“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. Almost a decade after he made those comments, the Golden State Warriors star continues doing his part to promote sports amongst the youth. By partnering up with the Oakland Athletic League (OAL), Curry, with the support of his Eat. Learn. Play Foundation, Under Armour, and Curry Brand have already increased middle-school sports participation by 300% in Oakland by providing essential resources and support. Now, the NBA star looks to expand his reach in spreading the message of Youth Sports by partnering up with one of the biggest names in the sports industry.

ESPN recently announced the Athlete Ambassadors selected to represent their Youth Sports initiative, ‘Take Back Sports’. Stephen Curry is one of only 2 NBA players (the other being the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić) to be selected! The official page of the ‘Eat.Learn.Play’ Foundation highlighted the news, emphasizing the importance that Curry places on empowering the youth of today.

“Ensuring kids have access to quality sports that helps them gain lifelong skills is one of my top priorities at the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation,” said Stephen Curry in response to his new partnership with the multiplatform sports media company. “I’m excited to team up with ESPN on Take Back Sports because we’re united in the mission to help kids thrive through the transformative power of sports.”

The other big-name athletes that will serve as ambassadors reportedly include WNBA’s Natasha Cloud and A’ja Wilson. Eli Manning and Peyton Manning will be the representatives from the NFL, along with three players from the Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers, and Derrick Henry.

As highlighted by Eat.Learn.Play Foundation’s official website, a series of vignettes featuring the athlete ambassadors, was set to air across ESPN’s platforms beginning on Monday, Aug. 4th. Through that, the ambassadors highlighted the critical issues in youth sports, including the importance of community rec leagues, quality coaching, multisport play, and simply having fun. The vignettes are also featured on TakeBackSports.org.

‘Take Back Sports’ was announced back in March at the Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit. The main target of the initiative is to address critical challenges in the youth sports landscape and aid the 63X30 committee, which aims to get 63% of kids playing sports by 2030.

Thanks to the work he has done alongside his foundation and Under Armour, Stephen Curry is already well-experienced in this field. He would know the talking points and what further he can do to help ESPN. Plus, as Magic Johnson once said, “kids love Steph Curry… they love how he shoots the basketball, but also how he carries himself.” Therefore, just his presence would be enough to motivate aspiring athletes.

Stephen Curry is certainly a big man to help out ESPN. After all, as NBA fans might be well aware, the network hasn’t always been good to the NBA star. In fact, at one point, the criticism got so bad that it brought down the 3-point leader’s cool demeanour.

Stephen Curry Once Trolled ESPN For Disrespectful Prediction: “14% chance….last year too”

Being one of the most popular sports networks, ESPN also gets the most disrespect over some takes that not many people agree with. The criticism is not only from fans, but players, too. From Giannis Antetokounmpo claiming that “I’m tired of walking in the facility and tune in to First Take”, to Jaylen Brown asking famed sportscaster Stephen A. Smith to “State Your Source”, ESPN continued getting flak from the NBA world. Even Stephen Curry, who usually stays reserved about handing out criticism, had to react after a bizarre stat came out.

Back in September 2022, ESPN released its win prediction model for the 2022-23 season on Instagram. It was projected that the Golden State Warriors would finish 8th in the Western Conference. Soon, Curry reacted to the post by taking to the comments section and writing, “14% chance to win the Finals last year too”. Yikes!

Well, of course, Curry and the Warriors stood on the high ground at that time. After all, it was only a few months ago when Curry won his 4th championship title after a 2-year period during which they didn’t even qualify for the playoffs! Therefore, in the absence of another word, the 3-point leader was a bit ‘cocky’. However, as it turned out, the prediction was a little off the mark but not completely false. The Warriors ended the 2022-23 regular season as the 6th seed on the Western Conference table. On top of that, they only made the Western Conference Semi-Finals, since they were defeated 4-2 by the Los Angeles Lakers.

That tweet was just one part of the problem. Fans might still remember how Andre Iguodala once said the media hates Steph for no reason, ESPN denied it, and then, a day later, posted a video on YouTube titled “Steph Curry’s history of falling short in clutch playoff moments | NBA on ESPN”. Well, given the memorable work that Curry is doing for them now, one can hope that ESPN cuts him some slack the next time around.