When Kobe Bryant retired from playing professional basketball, it really was the end of an era, especially for Lakers fans. The Black Mamba will go down as one of the most impressive players of all time, largely thanks to the number of points and finals he won. After leaving the sport, Bryant wanted to give back, so he decided to invest in the future and create his own sports academy. That became known as the Black Mamba Sports Academy, and this is what Bryant’s facility has been doing since it opened.

Continuing His Legacy

Bryant retired from basketball as a legend, and he is expected to join the Hall of Fame as soon as he’s eligible in 2021. The former Lakers star is a bit of a hero in California for what he did on the court, but now he’s becoming a role model in another way. Bryant teamed up with a holistic sports training facility to create Mamba Sports Academy to help kids and make a positive impact on their lives.

His facility is based in Thousand Oaks, California, and the program is available to young athletes. Bryant wanted his facility not only to teach kids about the physical side of sport, but to instill some of that mamba-mentality he was so famous for in the NBA.

The Mamba League

To encourage more kids to get onto the court and play basketball, Bryant created the Mamba League, which is a camp for kids aged between 8-10. Bryant has long been a critic of the Amateur Athletic Union basketball program for years over the way it fails to teach the fundamentals to kids. His Mamba League might be able to teach kids how to think like the professional game and understand how to play combinations of threes.

Showing Kids How To Play

Bryant recently took his Mamba League players to watch a WNBA game between the Los Angeles Sparks against the Los Vegas Aces in May 2019. It’s thought that Bryant was letting his young players get some first-hand experience of what professional basketball looks and feels like.

Mamba Sports Academy has been slowly establishing itself since it launched in December 2018. It runs a summer camp for kids, basketball tournaments, eSports, an adult volleyball league, and even a sports photography boot camp.

From invading your personal space to gross hygiene, these poor souls had to endure some truly terrible trips – but thankfully they documented their experience with photographic evidence so we can all see how awful some people really are.

You may have heard that some passengers are allowed to fly with an emotional support animal – a creature that helps an individual with anxiety or stress. This passenger was clearly less than impressed with this lady’s parrot – especially when it decided to fly up and down the aisle!

The most valuable commodity on a long flight for a passenger, outside of extra legroom, suitable food, and first-class, of course, is a good, functioning seat monitor. After all, if you’re going to be stuck in the same seat for hours on end, you’re likely going to want to watch a movie or two.

Clearly, this woman didn’t give two hoots about the suffering of her fellow passengers, casually draping her jacket over her own seat – obscuring this passenger’s monitor in the process. Clearly, she knows nothing about common courtesy. One can only hope this passenger told her as much and got her to move the coat.

One can always expect a battle for the armrest on flights – particularly if you have the misfortune of being placed in the middle seat. But tray tables? Each person gets one, so there’s no need to share, right?

Obviously, this guy didn’t understand the concept of personal space or simply didn’t care, because, unbelievably, he casually pulls out his laptop and an Ipad (to watch Blazing Saddles no less) for which he claims the corner of the tray table on his left like some kind of inept conqueror.

We envy those people who are able to sleep on planes, we really do. It’s so hard to get comfortable – either your neck is cramped because you want your lower back to be comfortable, or vice versa (and that’s before you take any annoying passengers into account!).

Clearly, this gentleman had no problem drifting off to la la land – perhaps this was a red-eye flight and his body made the decision for him. But his neighbor seems to find this man’s talent (yes, that kind of dedicated sleeping is a talent, we don’t care what you say) highly amusing and decided to grab a quick selfie with her passed-out flight-mate.

When you spring for extra legroom on a flight, you subconsciously hope for a private throne, unbothered by pesky passengers invading your realm. But of course, most of us don’t travel on private jets, and we don’t have the luxury of picking the people who sit around us – otherwise, we’d pack those seats with our pals or no one at all!

So when this person discovered that he’d be traveling with some extra hair foliage in his vicinity, he was less than pleased. Extra legroom can’t protect you from dreadlocks, friend.

It’s not every couple that would be able to pull off such an interesting sleeping position, but these two made it look simple. Sure, most of us are comfortable resting our head on someone’s shoulder or even against the hull of the plane in an attempt to get some sleep, but putting your head on your partner’s lap and thrusting your feet into the air? Is that even comfortable?

