How Steve Nash Kick-Started My Hockey Business

I’m a bit of a sports junkie. I’m not one of those types who enters every sports pool or knows every statistic on every player and every league. But, I do enjoy watching most sports. This time of year is perhaps one of my favourite as hockey playoffs approach and March Madness is in full swing. Though the two sports that I most love, hockey and basketball, are very different, for me, they’ve played a pivotal role in developing my online start-up business.

For two straight years, I went with my father to watch the exploits of this kid play in the annual high school all-star basketball game. First, this kid was in grade eleven playing against the grade twelves. Then, the following year, we watched him play as a senior. This kid was creating quite a name for himself in the local basketball scene because he was touted as a can’t miss blue chip recruit for some lucky college program. Most fans in attendance watching this kid outplay all his peers knew they were watching something, and someone, very special.

The only problem was, despite being in daily local news, no one of note from NCAA D1 basketball bothered to find out anything about this phenomenal talent. The only school to recruit him was Santa Clara University in California. The story goes that the coach at Santa Clara who happened to watch a video of a kid ‘breaking ankles’ with his dribbling skills laughed so hard that other coaches on his staff had to ask him what, or who, was he watching. He was watching Steve Nash, the eventual two-time NBA MVP. The rest as they say, is history.

So what does Steve Nash have to do with hockey? I played many sports growing up as a kid. I was fortunate enough to make a few baseball and basketball all-star teams and as a result, ended up playing with some really talented athletes – much more talented than I. Some of these teammates of mine got offered scholarships to continue playing at the college level. But there were other teammates of mine who were just as skilled or maybe even more skilled but didn’t get to play college. I always wondered why. It dawned on me that just like Steve Nash, many talented kids were not in the right place at the right time, meeting the right person who would believe in them, take a chance, and sign them.

Leading up to the ncaa tournament bracket, Nash was featured in Sports Illustrated dribbling tennis balls around Santa Clara’s campus, just a way to stay sharp. In his senior year, he led the Broncos to the sweet sixteen and his rise to prominence began. The rest as they say is history.

Nash’s underdog story has always resonated with me on a personal level. I come from the same hometown as he does, I played basketball in the same high school gym he played in and just like Steve and many of my childhood friends who got overlooked, I could only imagine how helpless they must have felt during those times of recruiting rejections. There was no sophisticated recruiting software back then for scouts and coaches to instantly view a prospect, just video tapes. There was no Youtube video clips, no email, and no internet to make direct contact with interested basketball and hockey programs to send an online player profile to. So I used Steve’s story as the genesis of my hockey recruiting and hockey scouting service to help those who wanted to get noticed but weren’t. Now, hockey players through my hockey recruiting and hockey scouting site can get noticed online.
It is a bit odd that a basketball player inspired my hockey business, but, in the end, I think many of us are inspired by people who are different than us for reasons we can admire and learn from. So why not learn from one of the all time best. Thanks Steve!


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Keywords: recruiting software, hockey, hockey recruiting and hockey scouting

By: PuckProspect

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