When Michael Jordan’s feet left the ground, time seemed to stand still. The player     1    became known as “Air Jordan”     2    (change) basketball with his graceful moves and jumps. Jordan’s skills were impressive, but the mental     3     (strong) that he showed made him unique. In the final seconds of a game, Jordan always seemed to find a way     4    (win). Jordan says the the secret     5    success is learning from his failures. “I can accept failure; everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”     6    (lose) games taught him to practise harder and never give up. In life, Jordan has learnt to share his success with others. The Boys and Girls Club     7    he started in Chicago has been helping young people since 1996.

Kobe Bryant is a famous basketball player. His talent can     1    (see) not only on the court, but also in his writing.     2    book The Wizenard Series: Training Camp came out in March.

The story is     3    the West Bottom Badgers, a youth basketball team. It’s made up of five books, with each     4    (focus) on the story of one character: Rain, Twig, Cash, Peno and Lab. All of the kids on this team come from a poor neighborhood. No one     5    (have) faith in the kids to succeed,     6    things change after a new coach joins the team.

After reading the book, we got to interview Bryant. He said he didn’t think he was going to be an author, but that he often tells stories to his daughters. This is one of the     7    (reason) he wrote his own book. The book is based on parts of Bryant’s real-life experience,     8    (especial) when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant had two different jersey numbers - 8 and 24 - during his career.     9    number 24 means you need to work hard 24 hours a day     10    (succeed).

Our final thoughts on Bryant — he is cool and very funny.