigi’s love for the game that got him watching again. Kobe told the Showtime Basketball podcast “All the Smoke” that after he retired he had stopped watching basketball. “The best thing that happens is when we go out and she’ll be standing next to me and fans will come up to me like ‘Hey, you gotta have a boy, you and (Vanessa) gotta have a boy - somebody to carry on the legacy and the tradition’ and (Gigi) will be like ‘Oy, I got this. During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel’s television show recently, Kobe said of Gigi that she “for sure” wanted to play in the WNBA someday. She began playing competitive ball year-round, with her father helping to coach her team. As Gigi grew into a young teenager, her love for basketball transcended watching her dad.
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