Lakers' Nash to try out for Inter Milan soccer team
Posted Jul 26, 2013 4:42 PM - Updated Jul 26, 2013 6:09 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Steve Nash is going to try to become a soccer player again, if only momentarily.
The Los Angeles Lakers guard and two-time NBA MVP will have a tryout of sorts Tuesday with Inter Milan, just before the team opens play in the Guinness International Champions Cup tournament that's coming to the U.S. starting next week. The tournament pits eight club teams from around the world, with a winner to be crowned in Miami on Aug. 7.
"It's a dream come true to get a chance to try out, not just to try out but to take the field with Inter Milan, one of the great, storied franchises in professional sports," Nash said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I feel like a little kid."
Tournament officials said the tryout will take place in New Jersey, two days before Inter Milan opens the Guinness event in Indianapolis against Chelsea. And Nash expects to be feeling a fairly ramped-up level of nervousness when he laces up his cleats for that training session.
"It's going to be a lot higher than it is playing basketball, for sure," Nash said. "I still get nervous for basketball games from time to time. When I get out on the court, I don't get nervous, but before. To go out there with guys that I look up to and watch play, it's definitely going to raise the nerves. I'll be really nervous and really excited."
Nash played soccer and hockey as a child before starting his basketball career as an eighth-grader. He remains an avid soccer fan and is part of the ownership group for the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.
Nash said he's working his way back to being 100 percent physically. His first season with the Lakers was an injury-filled one, where he was limited to 50 games because of a broken left leg and a strained right hamstring.