“If you don’t have the proper fundamentals going into competition, and especially as competition gets tougher and tougher with every level that you graduate to, it’s a huge disadvantage,” said Stephen Curry when emphasizing his reason for focusing on youth basketball. These comments were made by the NBA star almost a decade ago. And yet, even now, he has not wavered from supporting the young and aspiring players of today. This is why, since 2018, the Warriors star has been holding his very own Curry camp. A platform through which he could personally guide young stars and, judging from his recent comments, bring a change to how certain aspects of basketball are perceived.

Stephen Curry was willing to talk with some reporters during the busy ‘Curry Camp’. During the Q&A session, one reporter asked the Warriors star about how differently he is working in regards to conditioning and reading, reacting through the usage of different color tennis balls for dribbling, etc. Curry explained that he is focusing on the details of ball handling and overloading the neurological system to be able to make decisions while processing a lot of information. That, according to him, would focus on the idea of what good basketball is.

“Like some of the stuff that we teach to that no dribble competitive stuff is to be able to translate, no matter what team you’re on, or what the playing style is. Like, you know, what good basketball is. At the high school level, it’s interesting cuz usually when you’re the most athletic, physically dominant like skill isn’t really important. You can kind of get by. But as that filter goes through in college and the highest levels of college, the pros like all that stuff matters, and can you know balance both of those?” said Curry. “So we try to again overload them with so much information, but you know, to your point, expose them on the details of how to work and how to get better that are going to be relevant to being a pro.”

Whether you are an NBA player, an F1 driver, or any other kind of athlete, you have to deal with a lot of information when playing. For a professional basketball player, everything from their movements to their teammates’ positions, the opponent’s positioning, and the plays being implemented by the rival team has to be kept in check. Anyone can be a good player by practicing enough. To be great, however, you have to learn to focus while distractions and new information are thrown at you from every direction.

‘Overloading the nervous system’ is something Stephen Curry did as part of his earlier training regime. His trainer, Brandon Payne, according to a 2016 ‘The Cut’ article, believed that if you have a tennis ball in one hand and a basketball in the other, and the tennis ball is being tossed back and forth at different angles with a trainer while maintaining a steady dribble with the other hand, that is an overload. Later, Payne would add a footwork element so that the drill is on the move instead of being stationary.

“We overload our sensory system, nervous system, in our training with different lights,” Curry explained. “There are little beams that we have on the wall, and I’ll be doing dribble moves and reading the lights that are associated with different moves”.

Almost a decade later, Curry is using those same teachings and passing them down to the next generation of basketball players. If all goes well, then who knows? Perhaps Azzi Fudd might become the next Stephen Curry.

Azzi Fudd adjusts well to ‘Overloading’ at Curry Camp

Amongst the attendees on Day 1 of ‘Curry Camp’ was none other than Azzi Fudd herself. The UConn Huskies star, and girlfriend of No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers, has been priming herself to make an entry into the WNBA by next year. She is already considered a top prospect and would most likely be a first-round pick in the WNBA draft. Through her final year at UConn, however, she can play at an improved level to ensure she ranks higher as a draft pick. Curry is helping her out with that.

Stephen Curry recently took to his official Instagram account to feature some highlights from ‘Curry camp’. Amongst them was a clip of Azzi Fudd participating in a workout that had her dribbling the ball and then passing it with one hand to the person in front of her. It was an exercise that had the player doing multiple things and looking to not break the flow.

Stephen Curry has often served as a hype man for the college player. In fact, the Warriors star and his team of trainers and medical professionals once offered to help Azzi Fudd’s recovery after she sustained a right anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus. Fudd appreciated the help she got from the NBA 3-point leader, as she stated that “Not even just from this rehab standpoint, Steph has been such an amazing resource. It kind of just goes to show the kind of person he is”. Later, Curry even gave Fudd a shoutout when the latter announced launching her own podcast. Given the importance that Curry gives her, it is no surprise that he chose to build up her basketball skills by overloading her with information.

Day 1 of Curry Camp has already shown the NBA star’s ambitious plans for the players. What more will he have to teach them in the coming days remains to be seen.

Food for thought: This isn’t a new gimmick for Stephen Curry. It’s a deep-seated philosophy. The fact that he was already talking about “neurocognitive efficiency” and overloading his nervous system back in 2016, and is now teaching those exact same principles at his camp, says everything. This isn’t just a clinic about shooting. It’s a fundamental lesson in how to process the game at an elite level. What Curry is doing with players like Azzi Fudd solidifies his legacy as a basketball innovator, not just a shooter, by giving the next generation the same tools he used to change the game. More importantly, if this philosophy gains traction, we might even see a new generation of athletes who are trained from an early age to process information and make quick decisions, leading to a more cerebral and skilled style of play across the board.