Kobe Bryant is the youngest child and only son of Joe and Pam Bryant.His parents named him after a kind of steak:the famous beef of Kobe,Japan,which they saw on a restaurant menu.

At the age of six,Kobe,his parents and two older sisters,Shaya and Sharia,moved to Italy,where his father began playing professional basketball.He became accustomed to the lifestyle and became fluent in Italian.At an early age,he learned to play soccer and his favorite team was AC Milan.

Bryant once said that if he had stayed in Italy,he would have stuck with soccer and would have tried to become a pro soccer player.In 1991,the Bryants moved back to the United States.A spectacular high school career at Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion,brought national recognition.

While his SAT score of would have ensured his basketball scholarship to various top-tier colleges,the 17-year-old Bryant made the controversial decision to go directly to the NBA。