PRESS COVERAGE: STEVE NASH

by E. Spencer Kyte, Bugs and Cranks

Welcome to the initial installment of Press Coverage.

If you're tired of hearing about athletes getting in trouble, doing dirt or just doing nothing with their fame and fortune, you'll like Press Coverage. Every week, we'll turn the spotlight on an athlete whose story is worth telling; someone who has overcome adversity and is making a difference. Yes, it does happen. We're here to tell you about it.

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You see the no-look passes on SportsCenter. You saw the back-to-back MVP Trophies. Steve Nash is so much more than that. As they say on MTV Diary, "You think you know? You have no idea..."

This is Press Coverage: Steve Nash.

What would you say if I told you that when the boy who would become a two-time NBA MVP and one of the best point guards in NBA History was a high school senior not a single school in the NCAA had an interested in giving him a scholarship? That's what happens when you're from Canada.

Today, anyone with a basketball jones knows the names of the top high school seniors across the United States and probably some of the juniors too. You can thank LeBron for that. It's never been that way in Canada though, where even though he averaged close to a triple-double during his senior season, it took his coach sending out inquiry letters and later video tape to get that one school interested enough to come look at Steve Nash.

Eleven seasons after being the 15th Overall Selection in the 1996 NBA Draft, the way Steve Nash plays the game deserves even more recognition than his two MVP Trophies afford. In a league dominated by guys looking for their own shot, Nash's primary objective is giving up the ball. Nash doesn't demand to be surrounded with better players, he makes the players around him better. Why do you think Kevin Garnett lobbied real hard to get shipped off to the desert? In a selfish game where Zach Randolph took a shot last night in NYC while being triple teamed, Captain Canada kicks out of double teams and makes the extra pass.

Oh yeah - his whole laying on the ground when he's not in the game isn't Nash being different or not wanting to join his teammates on the bench. The man who has averaged 2500 Minutes Played during his career suffers from a spinal condition called spondylolisthesis and laying supine as he does is the only way he can stay loose. Just thought you should know...

But this isn't just about the on court exploits of Steve Nash. While they are more than formidable, it's who Steve Nash is off the court that makes him all that more worthy of some Press Coverage.

In 2006, he was selected as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

The Steve Nash Foundation, formed in 2001, focuses on the future of our world - kids - and giving them every opportunity to be healthy, get a good education and live in an environment that fosters their development and well-being.

There is the Steve Nash Youth Basketball League which boasts over 10,000 participants, the Jim Jennings Memorial Endowment Fund he created in honour of a volunteer from Santa Clara who spent 20 years working with the school's basketball team and his involvement in with the Gulu Walk, a Canadian Organization that seeks to raise awareness and funds for the children of war-torn Uganda.

The married father of twins also financed a new pediatric care ward for a hospital in Paraguay where his wife Alejandra is from and he's not afraid to speak his mind on things, including sporting a t-shirt reading "No War - Shoot Baskets Not People" at the 2003 All-Star Game.

I started this Foundation because I really felt the need to try to help people.
As a professional athlete, you are in a position and given the opportunity to
really have an impact on more than just your immediate surroundings.

The 33-year-old Nash has certainly made an impact, both on the court and in the world. This past Friday, the man known in the basketball world as "Captain Canada" was announced as a recipient of The Order of Canada, the highest honour a civilian can receive in this country.

This is what we need to report on. These are the stories that need to be told and the lives that need to be looked at. This is worthy of Press Coverage...