KELLY SMITH WEEKLY COLUMN

KELLY SMITH: It's a great feeling to finish training and know you haven't got another job to go to - we can focus on winning WPS

By Kelly Smith

In her new weekly column for Sportsmail Online, England striker KELLY SMITH reveals how she is adjusting to life after leaving Arsenal Ladies to join the Boston Breakers in America's brand new Women's Professional Soccer championship...

It finally arrived - the Boston Breakers' first home match in WPS. And there was one thing the team really didn't want: rain.

Funnily enough, it chucked it down all day and the ball zipped about as we took to the field against Saint Louis Athletica.

The pitch at the Harvard Stadium wasn't really designed with us in mind. It's artificial turf and is marked out for American football. There are so many lines and markings that it's hard to know when the ball is out of play.

Both teams struggled to get to grips with the conditions, especially in the first half, but we dominated at times and had the better of the chances.

High standards: Smith celebrates scoring for the second game in a row.

After losing the first match 2-1 at FC Gold Pride it was essential not to get into the losing habit, so I was delighted to get on the scoresheet again and help the team to a 2-0 win.

Make no mistake, we're looking to win the championship and we can use this pitch to our advantage eventually. Only one other team has a synthetic pitch.

Don't get me wrong, given the choice I think we'd all prefer to play on grass, but we are training on this pitch and just running and turning on it is different, so we can definitely get used to the conditions.

I found out after Saturday's match that the sports writers had voted me player of the week. Obviously I was a bit shocked because it is great to be recognised when there are so many good players in the league.
This might sound like an Oscars speech, but I wouldn't have won that award without my team-mates and their service and support. It's great to score in each of the first two matches and I hope to keep that up. I thrive on that kind of pressure.

Kristine Lilly grabbed our second goal near the end against Saint Louis with a move we'd tried on the training ground, so it was satisfying to pull that off.

Training has a similar pattern to when I was with Arsenal, but it soon becomes clear that here, football is your job. We had Sunday and Monday off because the game was quite gruelling, but then we were back into the routine: training on the pitch from 10am till 12, then watch videos and talk tactics until two.

Here you can focus fully on football. In England you train two evenings a week and your priorities are elsewhere.

When we finished a session with Arsenal at 9pm, most of the girls went home and had to prepare for their jobs the next day, never mind watching videos of the opposition.

I was surrounded by football because my other job was as a coach at Arsenal, but, from a selfish point of view, the focus wasn't on my football and my development. Here the balance is completely different.

It's going to be a busy week coming up. We play at Washington on Saturday, then it's over to England to play for the national team against Norway on Thursday before zipping back to face Chicago on Saturday week.

Team-mate: Alex Scott

There's so much coming up, yet I can't help but have one eye on that Chicago match, when me and Alex Scott face our old Arsenal coach Emma Hayes, and of course Karen Carney, who is probably the best young player coming through for England.

I hope to play for England at Shrewsbury on St George's Day, so it will be difficult to play a full part against the Red Stars two days later.

But first up it's Washington. They're still looking for their first win, which will make things difficult. There are two players that we really have to look out for.

I've admired the France player Sonia Bompastor for a long time and she put in the cross for Becky Sauerbrunn to score in the Freedom's 1-1 draw against Chicago last week. Her service to Abby Wambach is a real threat, especially from wide areas, and that is something we have to address.

Then there's Wambach herself, who can be so dangerous. She's the go-to player for the U.S. national team, so everyone knows her talent. Abby will be determined because she hasn't scored yet. Hopefully she'll still be frustrated after Saturday.

INTERVIEW BY ASHLEY GRAY

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1171526/KELLY-SMITH-Its-great-feeling-finish-training-know-havent-got-job-to--focus-winning-WPS.html