SC Featured: The 6-Year Plan
The 7th Annual Awards
- Best Athlete Storytelling
- Best Documentary: Short-Form
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
Kobe Bryant handpicked 11 girls to be on his Mambas AAU Basketball team, and his plan was to develop them and send them all to play high school basketball to win a state championship. In 2020 a helicopter crash took the lives of Kobe and 3 girls from the team, including Kobe’s daughter Gigi. This past spring, 5 of the remaining Mambas carried on the legacy, and honored the 6-year plan, as they finished their final season together.
How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?
On TikTok, IG, and X, there was several comments about how the feature made the viewer emotional and inspired them or how they learned something new about Kobe Bryant’s impact post-retirement. Other comments from viewers talked about how they will also take some of Kobe’s lessons that he taught the girls and implement it into their own lives. This feature can hopefully be a reminder that the lessons you learn in sports can help you overcome and achieve many things in life.
Objective
On January 26, 2020, the tragic death of NBA Legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi affected so many around the world. Tributes to the former Laker star and stories of how he impacted those on and off the court became known.
With 2024 being the fourth-year anniversary of Kobe’s passing, we wanted to explore one of the groups that was impacted by Kobe the most: the Mamba girls basketball team that he coached and mentored prior to his death. We also wanted to show how the rest of the team continued to play for Kobe after the accident to honor his legacy.
Our goal was to show the impact that Kobe had as a coach and mentor, how the girls continue to honor him, Gigi, and the other lives lost in the helicopter crash and explain the lessons they learned from Kobe that they continue to carry today throughout their lives.
Strategy & Execution
When producing the feature, we thought by reminding the audience first of Kobe Bryant’s legacy as a basketball player was important, showing his talents and success on the court. We then pivoted to what Kobe focused on post-retirement which was being a girl dad and coach to his daughter Gigi and other girls on the club basketball team. When fans think of Kobe Bryant, they think of the Mamba Mentality, which we leaned into as one of the lessons that the remaining girls talked about.
To showcase these storylines, we dove into archival footage of Kobe as a Laker, showing some of the most iconic video moments of him as well as using prior footage and photos of him coaching the Mamba team. In present day, we embedded ourselves and gained access with the remaining players as they finished their final season together on the court.
The access included sit down interviews with the remaining players, their parents, b-roll of the girls playing basketball in high school, and being with the girls on the anniversary of the helicopter accident as they have a special tradition for that specific day.
Credits
Craig T. Lazarus
Executive Producer
ESPN
Jose Morales
Executive Producer
ESPN
Ben Webber
Coordinating Producer
ESPN
John Fornaro
Associate Producer
ESPN
Alexandra Nolen
Producer
ESPN
Jen Lada
Reporter
ESPN
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 7th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 24, 2025 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
