NAYA Canadian Natural Spring Water, a sponsor of the National Lacrosse League, has chosen forward Rich Kilgour of the Buffalo Bandits to "Team NAYA" and will soon carry his picture on the their packaging.

Kilgour joins 14 other athletes in promoting the spirit of NAYA Inc., including New Jersey Devils (NHL) goaltender Martin Brodeur and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL) fullback Mike Alstott. NAYA researched hundreds of athletes and identified this group because they display the "Hungry for Life" attitude.

"Each of these individuals represents a strong sense of achievement in conditions that were for the most part against the odds," said Steve Wasik, Vice-President/General Manager of NAYA. "They all have an inspiring story to tell."

Kilgour's photo will appear on the outside label of approximately one million bottles, along with his story under the label. The Kilgour bottles will appear on store shelves "in mid-August," reports the NLL, so expect them very soon.

The oldest of three Kilgour brothers on the club (along with Travis and Darris), Rich is a Indigenous American who grew up on the reservation in Niagara County, taking hold of his first lacrosse stick at approximately age three. He developed into an All Western New York high school lacrosse player before competing at the college level at Nazareth, where he won an ECAC Upstate New York Championship. Despite not being drafted, Rich made the expansion Bandits club and helped them win the world championship that first season (1992).

Kilgour since has won two more titles and has worked his way up to the team captaincy and is one of only four Bandits who remain from that first season -- all while overcoming a knee injury as well as the loss of his mother. Away from his career as a professional athlete, Rich also manages holding down a full-time job and raising his sons (Joshua and Dylan) with his wife April.

The National Lacrosse League's logo will also appear on the outside label of all NAYA bottles, beginning at approximately the same time as the "Team NAYA" athletes series.

The deal represents the first public sign that the NLL is alive and making wise promotional decisions, following a lengthy time span in which no news was announced, fans began to feel a sort of abandonment, and the Outsider's Guide published a commentary which berated the league for permitting a series of bad publicity misadventures to compound into embarassment.