Apraxia and the Mamba Mentality
At the beginning of 2020, the world received word that world famous basketball player Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash with his daughter Gianna.
After his death, people were chanting and hashtagging #mambamentality. Though I had heard of the “Black Mamba” and the “mamba mentality,” in relationship to Kobe, I have never followed professional basketball that closely, and didn’t really know the origin of the phrases or what they meant.
After searching the “mamba mentality” I found this interview article in which Kobe describes it in his own words. While I was reading it, I realized that apraxia taught our kids the Mamba Mentality early on in their life. Here are a few quotes straight from the mouth of Kobe Bryant.
The Mamba Mentality is:
” Doing more than the next guy and then trusting in the work you’ve put in when it’s time to perform.”
” If you have a goal or a dream, you need to apply the Mamba Mentality to achieve it. Everything worth achieving needs total focus and dedication.”
” Hard work outweighs talent – every time.” (this one is my favorite).
Apraxia and the Mamba Mentality
In the throws of an initial diagnosis, the apraxia diagnosis broke me. I was in despair for my daughter and determined to do anything in my power to help her speak. I gave it everything I had and getting her the help she needed took my total focus and dedication – Mamba Mentality
Throughout the process of therapy and learning to talk, Ashlynn gave it everything she had, every session. My clients do the same. Ashlynn and children with apraxia put in WAY more work than other children just learning how to talk. When it was time to perform they many times may have fallen short, but always got up again. Speech for apraxia is intense and direct and talking didn’t come easy, but hard work outweighs talent every time. – Mamba Mentality
I posted a video from Neil deGrasse Tyson the other day about a parent’s job not being so much to instill curiosity in children as to be being sure not to squash it. I might venture the same is true about the resiliency that apraxia taught our children early on. I think it’s easy for us to want to take away their pain and make life easy for them after watching them struggle to do a basic human right: Speak.
However, that “struggle” built a natural “mamba mentality” and if they can keep that mentality throughout their entire life they are already ahead of game.
I’ve had the privilege of meeting many older individuals who grew up with apraxia now, and by and large their work ethic, drive, determination, and resiliency continues to help them achieve great things. – Mamba Mentality
Watching my daughter fight to overcome apraxia and then all of her other learning disabilities put this “mamba mentality” inside of me. I was not ever going to give up. I was going to keep my drive and determination no matter how many times I failed. I was going to keep working and striving not only for her but toward a greater vision of apraxia awareness and I was going to remember what Babe Ruth when he said, “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”
It would seem Babe Ruth too had the mamba mentality.
As the world said goodbye to Kobe Bryant at his celebration of life today, I thought about how a true legacy is not just achieving some amazing feat. A true legacy is an amazing feat paired with how many others were inspired to be better and be something greater because you existed.
Who will you or your child inspire with their mamba mentality?
Laura Smith, M.A. CCC-SLP is a 2014 graduate of Apraxia Kids Boot Camp, has completed the PROMPT Level 1 training, and the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP). She is the author of Overcoming Apraxia and has lectured throughout the United States on CAS and related issues. Currently, Laura is a practicing SLP specializing in apraxia at her clinic A Mile High Speech Therapy in Aurora, Colorado.