Great nugget too for newcomer families and the rest of us
Legendary NBA basketball star, Stephen Curry has been described as one of the greatest players of all time and the best basketball shooter on the planet. Standing at just 6ft 3in tall, Steph’s superlative performance on the court sometimes leaves commentators short for words.
Steph Curry’s breath-taking skills may certainly be attributed to his sound discipline, relentless practice, outstanding work ethic and mental toughness. However- in addition to the more obvious- Steph Curry credits his greatness to no other than his mother and the unforgettable piece of advice she gave him when he was just 13 years old.
In 2001, 13-year-old Steph Curry’s AAU basketball team lost a big game. “We lost badly, and I played worse,” he writes on the Players’ Tribune. “It really felt like a wake-up call … that I just wasn’t good enough.”It was that night, in a Holiday Inn Express in Tennessee, that his mom Sonya Alicia Curry, also a standout volleyball and basketball player gave him a memorable piece of advice.
She told Steph: “NO ONE gets to write your story but you. Not some scouts. Not some tournament. Not these other kids, who might do this better or that better. … None of those people, and none of those things, gets to be the author of your story. Just you. So think real hard about it. Take your time. And then you go and write what you want to write. But just know that this story — it’s yours.”
Curry maintains that: “To this day, it’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten. And anytime I’ve needed it — anytime I’ve been snubbed, or underrated, or even flat-out disrespected — I’ve just remembered those words, and I’ve persevered.”
Even after making a splash at Davidson and leading the team on a remarkable March Madness run to the sweet sixteen, NBA draft analysts doubted him when he entered the 2009 draft. It was during those times in particular when Curry would repeat to himself: “This is no one’s story to write but mine. It’s no one’s story but mine.
With the Golden State Warriors, the star has three NBA championships and two MVP awards under his belt. He earns over $43 million per annum and is about the highest paid player in the NBA.
Despite his roaring success, Curry says “that chip on my shoulder has never gone anywhere. If anything, it’s only become more and more a part of me. And I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve really come to understand about myself over the last 17 years: The way that ‘underrated’ might start off as just some feeling the world imposes on you. But if you figure out how to harness it, It can become a feeling that you impose on the world.”
Does it pay to listen to your mum? Go ask Steph Curry.
Sources:
