news
RSS Feeds
March 3, 2008
Going green is a work in progress: NBA star Nash
Kerry Gold
For bchydro.com
NBA superstar Steve Nash isn’t the kind of guy to take his role as Team Power Smart captain lightly. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to take any responsibility or challenge lightly.
The best Canadian basketball player ever is not the most physically obvious NBA star – it’s an unrivalled passion, enthusiasm and drive that got him there. Nash has said that it’s his quest to be inspired when he gets up in the morning that drives him to take on new challenges.
“Being power smart to me, the most important thing is about being smart,” says Nash, who has won two NBA Most Valuable Player awards with the Phoenix Suns. “So many of us have no idea that the little ways we can change our lifestyle have a huge effect – a ripple effect – in our community, and for natural resources, eliminating our eco-footprint.
“For me, it’s really exciting to learn different ways to spread intelligent aspects of conserving energy.”
It’s that attitude that drives Nash’s charity and humanitarian work, as well as his effort to ensure that his Granville Mall fitness club – the Steve Nash Sports Club – attempts to be as green as possible. The club buys local and uses recycled materials, energy efficient equipment, and green cleaning products.
“The goal is to be green,” says the Victoria, B.C. product. “I think that it’s a work in progress because we’re at a time right now where we can have green, sustainable, recyclable materials to build a gym. But at the same time, we’re still learning about technology that can be used in different ways to conserve energy.
“What’s important is to set an example and go out and educate ourselves about the process and not turn a blind eye to conserving energy.”
To the world at large, 34-year-old Nash is the point guard from Canada who is a two-time MVP, an NBA status also conferred upon Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Nash’s buddy, former Dallas Mavericks teammate Dirk Nowitzki.
Nash’s athletic family had relocated to Canada from South Africa, where his father was a professional soccer player. Nash himself started out in soccer, which he has said taught him footwork and coordination.
Wanting to play with friends, he started to play basketball at 13. His coach’s exhaustive efforts to draw American recruiters’ attention to Nash’s talent eventually led to a scholarship at Santa Clara University. By 1996, he was drafted to the NBA – a dream fulfilled.
“I decided in high school I wanted to play in the NBA. It wasn’t brilliant at first, but I felt the goals were out there and I just kept going for the next one,” he said in a Charlie Rose TV interview.
“I was motivated by people telling me I couldn’t do things – but not to spite them – because I love the challenge. I knew I could do this, and I loved having the energy of wanting to overcome.”
Nash is considered a brilliant player, and a bit of an enigma in the world of sport. On and off the court, he clearly takes a contemplative and holistic approach to doing things right.
His agent Bill Duffy told a New York Times reporter last fall that Nash “is all about the flow.”
In the Rose interview, Nash himself put it this way: “Learn your lessons. If you make a mistake or something worked for you, that’s got to go in your memory bank so that next time you are equipped to deal with the situation. When you’re playing, take note of everything that happens.
“You do this for the journey and the highs and the lows, and everything in between. Try to embrace it all.”
Related links:
Kerry Gold is a Vancouver-based freelance writer who spent a decade covering music for the Vancouver Sun
