Can children inherit sports genes from their parents? The Curry family makes a strong case. After establishing an NBA career as a player that spanned for over 16 years, Dell Curry saw his two sons, Stephen Curry and Seth, leave their mark on the sport. The Golden State Warriors star has now seen that athletic prowess emerging in his eldest daughter Riley, who has developed a passion for volleyball. However, that isn’t the only thing that the 12-year-old seems to have inherited from her father.

In an insightful conversation with Klay Thompson and his father Mychal, Steph’s mother, Sonya, elaborated more on Riley’s interest in sports in her podcast Raising Fame. Sonya said that her granddaughter is currently in an explorative phase. In this regard, she shared a story about when the Curry family was returning back from an All-Star Game, all tired.

“Steph’s sitting across. I mean I go ‘Ok, what do they say about Riley at school?’ And he goes ‘Well, she has a … what is that personality type? It was like…. not dominant, it was like a very…. it was really cute, the way he said it” said Sonya, attempting to recall the incident. “Maybe independent, dominant. Idk, it was something, you know, along the lines of ‘Don’t have to worry about her.’”

This clearly displayed Steph’s confidence in his daughter. He was indicating that despite going through challenges, Riley was more than capable to take care of herself. In fact, the proud dad said last year that he’s “introduced pretty much every sport to his children.” He noted that Riley’s excited about playing volleyball. Now, the teen can’t get enough of it, reportedly heading off to practice almost every day and dribbling, passing the ball around the house. “To see that light bulb go off and that level of focus, that you see a little bit of yourself in,” he said. “And trying to encourage that as much as possible.”

If there is anyone who knows about being independent and dominant, then it’s Stephen Curry. In fact, a perfect example can arrive from his recent stint at the 2024 Paris Olympics, especially his performance against Serbia during the Semi-Finals. With Team USA struggling even by the final quarter, Curry took charge and dropped an all-high score of 36 points by going 12-19 with his field goals and 9-14 with his free throws.

Riley’s continuous presence in the public spotlight has certainly shown that she can well be a replica of her father. However, if it was up to her mother, she would have maybe made some changes when presenting her eldest to the world.

In May 2023, Ayesha Curry told Insider one of her biggest worries about parenting. She was worried about introducing Riley to the public eye too early. Riley their parenting test, teaching them the do’s and don’ts. The Currys also had to be careful in handling their daughter’s public image, which Ayesha now feels could have been done better.

“When the social media thing started, nobody knew what that was going to become” she said. “If we had known back in the day just how chaotic it would make life, I don’t think we would’ve done it… But we were just genuinely living our lives back then. And we thought, ‘This is our kid. We’re bringing our kid along.’”

Fortunately, Ayesha and Steph have a learnt a lot from the challenges and are their three younger children accordingly. Furthermore, if Steph’s words are to be believed, then we “don’t have to worry” about Riley’s public image.