Kobe Bryant and other famous athletes’ children, Marcus Jordan, Laila Ali
Being the child of a famous athlete can be difficult at times. It seems as if children of sports stars are automatically assumed to follow in their father or mother’s footsteps. The biggest problem for these children is the fact that they will always be
compared to their famous parents every step of their careers.
At the moment there are many famous former athletes whose children are having this same problem, but at least one of them, Zidane, has come up with an innovative solution to the problem. We will keep on seeing many more athletes emerging to follow in their
parents’ footsteps.
There are certain factors that are seen when we look at the children of famous athletes. Firstly they will have 50% of their famous athlete parent’s genes in them. So sometimes this can help them to become great stars themselves or it makes them only half
as good as their parent.
It can also happen that while the parent, who is the athlete, was never that famous, the child outshines them and becomes famous in their own right. There are numerous examples of both kinds of children athletes.
A child following in an athlete parent’s footsteps can be a decision that inspires pride in the parent. It is similar to a child taking over the family business from their parent. One child that will have a very tough time if he follows in his father’s footsteps,
which looks like it is happening, is Michael Jordan’s son Marcus.
Jordan was by many accounts, the best basketball player to ever play the game so his son has a lot to live up to. His son Marcus is at the moment playing college level basketball but many say he is not as good as his father. A lot of people claim that he
is only good enough to play college basketball and will probably not make it to the NBA. If he does though, then for the rest of his career he will constantly be compared to his excellent father and might never be able to come out of his shadow.
Staying with basketball, Kobe Bryant is also the child of a former basketball player. Kobe though has forged his own identity and become a superstar in his own right. Kobe’s father, Joe Bryant, was also a professional basketball player in the NBA and in
the Italian league. But he was never as famous as his son. Kobe could count on the advice of his dad, who had 16 years of experience in the sport.
An interesting child sports star is Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila Ali. Even though she will also always be compared to her great father, she has a slightly easier time of it as she is a woman and women’s boxing is a different sport than the men’s version.
She has a little bit of cushion there but she is still a fantastic boxer in her own right.
An interesting new development in the world of football is the fact that Zinedine Zidane’s son, Enzo Fernandez, seems to be following right in his famous father’s footsteps. Zidane has tried a different tactic with his son, he has given Enzo his mother’s
maiden name as his surname to try and distance the two of them in the eyes of the media and football fans. Zidane wants his son to grow up and have his own football identity and forge his own path in the world, free from the chain of his father’s famous name
attached to him forever.
Genetics are a very interesting part of sports, just like in other professions, a lot of athletes’ children will do the same thing that their parents did in their lives. Sports like being a doctor or engineer, becomes a ‘family business’ and it becomes a
lot easier for a child to enter the world of professional sports if one of their parents has already been through the ringer.
There are a lot of children, who do not do the same profession as their parents, but a large number of them do. In the future this trend will only increase as more and more children of athletes grow up and enter the world of professional sports for themselves.
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