Rumors circulated, as they often do in middle schools, at Visitacion Valley Middle School, as students proclaimed to their friends, “Steph Curry is here!”
Unfortunately for these tweens, it wasn’t Curry. But you could do worse than the Warrior who did show up: Curry’s famous coach, Steve Kerr, was making an appearance at Viz Valley on a sunny Tuesday.
About a hundred employees of the Warriors franchise — which encompasses the Golden State Warriors, the Golden State Valkyries and the Santa Cruz Warriors — were at the middle school for a community service project. Kerr, tall and greying, sporting a black polo shirt, was led around campus by principal Maya Baker to see some of the volunteers’ work at the site. Baker said she hoped her students would take away the understanding that community service isn’t a punishment.
Viz Valley, a middle school serving about 300 students, was one of three schools tabbed for Golden State’s 14th All Hands Helping Hands event, in which 450 employees volunteered. San Francisco’s James Lick Middle School and Destiny Arts Center in Oakland each got some of the volunteers, though Steph Curry didn’t make it to them, either.
At Viz Valley, the Warriors volunteers made benches and picnic tables, cleaned up a courtyard, and built two little free libraries stocked with books. It didn’t take long for some students to find the benches and perch on them, perhaps hoping for basketball stars to show up.
Recently, Viz Valley completed a grant-funded project to overhaul its outdoor space. The school has converted a blacktop with one basketball court, built by the Warriors volunteers the last time they were there in 2010, into a multipurpose space. Kerr complimented the makeover and Baker told him: “You should’ve seen it last year.”
Now there’s a small field with a track around it, a parkour area, grills, outdoor seating and an area with lemon and lime trees. Many of the projects undertaken this year by the volunteers will add to this newly renovated space.
“I’m excited about the little libraries in the yard,” Baker said. “I mean, not when it’s this windy, but now we have a place where kids can just get a book and sit out and read.”
At the end of their work, a crowd of volunteers gathered for a pep talk. “Some years we’re going to be really good, and then some years, like last year, are going to be a little rough,” Kerr told them. “But through it all, we want to maintain our position. What we really are trying to do is not just win games, but to really impact people and bring joy to people’s lives through basketball, but also through a lot of community work.”
“You will never forget us because we are incredibly special,” Baker said to the volunteers. “We are small but mighty. And our kids will never forget this.”
After lunch, when the rumors had started about Curry, some students were invited by Baker to come meet Kerr. Some kids held their hands to their mouths and gasped at the former basketball player, before promptly asking for a photo.
“Steph Curry is my cousin,” one student informed Kerr.
