Steph Curry, Dads, and the Unique Influence of a Normal Person

Before he became a legend, basketball fans were drawn to Steph Curry because he seemed normal. He wasn’t a seven-footer. He couldn’t jump through the roof. He didn’t seem to have muscles popping out of his muscles. He seemed… normal. Here is how Kirk Goldsberry described him back in 2013:

“The first reason I like Steph Curry is that he’s a relatively normally sized human being who has figured out a way to become an NBA superstar. When you look at guys like Dwight Howard, LeBron James, or Dirk Nowitzki, it’s easy to see why they might be incredible basketball players. Stephen Curry doesn’t look like those guys; someone with his exact figure could walk into any pickup gym in America and few people would notice.”

He was so normal that, based on his size and physical profile, that Time Magazine called him “a guy who wouldn’t look out of place at a YMCA pickup game.” And you might think that being normal would make Steph less influential. Aren’t the most influential people the ones who stand out from the crowd? The richest? The most attractive? The coolest? The smartest? Or, in basketball, the giant athletes that seem to fly?

Actually… no.

No one has had more influence on the next generation of young basketball players that Steph Curry. Millions of kids are now trying to make shots from long-distance and they are shooting them all the time. You can find articles online with titles like, “How Steph Curry Ruined My Son's 4th Grade Basketball Team.” The theme of articles like that is that all the kids want to be like Steph so much that they just shoot three-pointers all the time. The kids all think that they can (and should) do what Steph does because they are normal… and so is Steph. He has modeled for them what a normal person can do to be amazing. Years ago, Curry explained this to Time Magazine, saying,

“Some of the stuff I do on the court is what most people think they can do… You see a guy… take off on a fast break, he rises for a tomahawk dunk. I know I can’t do that. Most people can’t. Shooting the ball is a part of the game. Everyone can shoot their own way. Not everybody can make. But everybody can shoot.”

So what does all this have to do with dads and discipleship? Well, here it is: you are probably a pretty normal person. I know that I am. Sure, we have talents, but we are not virtuosos, but—as one of my former teachers would say—we are virtu-so-sos. And that is actually a good thing because when our kids see our lives, they know that they can be like us.

When you read the Bible and pray with your family, your kids see that. And they know that they can do that too. They don’t need to be seminary-trained. They don’t need to be pastors. They just need to be… normal.

When you prioritize church and serving others, your kids see that. And they know that they can do that too. They don’t need to be super-Christians. They don’t need to be vocational missionaries. They just need to be… normal.

Paul told the normal people in Colossae to: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

When you forgive. When you confess. When you study the Bible. When you sing praise. Your kids see that. And they don’t think of your actions like an impossibly high-flying dunk that only a few gifted people can do. They think of your actions like shooting. And as Steph said, “Everybody can shoot.”