Smart isn’t even the oldest player in Australian professional basketball. She said there’s one player who’s two months older than she is.
However, at 39, with the final game of a 17-year pro career approaching, the Shawnee High School and Cedarville University graduate Smart, a 5-foot-9 guard, can take much pride in the length of a basketball life that started when she was a toddler attending the practices of her dad Mike Smart, a longtime area coach.
“There is a point where longevity is a part of that legacy,” Smart said Monday on a phone call from Australia, “where you’re doing something with discipline and with intent for so long. You just don’t stop. If you never stop, you don’t even realize that one season rolls into the next, that one contract comes into the next. And if you’re always ready, then you can always decide if you want to take the opportunity or not. I never wanted an opportunity to come at me and not be ready or not be in the right mindset or not be in shape and confident.”
Smart played the final regular-season game of her career on Saturday for the Sandringham Sabres, of the Southern Basketball Association in Australia. Sandringham is a suburb of Melbourne and has become home for Smart, whose team is now involved in a single-elimination postseason tournament.
The league paid tribute to Smart on Facebook last week.
“After an incredible journey on the court, filled with sweat, tears, and countless unforgettable moments,” the league posted, “the time has come to hang up the Sandringham Sabres jersey and announce her retirement from professional basketball. (Smart) bleeds orange and is a great asset to the club both on and off the court! The SBA would like to thank Britt for her efforts and passion throughout the last few years and wish her all the best with her future!”
Sharing that post, Smart wrote simply, “It’s about that time.”
Smart said she has known for the last year or two this would be her final season.
“It just didn’t make sense anymore with the prep that I had to do just to be able to feel good for training and to compete against people that were 15 years my junior,” she said. “It was taking up so much of my time, and I wasn’t able to be involved as much in doing other things. As a professional athlete, 24/7 you’re thinking about your sleep, you’re thinking about your nutrition, you’re thinking about stretching. All of those things take months and months. It’s not like it’s a project where you’re doing something intensely for a few months or even a year, and then you kind of get a break.”
Longevity is only part of Smart’s legacy. She scored more than 2,000 points in a high school career that started at Troy Christian and moved to Southeastern and then Shawnee, where she was a senior in the 2002-03 season, as her dad took new head coaching jobs.
Then at Cedarville University, Smart scored a school-record 3,236 points. She was the NAIA Division II National Player of the Year as a senior in the 2006-07 season.
Smart started her pro career with the Point Chaud Basketball Club in Sprimont, Belgium, in 2007. She played two seasons there before moving to the Kvarnby Basketball Club in Molndal, Sweden, for three seasons. Injuries, including a torn ACL, limited her to 17 games in her first two seasons.
In 2014, Smart helped lead her new Swedish team, Northland, to a national championship.
“This was probably the highest stage I have played on,” Smart said then. “To battle with the top teams and players for a national title in any country is an honor.”
In 2015, Smart started playing in Australia, where she’s been ever since. She has played for Sandringham, the Melbourne Boomers, the Sydney Uni Flames, the Hobart Chargers and the Canberra Capitals. She’s still playing at a high level in her final season, averaging 21.8 points.
When Smart’s playing days end this summer, she will focus on her basketball coaching business: BSmart Basketball. She offers online programs and in-person instruction as well in basketball skills and strength and conditioning workouts.
Smart also expects to stay involved with Sandringham’s teams, whether that’s with the Sabres or their younger academy teams.
“There’s a few different options there,” Smart said, “but I may go totally left field and help a friend out and do some irrigation landscaping work outside where I’m in the sun and it’s physical and has nothing to do with sports.”
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