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1998
Bye Bye School Books, Hello World Stage
by Jeremy Ruane
penned prior to the 1998 Oceania Women’s World Cup qualifying series
 At around about this time three years ago, rising women's soccer starlet Nicky Smith had her nose buried in text-books as she prepared for her School Certificate exams.This October, the talented Canterbury native will be undergoing exams of a different kind, as she bids to help New Zealand qualify for the 1999 Women's World Cup Finals.
"I was at Hornby High School in Christchurch initially", says the eighteen-year-old, "and played for the school for a couple of years before moving to Hawera High School in South Taranaki in 1995. That year, we finished runners-up in the National Secondary Schoolgirls Championships".
"After that, I opted to concentrate on playing club soccer only, and represented New Plymouth Rangers for two seasons in the Central Premier League, before switching to Wairarapa United this year".
The bubbly central midfielder has greatly impressed numerous women's soccer observers with both her maturity and technical ability, and she looks set for a lengthy career at international level.
In that regard, Nicky already has a good role model to follow. One of her three brothers, Scott, plays for Woking in England's GM Vauxhall Conference League, and earlier this year, made his first appearances for the All Whites as a substitute in the matches against Chile and South Korea in February.
Nicky was not far behind her brother in making her full international debut for the SWANZ, New Zealand's national women's team. That came against European Champions Germany on May 26 of this year, and, like her brother, she came off the bench for her first taste of top-level international soccer.
In doing so, a little bit of New Zealand soccer history was created - they are the first brother-and-sister combination to represent their country's top national teams in the same sport.
"The 'Champions Tour' was an awesome experience for the entire squad, not just myself. Playing against two of the world's leading women's soccer-playing nations" - the SWANZ also played the Olympic Champions, the USA, on the six-match tour - "opened our eyes".
"The speed at which they play the game, the professionalism of the United States players in particular, and the size of the crowd - coming from an environment where you play in front of a hundred people at most into one in which the watching audience was around the 50,000 mark was a truly unbelievable experience, and one I'll never forget".
 Nicky is next in action for the SWANZ in October's Women's World Cup Oceania zone qualifying series, which begins in Auckland on October 7. "My ultimate goal is to play in the Women's World Cup Finals next June in the USA", she claims excitedly, "but before we can recognise that aim, we have to beat Australia in the Oceania series. Playing a part in achieving that feat is my prime objective right now"."From a personal development point of view, I hope to get a soccer scholarship to the United States in the next year or two. But right now, I've got one thing only in mind - helping the SWANZ to qualify for World Cup '99".
The upcoming tournament, the third such qualifying series in the Oceania region, will be the biggest yet for women's soccer in the South Pacific. Australia and Papua New Guinea are, like New Zealand, veteran Women's World Cup qualifying campaigners, and the trio are joined this year by Fiji, Vanuatu, American Samoa and Western Samoa.
It is the first time the tournament has taken place in Auckland, and all matches are taking place at Mt. Smart Stadium between October 7 and 17. Come along and see the cream of the region's women's soccer players in action, and play your part in cheering Nicky and the rest of the SWANZ squad on, as they set their sights on making next year's World Cup Finals.
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