Obviously, this woman has had some practice (or is using this technique as a last resort in the quest to get comfortable), but that doesn’t mean the passenger behind her will appreciate her bare feet creeping over the headrest – what if they stink?

People seem to think that headrests on planes double as coat racks, shelves, or a place to generally do whatever you feel like with your head and hair.

While that’s accurate to some extent, people often forget that on planes, there’s almost always someone sitting behind them! So when this poor person finally found their seat and got themselves situated for the journey ahead, imagine their disgust when the passenger in front casually tossed their hair up and over their seat, totally obscuring their monitor.

When you’ve got extra-large luggage to transport, such as, we don’t know, A CELLO, one would assume that you’d stick that think in the baggage hold of the plane. But, clearly aware of the notoriety of airlines mishandling fragile items and musical interests, this passenger wasn’t taking any chances.

This guy bought an extra ticket just for his cello, and whenever a flight attendant asked if such action was truly necessary, he simply showed them his ticket for his musical companion. We’re not quite sure how he pulled this off, but nonetheless, bravo sir.

As kids, we’re all taught the importance of oral hygiene, flossing, and brushing our teeth twice a day. We also understand that to do these things, we typically need a bathroom – or at least some privacy and running water.

So, despite this guy presumably knowing that yes, planes do indeed have lavatories and sinks, he decided to pull out his toothbrush and give his chompers a quick clean. Was he in a rush to brush his teeth? Does he have some kind of strange obsession with cleaning his teeth on a plane? Whatever the reason, his rowmate, a dentist, was equal measures impressed and disgusted with this guy’s actions.

We all know how important it is to get up from our chairs once in a while and stretch our legs to get our blood pumping and help our circulation – such advice applies to everyday life, as well as travel.

This fellow took such a philosophy to the next level. Clearly, this man was set on getting his reps for chest day, no matter the obstacle, so casually took up shop at the front of the plane, where the cabin crew perform important duties and proceeded to bang out some push-ups. Everyone else would clearly have to wait or move around him because nothing is more important than GAINZ.

Most people’s shoes stink. It’s only natural, really – sweat builds up and sticks to the material, and over time they begin to smell really, really bad.

This guy’s shoes obviously smelled SO bad that even he couldn’t stand the odor, so he decided to share the pleasant scent with everyone in the entire cabin by holding his shoe up to his personal air conditioner. Oblivious (or perhaps not) to the fact that people are breathing recirculated air on planes, this inconsiderate man doused everyone with his horrid scent.

What is it with people on planes thinking they’re in private? Also – what is it with people on planes not realizing that there’s a lavatory in which you can do said things in private?

First, we had some dude brushing his teeth in his chair. Now we have this guy pulling out a pair of freaking nail clippers (are those even supposed to make it past security?) and going to town on his nasty claws! This wouldn’t be acceptable on the street, let alone a plane – has he no shame? Think about the poor people sitting next to him who might get hit with a bit of shrapnel and the poor cleaning crew! Disgusting.

One would assume that it’s common knowledge not to mess with the exit doors on planes, lest everyone be disembarked far earlier than planned. Even so, many passengers have displayed erratic behavior with the doors, including wanting to test how firmly shut they are.

While they have a pretty sturdy safety mechanism, it doesn’t help when passengers use the door as an extra footrest, as this chap did. To do it barefoot is just rubbing salt in the wound where manners used to be.

Apparently, toe dexterity is quite important, as it aids in the support and protection of the foot, and thus the rest of the body (since our feet are the foundation to the body).

But for goodness sake, there’s a place and a time to practice how nimble you are with your feet. That time is NOT in the middle of a flight – even if it’s to show off some impressive skills to play a bit of blackjack mid-air. As this horrified passenger aptly pointed out – this is why you should always sanitize your seating area on a plane.

One has to wonder what goes through these people’s minds when they decided to pull stunts like this. Do they think the cabin crew won’t notice, or simply not care?

While we’re used to seeing people fold up jackets and sweaters to use as pillows, this customer decided to air out his inexplicably wet laundry across his row and section of the hull (including underwear)! We can only hope that the cabin crew spotted this early on and forced this passenger to put their disgusting laundry bag in their bags. Outrageous.

