If you have watched one minute of the NBA regular season this year, you will have heard of the Golden State Warriors. You know, the team with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson? Yeah, those guys who just broke the NBA record for wins during regular season play. By winning against the Memphis Grizzlies on Apr. 13, 2016, the Warriors set a new record for games won in the regular season. In professional sports, records are set and passed all the time. However, this one is no ordinary feat. The Warriors won 73 and only lost nine out of the 82 games that they played this year, edging out the 1995-1996 Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, as (arguably) the greatest NBA team ever. This is not just an important event for sports fans, but for everyone.
Fans, players, and coaches all thought that it could not be done. Even the Warriors own coach, Steve Kerr, was unsure if they would be able to break it, “I just told our guys I never in a million years would have guessed that record would ever be broken.” Coincidentally, Kerr was a part of that 1995-1996 Bulls team. Time and time again, they were told that it cannot be done. The players heard all of the criticism they received, but instead of allowing it to drag them down, this became their fuel to keep winning. Their success is not an accident, but a choice to pursue greatness. The Warriors work harder than any other team in the league to win games and play to their full potential. The player with the best work ethic out of all of them is Stephen Curry.
Stephen Curry’s family has a history in the NBA. His father, Dell Curry, is the all-time points and three-point field goals leader for the Charlotte Hornets. As a child, Curry always looked up to his father and aspired to be like him. For a long time he was unsure if that was possible. Curry was not like the other children he played basketball against. He was small for his age and was not as strong as the other kids, which meant that he could not shoot as well as them. As a result, Curry spent hours in the gym and on the court to become stronger. According to his former coaches, Curry was meticulous. He began practicing at least 30 minutes before everyone else and would often stay hours after the workouts had ended.
His hard work paid off in high school, going undefeated in one of his high school seasons. When college recruiting came around it was a different story. Curry was often overlooked because of his slender stature. Coaches did not think he would be able to handle the physicality of playing at big schools. Curry signed at Davidson College, which was not a big school but saw his potential. In Curry’s sophomore season, he helped lead Davidson in an incredible NCAA tournament run, in which they beat Gonzaga, Georgetown, Wisconsin, and almost beating Kansas. Although he was gaining strength and experience, his troubles were not over.
At the beginning of his NBA career, Curry’s ankles began to fail him. In the 2011-2012 season, Curry played only 26 games and sprained his ankle five times. This was a big obstacle for Curry, one he knew that he could overcome. A trainer helped him develop a rigorous exercise routine to strength his core and lower body, so that he could rely less on his ankles. Curry was relentless about improving his game. As team mate Klay Thompson has said, “The man was always in the gym. Steph just stuck with the routine. He works on his body just as much as he works on his jump shot.” Again, his hard work has paid off by taking the Championship in the 2015 NBA finals, winning 2015 MVP, and now winning 73 games in the 2015-2016 season.
The moral of this story is that like Stephen Curry, you should never let anyone or anything get in the way of what you want to accomplish. Success is not an accident; there is no luck involved either. It takes years of hard work, persistence, and determination. Imagine if you could be a little bit more like Stephen Curry, what would you achieve?
"Make sure you live in the moment and work your butt off every single day, and I hope I inspire people all around the world to just be themselves, be humble, and be grateful for all the blessings in your life." -Stephen Curry
