Gamble pays off for Nelsen and NZ (23 July 1999)

23 July 1999

Gamble pays off for Nelsen and NZ

Tony Smith

When budding batsman Ryan Nelsen revealed he was pulling stumps on a promising cricket career to concentrate on soccer he was told he must be "mad".

The Christchurch-born sporting all-rounder had played senior cricket as a schoolboy for Chris Cairns's Lancaster Park club, captained Canterbury age-group teams, and had one match for Canterbury B.

Little wonder then that cricket officials were stunned when a teenage Nelsen told them football was his first love.

"It was so hard to explain to the cricket people," he recalls. "They thought I was mad. Their reaction was 'what's the future in soccer?"'

Just a few years later, Nelsen's soccer prospects are as rosy as a ripe red cricket ball. The 21-year-old defender is on a soccer scholarship at California's prestigious Stanford University where he will complete an economics degree.

And he is now a valued member of the New Zealand soccer squad, which will play in the Confederations Cup finals tournament in Mexico after some outstanding appearances as a late replacement on the All Whites' build-up tour.

While his Canterbury cricket contemporary Craig McMillan is at Lords with the Black Caps, Nelsen should be tackling strikers from world soccer superpowers Brazil and Germany.

Nelsen has no regrets about his chosen sporting path.

"I enjoyed cricket, but I didn't have the same passion for it that I had for soccer. Soccer has always been No.1. It's in the blood lines really."

Through his mother, Christine, Nelsen is a descendant of the Smith family, a remarkable Canterbury and New Zealand soccer dynasty.

His late grandfather, Bob Smith, was chairman of the New Zealand Football Association in the mid-1960s. Bob and four of his brothers played together in the Canterbury representative team.

Three Smith siblings - Gordon, Vic, and Roger - represented New Zealand. So did Gordon's son, Brian Smith.

Nelsen is the fifth member of the extended family to wear soccer's silver fern. With such a soccer pedigree, Nelsen was a natural at the game.

He represented Canterbury through the junior grades and only a serious leg injury stopped him becoming a New Zealand under-20 representative.

Nelsen says he owes his soccer development to the lessons learned at Christchurch United, where senior players like Garry Lund, Michael Fullen, Johan Verweij, and in particular Danny Halligan gave him "great encouragement".

"Danny was a major motivator for me. His attitude on and off the pitch is top-class. I can't thank those United guys enough."

The respect is mutual. Halligan, now retired after winning more than 50 All White caps, never doubted Nelsen was capable of "playing at the highest level".

Even as a schoolboy, Nelsen had leadership skills, an ability to read a game, and excellent technical skills, Halligan noted.

Halligan and Verweij, who both coached Nelsen, liken him to former Christchurch United and New Zealand centreback Ceri Evans, a Rhodes Scholar who went on to play professionally for Oxford United in England.

Academic achievement is also important to Nelsen. He left Christchurch two years ago after winning a scholarship to Greensboro College in North Carolina.

Back home last year on a sabbatical, he played briefly for Canterbury-Woolston in the national league and helped Christchurch United win the Canterbury premier league title.

His defensive deeds earned him a call-up to the New Zealand under-23 team. Nelsen was the success story of the squad's Australian tour last winter.

Greensboro called him back to the United States, and he helped the college make the Division III final last year.

Then former All Whites coach Bobby Clark stepped in to sign Nelsen for Stanford, a Division I school where Clark, a former Scotland goalkeeper, is head coach.

Nelsen had just finished a summer soccer season in Greensboro when he got the call-up for All Whites duty to replace star defender Danny Hay.

"It was a big surprise," Nelsen said. "If you're over in America, you don't get seen that much. But I'd been playing well and I think Bobby Clark had been talking to (All Whites coach) Ken Dugdale.

"They took a big gamble bringing me in, but hopefully it's paid off."

Nelsen made his senior debut against Poland, but came of age with his performances on the right-hand side of a three-man central defence against Malaysia and Egypt.

Dugdale is definitely a Nelsen admirer. "I would be being less than honest if I didn't admit that if, at the start of the tour, we'd had to cut two players from the squad (instead of one), then Ryan would have been one of them, purely because of his lack of experience at this level. But he's performed very well, both in matches and at training, and he was outstanding against Malaysia and Egypt. He's really pushed himself and given himself a good chance of making the starting line-up.

"Ryan's a big lad, he's strong in the air and he's reasonably quick. He loves to tackle, his distribution is excellent, and he's very comfortable on the ball."

Nelsen has enjoyed every minute of the All Whites' six-week march to Mexico.

"It's been a huge learning experience, but I've loved playing against top-quality players."

The New Zealanders will be in the shop window in Mexico. But even if a big European club came calling, school still comes first for Nelsen.

"I'll definitely pursue (a professional career) as soon as I graduate."

But a degree from Stanford is hard to turn down.

"At the moment I feel I've got the best of both worlds. I'm getting an education and I'm training (between seven and 10 times a week) and playing soccer in a professional environment."

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)