Martin Nash says he feels good. Getting on in years by the Peter Pan standards of professional soccer, the 34-year-old captain of the Vancouver Whitecaps says he's able to keep up with the younger legs around him, and hopes that he can squeeze a few more seasons out of his body yet.
The carrot is the Whitecaps graduation into the MLS beginning next season. Having grown up when the club was thriving as part of the old NASL; the prospect of being part of soccer's return to prominence in his home province keeps him going.
"I want to be part of the club next year," he said after training Tuesday in advance of the Whitecaps game against Toronto FC at BMO Field Wednesday night in the final leg of the Nutralite Canadian Championship. "I want to play as long as I can because when I'm done I think that will be it, I'm not going to go play in men's leagues and stuff, but I love the game and want to keep playing as long as I can."
Tonight's game is a formality as TFC have secured the title and the berth in the CONCACAF Champions League that comes with it. But Nash was working hard in the hot sun at Lamport Stadium yesterday, training through it with a longer term objective in mind. He's convinced the Whitecaps will be an MLS success story and he wants to be around.
"Seeing what happened here in Toronto and other cities like Seattle, you know it's going to be big in Vancouver, so it would be nice to be part of it," he said. "I've been around since the game was dying out and it's come all the way back, so it'd be nice to be part of it at the end when it's come full circle."
He's been inspired by, and is an inspiration to, his older brother, Steve, a gifted soccer player in his own right and part of the Whitecaps ownership group even as he continues to be Canada's best basketball export, having shown again in the NBA playoffs with the Phoenix Suns that age is not an obstacle to elite performance by completing one of the best seasons of his career at 36 years old.
The brothers compare notes on extending their careers, age aside. "He's huge into fitness too, so we talk about it," said Martin, who has the lean, almost pinched look of someone who studiously watches his carbohydrate intake. "As we get older we talk about it more. He's pretty good at it."
Is Steve fit enough to try his hand at professional soccer when his NBA days are over, a busman's holiday the basketball star has mused about? Is a brotherly reunion on the field in the cards?
"I doubt it," says Martin with a sibling's smiling frankness. "He'll be too old once basketball is over."