People, people, people. Don’t people suck? The answer is yes – yes they do. Another foot entry (and spoiler alert – not the last), though this one may take the cake for outright grossness.

Not only is this person invading the armest of the passenger in front, but they’re also doing so with their sockless, unwashed, and presumably stinky feet. Those paws look like they haven’t been washed in years – that person should get a hefty fine for such an act.

Chairs are a great invention and a simple one at that. You’re meant to put your caboose in them, and keep your feet on the ground – NOT in the air, like this person chose to do!

We’re not sure where their head ended up (presumably in the aisle?), but judging by the looks of the two ladies who witnessed this spectacle of debauchery, this passenger had been holding this position for quite some time. At least they kept their socks and footwear on though, right?

Some of the most important real estate on a plane are the overhead compartments – a place where you can put your backpack, carry-on or jacket if you’re able to snag some space.

Of course, that’s what most decent people would do. Others, however, like to abuse the space with truly inconsequential items like a summer hat and high heels. Think about it – overhead luggage compartments were designed for luggage, not individual dress items! Once again, we can only hope the passenger knocked these aside or alerted the cabin crew to this pair’s truly selfish move.

There’s a time and a place for everything, including body maintenance, oral hygiene, public displays of affection…and disaffection.

We don’t know the backstory or what caused this man to think that breaking up with his girlfriend a mile up in the sky was a good idea, but the end result was that this poor woman was clearly upset and everyone on the plane could hear her…for the next five hours.

Everyone hopes for a bit of privacy on a flight – especially if you have to deal with the characters we’ve already encountered in this list.

It seems as if this pair had reached the end of their rope, and decided to take matters into their own hands. They proceeded to craft this makeshift fortress to shield themselves from the outside world, and all the problems it contains. Very smart work indeed.

Picture the scene: You’ve somehow managed to secure a seat on your flight that isn’t surrounded by people drying their clothes or clipping their toenails. Elated, you decide to capitalize on your good fortune by taking a nap.

But as you wake from your slumber, you’re greeted by this truly terrifying squeaky toy in the hands of a small child. How long was the kid waiting in position to terrify this poor soul? That’s some evil work, we tell ya.

We all like to have some grub on a plane, particularly if we’re stuck on a long flight or even the red-eye, meaning the airline should provide both dinner and breakfast. Of course, knowing how infamously bad airline food is, you would behoove yourself to bring your own food.

Just like this woman has seemed to have done! In fact, she feels so at home on an aircraft with countless other passengers that she has literally kicked her feet up, taken her socks and shoes off, and is going to town on that grub without a care in the world. Eating food on a plane – no problem. Eating food whilst barefoot and planting said feet against the wall? A bit gross.

We know how disgusting people can be on flights with their feet, shoving them all up in your personal space and trimming them and whatnot. We’ve even seen hair tossed around as if it’s in a shampoo commercial. Somewhat odd, therefore, that there aren’t more examples of hands reaching into places they shouldn’t.

Take this woman, who must know there is someone sitting behind her. Does she simply not care? Is she hoping for a handshake? We sure do hope this passenger’s will broke and she decided to give her a bit of a fight by giving those mitts a tight squeeze.

What a blessing it can be to find your whole row empty for a long flight. They are rarer than unicorn sightings these days, but when it happens – oh how sweet it is.

Naturally, you immediately stretch yourself out across all three seats to get into the best position for a quality sleep you simply don’t get all that often on a flight. But the golden rule is to not stick your feet out beyond the armrest of the aisle seat. Obviously, that’s where people need to cross, as well as the cabin crew with their drink cart! Maybe they gave this person a not-so-friendly bump to get them to move…

OK, clearly this photo was staged – the entire cabin is empty, save for the two crew members, and the grown man clutching his teddy.

In fact, this picture was taken by an ‘artist’ named Michael who took a variety of snaps imitating a variety of annoying plane passengers, perhaps to drive awareness? This particular picture begs the question though – has Michael actually seen another passenger sleep in the aisle? Because that would be a new low for society.

Most plane seats are designed to tilt back. That function is there to help the passenger relax and hopefully get some shut-eye, though it rarely works (hence the feet-up position we have seen earlier in the list).

