Kobe Bryant will join former President Bill Clinton in leading a panel about kids and fitness at a sports conference slated for next month in California.
The roundtable discussion will mark the opening for the Clinton Health Matters Initiative Conference on Jan. 13 in La Quinta, Calif. Topics will include barriers to access, coaching quality and safety.
"There's so much to be gained, so much from health and fitness," Bryant told ESPN on Monday while in town to face the Hawks. "It's a really important initiative for kids to understand that you're not just getting the benefits of being healthy, you're also understanding how to be great leaders, how to be unselfish, how to work within a group, competitive spirit."
ESPN senior vice president Rob King said U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmum will sit in on the panel along with several NFL players from teams that by then have been eliminated from the playoffs.
Highlights from the roundtable discussion will air during Black History Black Month on Feb. 9 on ESPN2, the same day Bryant's L.A. Lakers face the Chicago Bulls on ABC in a game that will be used to promote the show.
The program will also feature interviews with athletes and segments on issues such as the number of children who don't have access to sports.
King said Bryant reached out to the network through Nike, which is involved through its Access to Sport Initiative. "It's a part of where he wants to go post-career," King said Tuesday after an event at the Clinton Foundation in Manhattan announcing the conference.
Bryant later deemed his message "wisdom through sports." He later added "obviously I've been the beneficiary of learning all those things, so I think it's very important to be able to communicate that."
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