NBA star Steph Curry hosts all-girls basketball camp

Just like Steph Curry, seventh-grader Amanda Kerner stood before a big crowd and knocked down shot after shot from five different spots on the court – 20 makes in 2 1/2 minutes, complete with a buzzer-beater.

For one afternoon, Mr. Curry ensured that 200 girls in his camp had as real a chance as possible to try to be a little bit like him, down to the fancy dribbling work and competitive shooting drills he does daily alongside Kevin Durant throughout the season.

Curry went nuts for Amanda's success.

Her summer? Absolutely made.

"It was the best thing in my life that ever happened," the 12-year-old said, recalling her thrilling moment. "He was jumping around afterward. He seemed really excited. He slammed the ball on the floor. He's the best shooter in the world and I want to be like him, so to see him supporting girls, it's really cool."

For the first time, Curry hosted all girls for a free, Golden State Warriors-run camp Monday and Tuesday at Walnut Creek's Ultimate Fieldhouse. Last week at the same facility that he has also chosen in recent years, the Golden State star held his Under Armour "Stephen Curry Select Camp" with two of the nation's top high school girls playing mixed right in with the best boys.

The two-time MVP and father of two young daughters has made it his mission to better support the girls' game. He asked longtime Warriors camp director Jeff Addiego to plan an all-girls session this summer.

That gesture goes a long way with everyone Curry influences as he takes a giving approach off the court in the offseason. After two straight NBA titles and three in four years, Curry easily could be spending more time at home with newborn son, Canon, working on his own skills, or even improving his golf game.

"Anytime you have a guy of Steph's notoriety, his caliber of play, everything that he has going, to take the time to do this and do it for all girls, it just speaks volumes," said Olympic gold medalist and former WNBA star Jennifer Azzi, who coached at the University of San Francisco and is now the NBA's global director of special initiatives.

When someone of Curry's stature insists your shot is top-notch, it means everything.

So imagine how high school players Azzi Fudd and Cameron Brink felt about the high praise when they took part in Curry's select camp as the first young women to ever participate.

"It's really cool that he's saying that because he's definitely one of the best shooters at least in my generation, and I've grown up watching him play," said Azzi, who will be a high school sophomore at St. John's in Washington.

Cameron described herself as "completely humbled."

"I think it's a pretty cool dynamic to have them eager to learn and be around the guys and play and compete and push themselves in this atmosphere," Curry said.

Dell Curry, Curry's father loved watching the girls' success, proud of his son for inviting them.

"He's always trying to make this camp a little better and put a special touch to it, so having the two ladies here really does that," Dell said.

Curry would motion to Cameron to calm down when she was overcome by nerves: playing with boys, shooting a bigger ball, just the anxiety that came with the enormity of this moment.

"It's been surreal," said Cameron's mom, Michelle, who played at Virginia Tech where she met Dell and Sonya Curry, her college roommate.

Curry takes pride in having a Bay Area presence "to reach out to the next generation of basketball players from all different ages, all different skill levels, boys and girls." His two daughters, Riley and Ryan, are impressed with the girls.

"To have an all-girls camp, one for me, it's going to be an eye-opening experience to really truly understand the talent that's out there on the basketball court for the next generation of women that are playing the game," Curry said.

"It's been fun, just enjoying the opportunity. This is still very surreal to have a camp like this knowing that when I was in high school I probably wouldn't have been invited to my own camp, so it's pretty cool."

This story was reported by The Associated Press.