IN every session of every day, those under Steven Smith’s tutelage learn, improve and enjoy what they do. The same can be said for the man himself.

While many of his peers are still pulling on their boots and playing into the twilight of their careers, Smith, at 33, is looking to the future both individually and collectively.

His release from Kilmarnock at the end of last season saw him end one chapter of his life. Now, he has started another after launching his own Academy.

A move into coaching wasn’t always Smith’s intention and he has gone to the grassroots level rather than looking to earn his big break higher up the ladder.

His sessions are split into three age categories for kids of all abilities from four to 15 and are about as far from Premiership football as you can get. It may be an unconventional avenue to start moving down, but it is one the former Rangers defender is excited to try.

“I think I chose that route to learn,” Smith told Herald Sport. “I am going back and I am coaching four and five-year-olds and working with kids that age is something that I have never done before.

“I have coached at Kilmarnock with the Under-20s so I had seen that side of it in spells. But, to learn as a coach and realise what path I want to go down, I have decided to go back to the beginning and work with kids of that age and of all abilities. It is a learning process for me.

“It never was my initial thought process but I went and done by B Licence. I went with the thought of ‘let’s go and see how it is’ and I did enjoy it.

“That is what kick-started the thought process of ‘I want to be a coach’. Before I went there, if I was being honest, I was a bit sceptical about it and it was debatable whether that was the route I was going to go down. After doing the course, I enjoyed it and I started to learn more and that has led me to where I am.”

Smith had an idea that became a business, now it has become a full-time job as he has quickly returned to the game, albeit at an unfamiliar level.

His focus is on the present as well as the future as he passes on his years of experience to individuals or small groups in bespoke sessions. The concept isn’t a new one, but it is proving as popular as it is satisfying.

“It runs in blocks and the first block was an eight-week block where I was only doing Monday and Friday,” Smith said. “But now I am doing two sessions on Monday, a Tuesday, I take a school team on a Wednesday, two sessions Friday and I do stuff on a Sunday.

“I am working with the local schools and doing stuff with the Council as well so it is really growing.

“The days where I find myself not coaching, which is usually a Thursday, it is a strange day for me because I am bored. I would rather be out on the pitch coaching, so that shows that I must be enjoying it if the worst day is the day off.

“The end game, I will be honest, I don’t know. That could be anything right now. I don’t know where I want to go and what I want to do but, what I do know, is that I am enjoying it. As long as I am enjoying it, I am happy where I am.”

Like those that he has taken under his wing, Smith has no idea where the journey that he has started will take him as he sets off down the coaching road.

The Herald:

His stints at Aberdeen and Kilmarnock give him plenty of insight into Scottish football but he has gained experiences further afield as well, playing in England with Norwich City and Preston North End before he left Deepdale for a campaign in Major League Soccer at the Portland Timbers.

“I think if you had asked me about my style of coaching at the beginning, I would have said I was more suited to coaching adults or kids of an older age,” Smith said. “So that is one of the reasons I have decided to go back and learn and work with kids at that age.

“It is a learning process, I am learning every day, and picking up skills that I probably didn’t have that I will develop over a period of time. I have only been going a few weeks.

“The initial thought of being a coach was always geared towards first team, 20s or Reserves, but now I have taken this route to learn.

“I would say it is a more difficult route because of the patience required and the skills required working with kids of that age. That is something different and something new, but I am enjoying it.”

As he embarks on a fresh start, it is only natural that Smith goes back to the beginning and his formative years within the Rangers youth setup.

The left-back was tipped for great things at Ibrox as he impressed under Alex McLeish and then established himself during Paul Le Guen’s ill-fated tenure, but injuries would cruelly curtail his progress and ultimately cut short his time in Light Blue.

He is still fondly remembered by supporters, however, and the men that helped shape him as a player and a person remain a source of inspiration.

“I think the way that I was brought up in the youth system here is different to the way football is now,” Smith said. “The way I was brought up at that time was great for me and I loved it.

“Guys like John Brown, Tom McLean, Tom Forsyth, Ian Durrant, people like that were always great to me. But football is changing, coaching is changing, and I think everybody knows that.

“From that upbringing that I had to now, I still believe that some of the things that those guys had were great for me and are still applicable to the game today, but it is changing.

“I am learning that side of it as well. I was brought up in a certain way and sometimes now that doesn’t work, things that were said back then you shouldn’t say now. But I can only speak from personal experience and I absolutely loved it, I loved working for those guys.

“I would imagine there were boys that played with me in that team, in that era, that probably didn’t like it, but I loved it. That is why you learn. There are different ways to coach and different ways to deal with individuals and I am learning that process.”

*Former Light Blues defender Steven Smith is pictured promoting Rangers Pools for the Rangers Youth Development Company.

To sign up for Rangers Pools visit www.rangerspools.com or download the new app at Apple or Android stores.

All profits go towards the upkeep and maintenance of Ibrox Stadium – while profits from their other products are donated to the Rangers Youth Department.

RYDC recently made a donation of £400,000 to the Rangers Academy taking their contribution to almost £8 million since 2002.

For full details on their portfolio – Rangers Lotto, Rangers Pools, Rising Stars, Scratchcards, Stadium Bricks and the Youth Members Club – visit www.rydc.co.uk or call 0141 427 4914.