By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

In his 19 years as a head coach, Craig Foreman has seen some talented players.

None, though, have been quite like Julia Nash.

The Kent Roosevelt senior point guard has the ability to impact games in just about every way imaginable, but her most mesmerizing skill comes from her court vision and the passes that emerge from seeing the floor like none other.

It is a trait that has been with her since she began playing sports.

“My mom tells the story about when I first started playing soccer,” Nash said. “I was in Kindergarten and my coach came up to her after a few practices and commented about how I really see the field well. Being so little, I never thought anything of it. I was just a kid playing soccer, but I guess that part of me has always been there.”

Yes, it has.

The numbers back it up, too.

Nash enters her senior season already as Roosevelt’s career assists leader with 223. All of which have helped the Rough Riders along the way, but they also equate to 223 smiling moments for Nash.

“Honestly, I get more enjoyment watching my teammates score than when I score,” Nash said. “I love having that kind of impact on the game.”

Throughout Nash’s middle-school career, she was required to be her team’s primary scorer and it was not unusual for her to account for nearly all of her team’s output.

When she arrived at the high school as a freshman and earned a spot in the varsity rotation, Nash did not prioritize scoring as much, partly because she was trying to gain her confidence while playing alongside upperclassmen and partly because it was not what the team needed at that time.

She settled into the role of being a floor general and doing all of the little things that complemented her team.

“Playing that way, letting the game come to me in that way, just came more naturally when I was a freshman,” Nash said.

Sometimes it was a simple pass to set up her teammate, then other times it was a dazzling pass that forced the entire gymnasium to take notice.

One of those, “Did you see that?” moments.

They have followed her throughout her career.

“Julia is one of those special players,” Foreman said. “She can do all of the fundamental stuff, all the fancy stuff and all of the stuff in between. She is a great player in that way. She is, by far, the purest point guard I have ever coached.

“Early in her career, there were times she would see plays two or three steps ahead of everyone else and sometimes that led to turnovers,” Foreman added. “We always encouraged her to keep playing at her speed, to run the show, and we challenged everyone else to catch up to her.”

This season, Foreman and his veteran group of assistant coaches have challenged Nash to catch back up to her scoring abilities, reminding their captain that the team will regularly need her scoring boost.

“She has developed into such a pass-first player that we have had to remind her a little how much this year’s team will need her points, too,” Foreman said. “She knows that she is now the leader and that there are a lot of players who look up to her. She has embraced that, and she has flipped the switch a little.”

That’s easy to do when you are having fun with the game and having fun with your teammates.

“I love this game so much and every year has been a lot of fun, but this year feels different so far,” Nash said. “This is like my second family. We did a lot of stuff in the summer and the off-season to come together as a team, and we love being around each other. We can be super competitive on the court, then be best friends after. We hang out together, have team meals, go to the movies … we just enjoy being around each other.”

The coaches have also felt the positive energy.

“This group makes practice fun and a lot of that has to do with Julia and the kind of leader that she is,” Foreman said. “She is just a joy to be around and she is one of those players who you have for four years and you can’t really remember what the team was like before her and you have no idea what it will be like without her.”

That’s what it sounds like when describing a special player — and Nash certainly fits that description.