Mr Nice Guy Smith follows his American dream

Sunday 03rd January 2010

IMAGINE that you’re a 29 year old soccer mad Canadian who’s settled here in Kent, and after making the breakthrough from Non League into the Football League you’re given the chance of your dreams and a trial at a major MLS club in the States, only to be told that you’ve got a problem with your heart that could kill you at any minute!

That is exactly what happened to Ross Smith who has now returned to the United States to pursue his dreams of a career in the MLS.

But before he left he caught up with our very own Mike Green to reflect on his year from hell!

Ross was a young central defender who I first met ironically on 9/11 when he was playing for Margate. He then moved onto Ebbsfleet and then Dagenham the season they were promoted to the Football League.

He is one of life’s Mr Nice Guys something that makes his experiences of the last twelve months so frightening…

I caught up with Ross recently after he played one of his last games for Ebbsfleet United before returning home and started by asking him to put into his own words how difficult 2009 has been!

“I know it sounds like a cliché but its definitely been a roller coaster ride from the start of 2009 to now and to be honest I’m glad I’m been through it and come out the other side – its been a tough year at times but its made me appreciate life and good times on the pitch when everything goes right because I didn’t honestly think this would be possible and so I really am glad that I’ve been through what I’ve been through,” he said.

“I was born with the problem, but didn’t know. Things just got progressively worse during the years – I’ve had chest pains since I was about 15 – and I’ve being going to see doctors ever since but it wasn’t until this time that they really went into things and found that I had a problem.”

Ross then told me about the diagnosis. “I was born with a bicuspid valve which means that when the blood is pumped out of my heart I only have two valves that close so that they don’t let the blood back in rather than the normal three.

“So I was having blood coming out, but because I only had two valves they were working so much harder to not let the blood back in and over time they just wore away and because of that the blood coming back into my heart cause my aorta to balloon up and that caused my heart to work that much harder to get the blood out.

“So everything just became bigger than it was supposed to be and weaker – you could say that I had a massive heart but for all the wrong reasons. The scariest part to think that the old ticker wasn’t working properly…” he joked.

His real troubles began 12 months ago, “I always hoped that I would be able to have my best years around my family and push for a place in the MLS, so after I left Dagenham, I joined the Rochester Rhino’s, who play the level below the MLS – Steve Guppy (of Leicester fame) was the assistant coach and I played for them till the end of their season.

“He then moved onto Colorado Rapids as assistant coach and they signed me during their off season which was just around Christmas last year. And that is when I first had the real bad pain – I woke up at two in the morning and something in my mind told me “something’s not right here”. I then went through about a month of different tests before they actually found something with one last test – an echo cardiogram – I was only told after I’d flown out back to Colorado for pre season – I got a phone call saying that there was something wrong, and then I had to go through all their doctors over there and they found that there was something pretty bad.”

Coming from a very close family, Ross explained the effects on his parents. “My folks have been unbelievable,” he said. “My dad flew straight out to Colorado the next day and he was right there with me through all the news, and they were real rocks for me. I couldn’t deal with the sympathies and the emotions of it all as it was a bit overwhelming and I just wanted to deal with it as it was and to step away emotionally from it. And they were great – they never showed any emotion in front of my until I had a couple of little dips here and there – they were good to be strong for me and helped me through it even though they must have gone through tough times they never let onto me.”

“I had the operation in May back in Canada and was with my parents for two months or so recovering until I could start getting on my feet and working out again.

“I still had time until I could get back involved with football so I started my own Soccer Camps but then come the third month I was told that I could play again, and I went back to my university (the University of Rhode Island) to train again while I was waiting for my clearance to come through. Some of my old buddies who are coaches now put me trough my paces which was absolutely horrible as I couldn’t believe how much fitness I’d lost.”

Things then began to get frustrating. “I was waiting for the clearance to play again to come through. But my surgeon wasn’t confident enough to give it to me, as he’d never seen a player with what I had!

“The most frustrating part of it was that they’d given me hope and made me think about football again after I’d convinced myself that I wouldn’t play again. I’d dealt with that – the game was out of my life and I just wanted my life back.

“Then all of a sudden there was hope again when they said that I might be able to play again and that was great – a massive high with me thinking that I’d be back playing again soon, and then they took it all away again by saying that they couldn’t clear me. All I wanted was a straight yes or no rather than the maybe that was going to get me nowhere!”

The Rapids management duo of Gary Smith and Steve Guppy has really helped Ross through this difficult time.

“They’ve treated me so well and whether or not I get another chance with them, I’ll always be in their debt and cannot say enough good things about both men! They tried to help me get clearance but it wasn’t happening!

“I then spoke to Paul McCarthy at Ebbsfleet who suggested that I come back this way and keep training and that’s when I saw a specialist here – a top guy who deals with al lot of footballers and he was fantastic to me.”

Then came the day that Ross had been praying for – or was that dreading? “To be honest the day I finally got the clearance to play again there were mixed emotions because of everything I’d been through – it was the answer that I always wanted to hear.

“Yet that weekend was terrible as now I was given a choice – I didn’t know if I wanted do go through the risk and I didn’t know if I wanted to put everything on the line. I had to get that doubt out of my head – it was tough and I almost, and I know this sounds crazy, wanted to be told no because then I wouldn’t have to risk it.

“It took a few days but I knew all along in my gut what I wanted and I thought I’d come back and try it! My folks said they’d support whatever I decided. They said that there will come a time when you have to step away and get on with your life, but we’ll support you and we wont worry and we’ll be brave, and with that they’ve left it with me. And there’s no doubt in my mind now that I am back playing and I’ll keep going until doubt ever creeps back into my head.”

Ross, after a brief spell back at Stonebridge Road, has returned to the States to try again to break into the MLS.

If ever a player deserves success after showing such courage in adversity then surely it is Ross Smith – a fine player, one of the bravest people I have ever met and a person I am proud to call a friend!

Article written by Mike Green