Steve Nash

This guy is not a one trick pony. Read the article in today’s New York Times Sports page. During the summer he plays soccer. He plays on different recreation league teams in New York.

Nash spends most of the year running the point for the Phoenix Suns, but in the off-season, he can be found playing soccer in rec leagues in New York. “It’s better for me than just running lines,” he said. “I don’t want to play a lot of basketball until September’s over or I’ll burn myself out. I just shoot, work out and play soccer.”

I think there is a real message here that reinforces what many of us have been preaching; it is about having a base of athleticism and movement skills. He grew up in Victoria, Canada playing a wide array of sports. He probably played more soccer than basketball in his youth. His brother is a National team player for Canada. When I first saw Steve Nash he was a junior in high school at a private school in Victoria. I was the conditioning coach for the Canadian National Basketball team at the time. Ken Shields, the head coach invited him over to an evening practice and scrimmage with the National team at Mount Douglas high school. He was not as tall and physically mature as he is now but clearly you could see the potential and the athleticism. From then on he polished and honed his basketball skills, but never forgot the athletic base. In testing during my time with the Canadian team, through 1994 he was by far the fittest player as measured on the Leger Beep test. Today it is cool to want to be like Steve, but I am not sure everyone understands what he has done to get to where he is today.