By Stefan Swiat, Suns.com
Posted: Oct. 22, 2009
Ever the host, Steve Nash may not have been able to take his teammates to the home he grew up in Thursday, but he was able to take them to another place personal to him... his health club.
Not just the health club he works out at, but his health club. Nash is the owner and proprietor of Steve Nash Sports Clubs, which consists of two health clubs in Vancouver, British Columbia. One of the clubs is located in downtown Vancouver and the other is located in nearby Richmond.
The concept of owning a signature-athlete club was an idea that Nash inherited from his agent and from Houston's Yao Ming. Yao had already opened a signature-athlete club in Beijing, China and Bill Duffy, both Yao’s and Nash’s agent, thought that it might be something the two-time MVP would be interested in doing.
So Duffy contacted Don Harbich, who had been vital in previously developing signature-athlete clubs with Andre Agassi, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Derek Jeter. Harbich researched the real estate of Vancouver for two years before pinpointing a location.
Nash and Harbich, President and CEO Steve Nash Sports Club, opened a 38,000-square-foot, three-story facility in downtown Vancouver two years ago. It’s a higher-end facility that caters to an executive clientele that includes amenities such as towel service and a complete juice bar.
“Steve is such a big hero in Vancouver that we thought it was good timing,” Harbich said. “We opened this club two years ago and a second club in June of this year and working on a third club. We are working on expanding so we can see the Nash brand continue to grow in Vancouver.”
The second club in Richmond is a 55,000-square-foot facility that possesses an indoor pool, a Jacuzzi and four indoor tennis courts. The gym, which just opened in June, also features a Wall of Fame riddled with Nash gear that adds a personalized touch to it.
Despite the usual slowdown of new memberships that occurs during the summer months, Habich says that the clubs are “doing better than ever.” The downtown club consists of 4,000 members, while the Richmond facility is currently carrying 3,000 faithful.
But Nash’s club wouldn’t have his imprint on it if it wasn’t constructed in an environmentally conscious manner. Not only was the floor made from recycled tires, but the lights are energy efficient.
Due to a technology called the “green revolution,” the stationary bikes in the cycling classes even possess a small generator that takes the energy created from the exercising and transports it to an even larger generator. That larger generator takes that created energy and distributes it back into the rest of the club.
It is an impressive facility, one that drew the praise of his fellow teammates. They all took photos of his name on the signage and especially the blown-up photo of him on the cover of the Wheaties box.
Ever the host, the Suns point guard returned the favor by treating them all to smoothies.
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