Stephen Curry Under Armour SC30 Select Camp & The Lessons We Learned from It
As I sit here in the airport headed to Shanghai, China for 16 days to run 2 weeks of Nike Basketball Camps, I reflect
back on my last basketball trip in June when my PSB Co-founder, Logan Kosmalski, and I went to California for the
Steph Curry Under Armour SC30 Select Camp.
Every year the SC30 Select camp brings in 30 of the top high school guards and 10 of the top college guards in the
nation for 3 days of on-court development alongside Steph Curry. This camp is led by an incredible group of coaches
and trainers.
The Biggest Takeaway
This was a great opportunity for Logan and me to watch elite level players, like Josh Jackson, Michael Porter Jr., and
Jack Gibbs, learn from high-level instructors, including Fran Fraschilla, and Tim Legler, as well as a chance for us to
catch up with our fellow Davidson basketball alumnus, Stephen Curry.
While the skill work, drills, coaching, competition, talent and all of that good stuff were awesome to see, my
biggest takeaway from the SC30 Select Camp was being reminded of the important lessons that all young players
can learn from Steph Curry, such as; humility, constant self-improvement, and control what you can control.
#1 Humility
To be honest, we weren’t really sure what Steph’s reaction was going to be when seeing us, and we weren’t
expecting much. After all, we hadn’t seen or spoken to him in 3 years while he was off winning NBA Championships,
MVP awards, and becoming arguably the best player in the world!
However, when he saw us, he greeted us with a big dap and seemed genuinely happy to see us, which was nice.
But the coolest thing was just seeing that all of the success hadn’t changed him. He was still the same easy-going,
cool, down to earth guy from Davidson.
Steph has probably had more success in the last 2 – 3 years than any other basketball player on earth, yet he
was clearly still as humble as he always had been!
If Steph Curry can remain humble despite all of the fame, money, and achievements, ALL young players should be
able to remain humble as well no matter what success they might achieve!
#2 Constant Self-Improvement
Secondly, I was also reminded of Steph Curry’s seemingly constant self-improvement. When he was in high school
and came to Davidson to play pick up with us as a recruit, he was just a scrawny kid with a good shot, but easily
bullied and pushed around.
When he came to Davidson, he got stronger and obviously his skills improved as well, but early on he still wasn’t
an unstoppable player.
However, each summer that I came back to Davidson from playing professionally overseas, Steph just continued to
get better and better until I could no longer keep up with him. And the same thing has happened in the NBA.
Steph started out as an average to good player but has continued to improve himself every year to the point now
where, again, he is arguably the best player in the league.
Young players need to understand this lesson: improvement is a marathon, not a sprint.
No one is going to become an NBA MVP over-night. It takes years and years of working on your craft. Simply
try to improve every day, week, month, and year. After all, it’s not where you start…it’s where you finish!
#3 Worry About Things You Can Control
While this concept is related to lesson #2, it can also be applied elsewhere. After losing in the NBA finals this
year, Steph took a lot of heat from the fans, media, and critics for various reasons. But yet, two weeks after the
game 7 loss, Steph was as happy as can be at camp and seemingly focused on the two things everyone has
control over – attitude and effort.
Being in a position like Steph Curry where people feel the need to criticize his every move on and off the court,
there’s a lot of negative things that he has absolutely no control over that he could choose to be worried
about – what is being said about him on social media, his contract with the Warriors, ESPN talking heads, etc.
Instead, Steph focuses on his positive attitude and his effort (constant improvement).
Too often, especially in today’s world of social media, young players are focused on things they have no control
over. They’re worried about player rankings, what schools are recruiting them, what people on Twitter saying about
them, etc.
Instead, players should stop worrying about those things as they have zero control over them, and start focusing
on having a positive attitude and working as hard as they can to improve. If young players do that, everything else
will take care of itself!
Conclusion
There are so many other lessons young players can learn from Steph Curry, but these are the three main lessons
that I was reminded while attending his Under Armour SC30 Select Camp.
I truly believe if young players can learn not to worry about things they have no control over and, instead, spend
that energy on their attitude and effort while constantly working to improve, they will have tremendous
success.
However with success, players must remain humble, or that success will go to their heads, which has ruined many
basketball players and people in general…Stephen Curry not included!
[vc_row bg_color=”#f3f3f3″][vc_column width=”5/12″][vc_single_image image=”9079″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”7/12″ css=”.vc_custom_1518095365361{padding-right: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][ultimate_heading main_heading=”Download the Ultimate Guide to College Basketball Recruiting” alignment=”left”]
Click on the button below, enter your email address and zip code. We’ll send you the PDF of this guide for free.
[/ultimate_heading][contact-form-7 id=”7548″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
