Motivational Story - Small Beginnings can still lead to Great Success!

 

With this week’s piece, it's about an athlete who was hardly noticed in high school, some thought he was physically unimpressive. Passed over by all of the well known college basketball programs, this player would find himself at a small school with a total student population less than 2,000 where he grew and developed his game. For the many that ignored him, today he is a global superstar and one of the faces of the NBA: Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

It was his time spent at little Davidson College in North Carolina and the relationship he forged with his basketball coach, Bob McKillop, that was the birthplace of his brilliance out on the court. “He gave me all the confidence in the world, in terms of what I could be -- in terms of being a man, the balance of on-the-court and off-the-court expectations," Curry said. "He told me when I was a freshman that I had license to shoot any shot I wanted but I'd have to work for it meaning I'd have to put in the time and actually commit to learning on the job and being a good teammate. Even when I failed early in my freshman year, he stayed in my ear because he saw my potential before I did."

During his time at Davidson, his coach would always preach the words “TRUST, COMMITMENT & CARE”… a motto that continues to serve as inspiration for Curry even to this day. So much so, that he actually tattooed those very same words underneath his left wrist in the form of three letters next to his Warriors jersey number. It says: “TCC30”.

When it comes to commitment, Curry has shown you don’t become possibly the greatest shooter in NBA history by accident. He consistently puts up 300 shots after every practice during the season. His pre-game warm-ups have long become must-see events around the NBA with his intricate series of dribbling drills that he’s mastered.

Away from the public’s eye, Curry’s personal trainer has created separate neurological brain training drills designed to improve his hand-eye coordination and decision making speed. For example, Curry sometimes will do his shooting and handling drills wearing a clumsy-looking pair of goggles called the “Eclipse”. He’ll use them to distract his eyes while he dribbles to help build his focus and mind-body connection.

Then there is a FITLIGHT system which sets up a series of tiny disc-shaped lights that can appear anywhere on the court and are cued up to different colors. As Curry navigates the hardwood, he has to respond to each color with a different move and shot. Reacting quickly to the lights improves his decision making speed that goes a long way in helping him react to defenders out on the court. “They don’t count the shot as a make unless Steph reads the lights correctly, too,” his trainer says.

In years past, athletes have long pursued a stronger, better, faster body to achieve their success. The model for tomorrow’s stardom is now leaning toward the player pursuing a stronger, better, faster brain. To back up much of Curry’s new training techniques, Herb Yoo, the former director of innovation at NIKE, once stated: “The eyes are the window to the brain. And the whole idea is to build better vision by building a stronger brain. The better athletes have better visual skills.”

Jim Loria