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Smith gives up $10,000 a week
By Tim Morrissey
March 11, 2006
WHAT price does an athlete put on the opportunity to compete at the 2006 Commonwealth Games?
For Australia star and Sydney Kings captain Jason Smith, it is worth a lot more than the chance to earn $10,000 a week.
At Boomers pre-Games training camp yesterday, Smith revealed he had turned down a $10,000 a week offer from Italian A-League club Rimini.
The lucrative offer was put on the table just days before the Kings began the National Basketball League championship series against Melbourne Tigers.
Even before Sydney lost the NBL crown, after losing 3-0 in the best-of-five series, Smith knew he wanted to be in Melbourne.
After competing at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the Australia guard said he could not put a price on representing his country on home soil.
And with the Games in his home town, the former Vermont junior - who started his NBL career with South East Melbourne Magic in 1995 - simply could not say no.
"I remember what the 2000 Sydney Olympics were like and this is going to be comparable, I think," Smith said.
"The main thing was I'm a Melbourne guy and playing in my home town is a really appealing thing to me."
So instead of settling into a luxury apartment with his wife, Carla, and their two young children on the glamorous Italian East Coast, Smith is in Terrigal on the New South Wales Central Coast preparing for the Boomers campaign that tips off against Scotland at Bendigo Stadium next Friday.
The atmosphere he experienced at last year's AFL grand final between Sydney and West Coast also convinced him he should not miss being a part of the Commonwealth Games.
"It was my first grand final and it was sensational, but the Games are going to blow the roof off the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the opening ceremony," Smith said.
"When I was thinking about making the decision, the memories of Sydney came flooding back, the emotion I felt at the time started to well up again.
"Those feelings really just made the decision for me."
However, after a previous stint in Italy with Rida Scifati and Scavolini Pesaro in 2001 and 2002, Smith admitted the offer with Rimini, near Bologna, was hard to refuse.
"It was a tough decision when you are talking those numbers," said Smith.
"Carla really loves that part of the world so there was a bit of pressure to go.
"The bank account might have been a little bit larger, but I'd never have been able to say I played at the Commonwealth Games.
"If you look at the team, it's a good group of guys. It's going to be a lot of fun."
The Daily Telegraph
Smith gives up $10,000 a week
By Tim Morrissey
March 11, 2006
WHAT price does an athlete put on the opportunity to compete at the 2006 Commonwealth Games?
For Australia star and Sydney Kings captain Jason Smith, it is worth a lot more than the chance to earn $10,000 a week.
At Boomers pre-Games training camp yesterday, Smith revealed he had turned down a $10,000 a week offer from Italian A-League club Rimini.
The lucrative offer was put on the table just days before the Kings began the National Basketball League championship series against Melbourne Tigers.
Even before Sydney lost the NBL crown, after losing 3-0 in the best-of-five series, Smith knew he wanted to be in Melbourne.
After competing at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the Australia guard said he could not put a price on representing his country on home soil.
And with the Games in his home town, the former Vermont junior - who started his NBL career with South East Melbourne Magic in 1995 - simply could not say no.
"I remember what the 2000 Sydney Olympics were like and this is going to be comparable, I think," Smith said.
"The main thing was I'm a Melbourne guy and playing in my home town is a really appealing thing to me."
So instead of settling into a luxury apartment with his wife, Carla, and their two young children on the glamorous Italian East Coast, Smith is in Terrigal on the New South Wales Central Coast preparing for the Boomers campaign that tips off against Scotland at Bendigo Stadium next Friday.
The atmosphere he experienced at last year's AFL grand final between Sydney and West Coast also convinced him he should not miss being a part of the Commonwealth Games.
"It was my first grand final and it was sensational, but the Games are going to blow the roof off the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the opening ceremony," Smith said.
"When I was thinking about making the decision, the memories of Sydney came flooding back, the emotion I felt at the time started to well up again.
"Those feelings really just made the decision for me."
However, after a previous stint in Italy with Rida Scifati and Scavolini Pesaro in 2001 and 2002, Smith admitted the offer with Rimini, near Bologna, was hard to refuse.
"It was a tough decision when you are talking those numbers," said Smith.
"Carla really loves that part of the world so there was a bit of pressure to go.
"The bank account might have been a little bit larger, but I'd never have been able to say I played at the Commonwealth Games.
"If you look at the team, it's a good group of guys. It's going to be a lot of fun."
The Daily Telegraph
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