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Opportunity
“What An Opportunity!!”
by Jeremy Ruane
Rebecca Smith's most recent footballing experience down under is one which couldn't have been better timed for this well-travelled twenty-seven-year-old.
“The whole Newcastle experience has been really neat! For me, mentally and physically, it's just been perfect. The whole situation just fitted in to what I needed, after a really tough season at Sunnana, when we finished in tenth place out of twelve, and weren't really having that much fun because of that.
“You want to be able to play because you love it. Sometimes you forget how much fun it is to play, and it's more fun when you're winning. Especially when, as I do, you hate losing!”
With the Swedish season over, no Football Ferns action scheduled, and a diet of training in California plus the annual family Christmas in New Zealand on the cards until returning for the resumption of the European season early in 2009, Rebecca was anticipating a spell of rest and relaxation for a couple of months.
“I've been rehabbing for over a year now, straight, without a real break. I didn't go on vacation, or take any time off because of my knee, so I was looking forward to spending time with my family again, having not seen too much of them since 2006 - I didn't even make it back home to NZ for our Christmas get-together in 2007.
“So when this opportunity came up, I was pretty hesitant at first. It came about through Kate Gill, the Auckland-born Matildas forward - she totally chose the wrong country, that girl! I give her crap for that almost every day!!
“She was playing over in Sweden with Lisa De Vanna at AIK Stockholm. I'd never met them before, but with me being a Kiwi, and they Australian, we had a chat after a clash between our teams. That's another benefit of playing international football, and playing in different leagues - you get to meet all kinds of different people.
“They told me about the new league starting up in Australia, and Kate asked, `Do you want to come down to Newcastle?'”
Rebecca had initially been to Australia's seventh largest city in June 2000, when she was among the Kiwi supporters at the Pacific Cup tournament. Injury prevented her from making her New Zealand debut during that competition, and nearly three more years elapsed before she finally got to wear the silver fern on the world stage.
The aforementioned reservations weighed heavily on her mind, but the go-getter in Bex got the better of her. “I just thought, `What an opportunity!' Another country to play in, summer in Australia, it was starting to get cold in Sweden, it fitted in nicely with the European off-season … it was just through Kate's asking, then the coach, Gary Phillips, got in contact with me, and that was it.
“Once I started talking to the coach and hearing what his philosophy was - that it would be intense but not too intense; one game per week, and I could gauge how much or how little I wanted to train, because after an eight-month season, your body needs to rest, too; the gym was right there, so I'd have everything I needed … it just felt perfect.
“So the first couple of weeks was really relaxed - lying on the beach, surfing, shopping, drinking coffee … and I needed that to balance that intense year of rehab and focus. At the same time I was not too far away from the footballing environment that I was out of it”.
History will show that Newcastle bowed out in the semi-finals of the inaugural W-League season, downed
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  Getting the better of Sydney's Leena Khamis
 With fellow W-League Kiwis Rebecca Tegg and Marlies Oostdam
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1-0 by Canberra United in front of just under 3000 fans at EnergyAustralia Stadium. They were a long way from getting even that close to glory when the Football Ferns star arrived on the scene.
“When I arrived, they were in second-to-last place. The teams weren't that far apart, in terms of points, but we went from second-last to finishing second. We've had so much fun as a team, and have been playing better and better every game. Overall, the season's just been great.
“The coach here, Gary Phillips, is phenomenal. I'd recommend him anywhere. He's really good at individual coaching, as well as team coaching. That's kind of rare in a coach. You either find one who's really good at tactics and the big picture, or one who's really good at the specifics and how to play, what foot to use. He's good at both, plus he's just a really nice down-to-earth guy with no ego, and that's really rare.
“The level's not as good as it is in Europe, of course - you're not playing with the same quality of players, but at the same time you're still getting consistent games, and the players in Australia in general are quality players - they've got good coaches from when they're quite young.
“The league is pretty professionally run, too - there are a lot of things which are really well done. You get one live TV game a week, plus highlights from all the games, and plenty of spectators along, too. We had 800-1000 to our home games, and about the same away, which is pretty good considering it's a brand new league, and women's football always struggles to get fans to come and watch”.
As for the benefits Rebecca gained from her Australian sojourn, the most obvious one is the lady herself - tanned, toned, an absolute picture of good health, vitality and physical fitness, which meant she was the subject of more than a few admiring glances from the café's numerous male customers sitting at nearby tables or just passing by throughout the course of our interview.
There were other benefits, of course. “It's been a lot of fun. Newcastle's such a great town. Lots of beaches, great little cafes, people are very down-to-earth, very laid back … I think I just needed that after this year.
“I've learned a lot here as a player, and been able to get the rest I need, get the tan I wanted, and I've also been able to play consistent football. I had the World Cup - bam! - then the Olympics - bam! - and I'm going into another new season with a brand new team - that's going to be very intense - so to have these two months to chill and at the same time get quality games every week …
“I couldn't have planned it any better, so I'm so thankful for the opportunity. You take these opportunities when you can. You're only young once, you only have a career that lasts a certain amount of time, and these kinds of opportunities don't come up every day. I love it - I'm so glad I did. I'd do it again, totally. In a heartbeat”.
And with that, Rebecca Smith turned her thoughts to packing her bags once again, this time for a flight back to Los Angeles. A couple of days later, after catching up with family and friends, it was off to Europe once more, Wolfsburg specifically, and the start of another chapter in the life of this globetrotting Kiwi soccer star.
Not before a special addition to our five-part interview, however - providing answers to a series of questions which are intended to give us an indication of Rebecca's interests away from the football fields of the world.
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