As the basketball community reminisces about the career of the best basketball player ever to come out of Canada, Ottawa Fury FC assistant coach Martin Nash is just proud of his big brother.

Like so many fans of the game, Martin has been continually impressed with what Steve Nash was able to accomplish during a 19-year NBA career that saw him named an all-star eight times and win the league MVP award twice before officially announcing his retirement this week.

But Martin Nash -- who retired in 2010 from a successful professional soccer career that included 188 games with the Vancouver Whitecaps and 38 Canadian National Team appearances -- has a unique perspective having gone head-to-head with Steve growing up in pretty much every sport you can think of. Still, he doesn't remember a specific moment when it dawned on him that Steve was going to be big, just that he was always a talented athlete. So was Martin and, because they were only a grade apart in school, the two moved through the ranks of junior high and high school athletics together.

"I think naively we both thought we'd be professional athletes from a young age," Martin said as Fury practice wrapped up Wednesday. "Whatever sport we played, baseball, hockey, basketball -- we played them all -- we were always the best in our age group, we stood out from the rest.

"I think in a way, (with Steve) it was always, what sport is it going to be? He got into basketball around grade eight. That was his passion."

Though they would winding up choosing different sports as careers, Steve was also a talented soccer player and Martin could handle himself on the basketball court. They had some heated battles, but they seldom devolved into actual fights.

"There was never really any fights because once they started, I ran," Martin said with a chuckle. "He always had five or six inches on me. I wasn't stupid enough to get into a fight with him."

But the two were competitive with each other, as brothers usually are.

"I always fond a way to be competitive with him," Martin said. "In basketball, I was such a good shooter I'd just shoot deep shots instead of going to the basket against him. I'd find ways to compete against him and if I ever started winning it would really frustrate him. We had our moments."

The two have always been close, though they were rarely in the same place as Steve's career took him to Dallas, Phoenix and eventually Los Angeles, while Martin's soccer career took him "all over the place." Having been through retirement as a player himself, Martin can appreciate needing time for his brother to figure out what the next step of his career is going to be. But even without a championship ring, Martin doesn't believe Steve has any regrets.

"He's done extremely well," he said. "He's a great athlete. Yeah, he's not the fastest or the tallest but he made up for those shortcomings with hard work and understanding what he needed to improve on. I'm extremely proud of him.

"At the end of the day I think he can look back at his career and be proud of what he's accomplished, be content and move on."

Will Martin be giving his brother any post-playing days advice?

"It's really up to the person, you can kind of give them guidance but you have to find something you're passionate about," he said. "Whatever he does, I think he's going to be great at it, he'll work hard to make himself great at it.

"It's going to be interesting to see what the next chapter of his life brings."

SEASON APPROACHING FOR FURY

It's almost go-time for Ottawa Fury FC.

The second-year North American Soccer League club has just one pre-season friendly left - Saturday in Syracuse - before heading to North Carolina for a final tune-up game and then the season-opener April 4 against the Carolina RailHawks.

With the regular season so close, the tempo has steadily increased this week at training, with head coach Marc Dos Santos kicking off Wednesday's session with an impassioned speech about having to suffer in order to be successful. He said, in the dog days of camp, players can sometimes lose focus, though Dos Santos has loved the focus of his players to date.

"Their mentality has been fantastic and you never want them to get away from it," Dos Santos said. "We've been doing well in exhibition games and in camp and when you feel it could get in an area of getting complacent you have to remind them. You have to keep them alert."

The club remains without captain Richie Ryan and midfielder Mauro Eustaquio as both rehab injuries, though Ryan is close to resuming training with the full squad.

Twitter: @chrishofley