Newcomer Feature: Sara-Rose Smith
11/18/2020 9:39:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Smith finds her home away from home at Mizzou
Freshman guard Sara-Rose Smith is hoping for a memorable first season with the Tigers. The lengthy wing player from Victoria, Australia, experienced an impressive prep career before making the decision to come to the United States to begin her collegiate career.
In 2018, Smith played for a Victoria Metro team that won a gold medal at the U18 Australian Junior Championships, as she averaged 9.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Afterwards, Smith gained experience on the international level, as she won a bronze medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics on Australia's 3-on-3 national team. From there, Smith transitioned to the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence in the NBL1 league where she played two seasons in one of Australia's most elite conferences.
Smith has shown amazing potential for the Tigers, and she believes her prep school experience really kick-started her career early as she moved away from home and into a training facility at age 17. The high-performance training facility leads and enables young athletes to enhance their performance through a variety of different workouts and training all while in school.
She contributes that experience to helping her prepare for the time management demands of being a student-athlete.
"I was living with my teammates, going to school throughout the day, and then training at night," said Smith.
Smith mentioned her official visit last October as her family was completely blown away with their experience. Surprisingly enough, she had only spoken to head coach Robin Pingeton on the phone twice before deciding to come view the campus and Mizzou's facilities.
Her biggest takeaway from the visit was the relationship she built with the coaching staff, which ultimately was a deciding factor in her choice to come to Mizzou.
"I just connected with the coaching staff," said Smith. "It felt like home as soon as I stepped on campus."
Being so far away from Australia, Smith felt as if she needed a "home away from home" and Mizzou really showed her what that looked like on and off the court. Smith greatly appreciates the close team dynamic as she believes the team is focused on their "championship mentality", a phrase the team been using recently.
"The girls really have just taken me under their wing," said Smith. "They will reach out sporadically to see if I need to go anywhere or grab anything. I'm glad they do so, because I don't have a license and we drive on the other side of the road back home."
Even though she is many miles away from where her basketball career began, the next chapter of Smith's basketball journey is just getting started. This time, she'll be suited up in the Black & Gold at her home away from home.