So, nothing wrong with a passenger taking advantage of the seat’s feature and leaning back – it just sucks to be the person behind who has to deal with it. But what can be done? Well, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade – just like this customer, who turned the leaned-back seat into a makeshift headrest.

It must be unbearable to sit in a plane seat if you have long hair. Why else would so many people think it’s ok to toss their locks over their headrest and on to the seat behind them? Perhaps they assume their fellow passenger would understand their suffering, and allow them this act of mercy.

We hope you can take note of the obvious sarcasm, but sadly it seems as if the unfortunate soul behind this woman withdrew from this battle and opened up a book instead. Never back down, we say!

If you give some people an inch, they’ll take a mile. We’ve already seen how some folks are all too quick to take advantage of empty space that doesn’t belong to them, and this guy is no exception.

Remember how the empty row is a find almost mythical in nature? Well, this passenger thought they had stumbled across the holy grail of flying, only to find this dude outrageously claiming the armrests of the seat in front of him for his poor tired feet. Once again, we hope the passenger quickly batted them away, but at least there’s photographic evidence of this guy’s obscenity.

Remember how we mentioned that some passengers would have to take cover from incoming pieces of toenail shrapnel from gross people who decide to trim their nails on flights?

Well, we present to you exhibit A of what can happen in such a situation. This dude decided to do some body maintenance, and some of his trimmings took a flight of their own…right into someone else’s drink. We do hope the person who snapped the shot alerted the unsuspecting passenger, embarrassing the ‘clipper’ at the same time.

Feet, again. Personal space, again. Why can’t people keep their limbs to themselves on flights? We get it, it’s a cramped space and you feel the need to stretch now and again, but there’s nothing stopping you from going for a walk up and down the aisle. Heck, you could even bust out some push-ups!

This guy clearly preferred to be lazy and stick his foot next to this poor child, whom we presume was equal parts disgusted and enraged. We know we would have been!

Dreadlocks, when done right, can be a great hairstyle, but they can also be long and cumbersome and, apparently for this passenger, difficult to keep on one side of a chair.

These two kids couldn’t have enjoyed their flight very much having to deal with that, what with having to watch an already small monitor through the creeping dreads that have made their way on to their small part of the plane.

Honestly, this isn’t even that annoying. What’s wrong with a little superhero outfit to spice up an otherwise boring flight?

Personally, we would be thrilled to see Peter Parker board my flight, so kudos to this would-be-superhero for having the gumption to wear a full Spiderman costume on a packed flight, and not even on Halloween. He’s not clipping his nails, invading anyone’s space – he’s just dressed like a superhero! We dig it.

Ok, ok – obviously this entry doesn’t belong on this list because come on – it’s Ron Swanson! Or maybe it does, judging by the look on actor Nick Offerman’s face.

He probably just wanted to get settled in for his upcoming travel and not be bothered by people taking his picture – presumably without asking. Tthat’s a look that could freeze water – one fans of Parks and Recreation will have seen many times.

We’re really running out of words to adequately convey our level of disgust at people who think it’s acceptable to remove footwear, socks, and wave their putrid feet around inside a pressurized cabin at 38,000 feet.

This young soon-to-be groom seemed to be in the midst of a rare successful nap on a plane when he was awoken by the stench emanating from the feet of the inconsiderate lunatic to his left. They really should start instituting fines on public air travel to nip this thing in the bud.

If you’re a frequent flyer, chances are you’ve come across more than one person on board your flight that is nursing some kind of injury. This dude appears to have limped on board with a broken ankle.

His partner kindly offered up her tray table so he could get some elevation and proper circulation to the affected area (that must have smelled lovely for everyone else on board), then proceeded to eat off said table. The things we do for love, eh?

Is this the most disgusting entry on this list? It very well might be. This man clearly had no shame in baring his underwear for the entire cabin. We have so many questions.

Why did he take the underwear off? Did he decide to go commando? How was he able to take off said underwear without anyone noticing, whilst seated? Is this man a normal human being or something much, much worse?

MORE FEET ON PLANES. They should make a sequel to Snakes on a Plane and call it Feet on a Plane. Chalk it up as a horror/gore film, especially based on this person’s feet.

