Early life 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 1080[2] 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.
小的时候，
科比布莱恩特作为乔和布莱恩特最小的孩子也是唯一的儿子，他的父母在他出生前为他取名科比--一种日本牛排的名字，是在一家餐馆的菜单上看到的。在他六岁的时候，科比和他的父母、两个姐姐
沙雅 和西莉亚搬到了意大利，在那里他的父亲打起了职业篮球。他开始适应了那里的生活，并说起了流利的
意大利语。早期的时候，他学习了踢足球，他最喜欢的球队是AC米兰。布莱恩特曾经说过如果他留在了意大利，他会坚持踢足球，并且会努力成为职业足球运动员。在1991年，布莱恩特一家移居美国。一个灿烂的高中生涯在
费城郊区
劳尔梅里恩的劳尔梅里恩高中展开，并且为他带来了国家的认可。然而在他高达1080分的学术能力评估测试分数确保了他进入各个顶级院校的篮球奖学金的情况下，17岁的布莱恩特做出了进入
美国篮球职业联赛这个有争议的决定。