Off the court
Personal lifeNash has a brother, Martin, who plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps and has made 30 appearances for the Canadian national soccer team.[3] He also has a sister, Joann, who was the captain of the University of Victoria women's soccer team for three years and was named one of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association All-Stars.[8][57] Nash is married to his longtime girlfriend, Alejandra Amarilla, whom he met in 2001 in Manhattan. They married in June 2005, and they have twin girls, Lola and Bella, who were born on 14 October 2004.[9]
Nash suffers from a medical condition called spondylolisthesis which causes muscle tightness and back pain. Due to his condition, when he is not in the game, rather than sitting on the bench, he lies on his back to keep his muscles from stiffening.[58]
Charity
In 2001, Nash formed the Steve Nash Foundation. Through grants to public service and nonprofit en ies, the Foundation aims to foster health in kids by funding projects that provide services to children affected by poverty, illness, abuse, or neglect, and create opportunity for education, play, and empowerment. It focuses its resources on communities in Phoenix, Arizona, and British Columbia, Canada. It was given charitable status in 2004.[3] This foundation was awarded the Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy in 2008.[59] Nash also founded the Jim Jennings Memorial Endowment Fund, established in honour of a volunteer staff member at Santa Clara University who served the basketball team for more than 20 years.[11]
Elsewhere, Nash is the sponsor of the Steve Nash Youth Basketball League in British Columbia that has grown over 10,000 participants.[9] He has also become involved with GuluWalk, a Canadian-operated charitable organization that raises awareness and funds for the war-affected children of northern Uganda. In September 2007, Nash and Yao Ming headlined a group of NBA players who travelled to China and played an exhibition game with the Chinese national basketball team. The charity event reportedly raised 2.5 million dollars, earmarked for Chinese children in need.[60] In May 2006, Nash was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In the accompanying write-up by Charles Barkley, Nash was lauded for his unselfishness on the basketball court, and being "just a nice guy" who had paid for a new pediatric cardiology ward in a Paraguayan hospital.[61]
Endorsements
Nash is known to be selective about endorsing products, preferring to work with companies he deems socially responsible. (YEAH....JUST LIKE IVERSON!!) After winning his first MVP award, he was approached to be the spokesperson for numerous products, including MDG Computers, Raymond Weil watches, Vitamin Water, and Clearly Canadian bottled water.[62] He also has a longstanding relationship with Nike.[63] Like fellow NBA stars Yao Ming, Carmelo Anthony, and Greg Oden, Nash is represented by agent Bill Duffy.[64]
Soccer
Nash grew up playing soccer—he stated in a 2005 interview that he could have played professionally if he had focused on it[65]—and continues to hold an interest in the sport. When Dirk Nowitzki arrived in the NBA from Germany, he and Nash became close friends, in part because they enjoyed watching soccer together. Nash is friends with several professional soccer players, including Alessandro Del Piero, Thierry Henry, Owen Hargreaves, Massimo Ambrosini and Steve McManaman.[66] During his off-season, when he lives in New York City, he has trained with the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer,[67] and once tried to arrange a pick-up game in the city's Central Park with the Red Bulls and one of his local teams.[68]
Nash—whose father was born in the Tottenham district of London—is a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter, and has expressed interest in owning a minority stake in the club. "I'd like to be an owner. It's something I could do for the rest of my life after my little window of popularity dies," he said in an interview with The New York Times.[69] Nash added, "I've been a passionate supporter all my life. My parents are from north London and so it's not like I'm some Yank who wants to make a profit out of football. I don't care about making money. I just want to see Spurs succeed and, if I can help, that's great." However, he said any participation in Spurs would come after his basketball career is over, and he has had only "casual contact" with chairman Daniel Levy and former director of football Damien Comolli.[70] Nash has also said that he intends to bring Major League Soccer to Vancouver as early as 2011.[71]
Nash, along with former Yahoo! president and fellow Victoria-native Jeff Mallett, are investors in Women's Professional Soccer, a soccer league that will be launched in April 2009. Nash cited his twin daughters and wanting to have role models for them to look up to as a reason for supporting the league.[72] Nash also co-hosted Showdown in Chinatown in 2008, an 8-on-8 charity soccer game held at Sara D. Roosevelt Park. He scored two goals in his team's 8–5 victory. Participants included Thierry Henry, Jason Kidd, Baron Davis, and Suns teammates Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa.[73]
Other interests
Nash and a Montreal-based partner, Leonard Schlemm, opened the first Steve Nash Sports Club in the spring of 2007 in downtown Vancouver, a high-end, $5-million, 38,500-square-foot (3,580 m2) facility that will mirror Nash's own fitness philosophy.[74]
In 2007, Nash wrote and produced an 81-second commercial for Nike led "Training Day", directed by Julian Schnabel's daughter Lola, which gained popularity as a viral video on YouTube.[75] Nash also started a film production company together with his cousin, filmmaker Ezra Holland, and intends to produce independent films.[75] The first creative effort to come from Meathawk was a 91-second commercial, led "The Sixty Million Dollar Man", for Nike's eco-friendly Trash Talk shoe, the first high-performance shoe to be made—at the behest of the environmentally conscious Nash—from recycled materials. Nash has worn the shoe since February 2008 but Nike produced only 5,000 pairs for sale. The ad which broke virally on Earth Day 2008, was written by Nash and the directors of the spot, Danny Vaia and Ezra Holland. It is a spoof remake of the le sequence of the American television series The Six Million Dollar Man and plays on Nash’s numerous on-court collisions. Amaré Stoudemire and Raja Bell have cameo appearances.[76][77][78]
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Gino is mad that everyone hates him.