Seriously, these paws are worthy of the nasty feet Hall of Fame, of which all previous entries on this list are also members. Not only are they creeping on to this woman’s armrest, but they appear to have a bloody, rotten toenail sticking out for a cheeky, disgusting hello.

Ok, forget the idea for Feet on a Plane – this might be a more viable pitch to Hollywood. Man takes huge spider in a jar on a plane. Man inexplicably lets spider out. Spider attempts daring escape.

We don’t think this arachnid was on board as a support animal, but you never know. Alas, the critter got a brief taste of freedom and was looking to take it, but we don’t know what happened. One would assume the man was able to get the spider back in the jar – but not before giving one heck of a fright to the passengers seated nearby.

A toddler on an airplane is not fun – for anyone. A selfless passenger would understand that the kid’s parents are highly conscious that their child could start crying or screaming at any minute, thereby making a trip that much more unbearable.

So you’d think they’d go out of their way to do everything in their power to remove any potential discomforts for their child, as well as the rest of the travelers on the plane. Not so on this instance, it would seem, as lo and behold – they decided to bring a potty on board so everyone could get accustomed to the smell of pee.

Finally, photographic evidence of someone with a proportional reaction to an outrageous invasion of personal space, once again using hair as a Trojan Horse!

Of course, it’s unlikely this gentleman was actually yelling at the obnoxious passenger in front for covering his seat with hair, though that would have been pretty spectacular – and warranted.

There’s a pretty popular myth going around stating that turkeys can’t fly. Well, they can fly, because they roost in trees at night. They can also hit speeds up to 55mph in short bursts.

This particular piece of poultry was traveling much faster than that on board this plane, who was presumably there as a support animal and not as a creature getting VIP treatment before it ended up on a Thanksgiving table. Either way, the turkey gave this passenger one heck of a scare.

What do people not understand about bathrooms on planes? They’re there for your use – are you really so impatient to pop your zits that you think it’s fine to start spraying that goo all over the place?

Sure, it’s a necessary practice, and some people find it oddly satisfying, but my goodness – there’s a time and a place to intentionally leak bodily fluids, and in your seat in a crowded plane is not one of them.

In this day and age, we all have to do our best to protect ourselves and the people around us. Wearing personal protective equipment – such as gloves and masks – is a good way to accomplish this, but you can go even further.

This passenger decided to make their own personal hazmat suit with what appears to be a plastic see-through raincoat, worn backwards. That’s presumably more effective than wearing a mask and gloves, but depending on the length of their flight, it must be uncomfortable.

It’s not uncommon to see dolls and stuffed animals on flights, usually aboard to accompany a child and help keep them occupied on their journey.

Any reasonable parent wouldn’t hand their child a freakin’ Chucky doll though, would they? No – which is why we have this seemingly grown adult carrying the doll instead for some odd reason, weirding out and terrifying the rest of the passengers.

Another flight, another picture of a passenger grossing everyone out by taking his shoes off and releasing the stench for everyone to bask in.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with taking your shoes off on a flight, especially if it’s a long one and providing you’re wearing socks. But if you’re going so far as to remove the interior sole of the shoe and dry them out on the armrests, you’re probably aware of how bad they smell. Which means you shouldn’t condemn other people to smell it. If you cared about anyone else but yourself, of course.

Have you ever been on a flight (or public transportation for that matter) and had someone doze off, using your shoulder as a pillow? It can be a pretty awkward situation, and we assume most of you would wake them up and tell them to get away from you asap.

This lady saw the funny side of this stranger cuddling up to her on a flight – at least for long enough to take a picture – but we can’t say we’d have done the same.

Unruly kids on a flight can be an absolute nightmare – kicking, screaming, crying, punching, crawling into your space, throwing toys in your face – who knows what could happen?

This cheeky little bugger had the audacity to try and start a game of tag with the passenger behind them which, to be fair, is pretty cute. Not too many hiding spots on a plane though, so this passenger politely declined. We hope the kid didn’t take it too hard.

There was only one place to end this list, right? With a pair of encroaching feet – or more accurately toes, in this example.

At least they seem to be clean and presumably smelling ok, but once again we have the audacity and selfishness of one passenger thinking that armrests – both their own and belonging to the person in front – are up for grabs. We can only hope that you never encounter these people on your future travels.