That was Jose Mourinho(JM), head coach of Tottenham.
I know what you’re saying… What does that have to do with Kobe?
JM is telling his team to transform on gameday. “You don’t win with nice guys. Be a bastard.”
When Kobe was early in his career, he let the crowd and the outside noise get to him when he was on the court. It affected his game negatively.
Kobe being the scientist that he was… went searching for answers.
He was big into movies and studied character development so he developed an alter ego. Like Clark Kent transforming into Superman or Bruce Wayne to Batman.
Bobby turns into Logic on stage…
When the crowd started heckling Kobe and saying, “Kobe sucks.” The man in the jersey was no longer Kobe so it didn’t bother him.
On the court, he transformed into “The Black Mamba.”
Cold-blooded killer. With a different mindset than the man off the court.
If you’re a very nice, respectable, quiet kid off the ice coming through your developmental years… There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes when you remain “you” out on the ice, things can get to you easier than some of your other teammates.
But if you “become” your alter-ego and flip that switch. You can play with a mindset that is different from how you live your day-to-day life.
Design an alter-ego. Who will you become? What does that player look like? Sound like? Act like? How does he respond to pressure? To heckling? To momentum swings in the game?
Who are you when the bright lights are on?