16-year-old striker Luke Brooke-Smith has just been training with the Wellington Phoenix. It’s easy to see why the New Zealand U-16 international has attracted the attention of the A-League club, having been an impressive performer in helping New Zealand win the OFC U-16 Championship in Tahiti.
The son of a former British BMX champion (Phil), Luke Brooke-Smith has achieved fame as a junior BMX star. An eight-time national champion, he finished second at the junior world championships in 2019 in Belgium.
Brooke-Smith believes his experiences on the bike have benefited him on the football field, having overcome plenty of adversity.
“I was seven when I went to my first world champs. I qualified for the quarter final, , crashed, got a concussion. Next year in Columbia, I made the final. So I was top eight in the world. I was in third, crashed in the final. 2017, I broke my leg six weeks before. I got out of my cast a week before the competition and ended up getting sixth in the world. 2019 is when I got second and then in my last world champs in 2022, this American takes me out and that’s it, my world champs done.
“So I think BMX made me mentally very strong.”
With his dad being his mentor and coach, Brooke-Smith started riding before he was one.
“I got one of those three-wheel plastic bikes. I went down the start hill of BMX, which is around five metres and then at two years old, I got my first bike. I never had training wheels, I just went straight on and rode around our deck at home.”
While quickly rising to fame on the bike, Brooke-Smith was also playing football.
“When I was nine, I made the Northland team and we’d done a couple of tournaments, but I think where it really kicked off for me was I was not going to quit, but I was thinking like, I’ve got all this BMX and I am going to the world champs and competing locally for football. It just wasn’t the same. I went to an Auckland tournament and this is where I realised like, wow, the standard of football in Auckland, this is the standard where you want to be playing it. And I’ve never had that much fun in my entire life at a tournament.”
Which might just be why he is steering towards football as his number one sport.
“I think there’s a lot less pressure (in football). If I don’t play great, the team can still win and I am going to be happy for the team, but also disappointed in myself. But with BMX, everything’s on you. If you mess up everyone sees you mess up and your race is gone, So I like that everyone’s in the same boat when you’re in the team,” he explained.
Originally from Northland, Brooke-Smith moved to Cambridge when he was 11 in 2019.
He was spotted by former All Whites coach Ricki Herbert’s dad Clive a year earlier in Northland at a tournament and attended a national camp just before the family moved to Cambridge.
He joined Herbert’s RH3 Football Academy and made his senior debut for Cambridge United two weeks after his 15th birthday. This season he’s been playing for Hamilton Wanderers in New Zealand’s Northern League.
Brooke-Smith says being thrust into senior men’s football at such a young age has been beneficial.
“I think that foundation of playing men’s football in a lower division with Cambridge and then moving into Wanderers helped me a lot.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot rather than maybe playing at the highest level of my own age. Cause you find out your weaknesses much quicker, I think. And I’ve been able to work on them.
While never saying never, Brooke-Smith has effectively called time on his BMX racing career, having not competed since the end of 2023.
“My last race was end of last year. I think if I was going to do nationals given the level I was at, I’d only want to do it to win. And I think with the amount of riding I’ve been doing, I’m not, I’m not ready to compete.”
Brooke-Smith described his reaction when New Zealand U-16 men’s coach Martin Bullock called him and told him he was in the team for Tahiti.
“I was walking home from school and I got a text from him saying, ‘can you call me?’ So I gave him a call straight away. I was like, ‘come on, come on, come on’. And then he just said, ‘I’ve got good news.
“My face lit up with a big smile. And he said, you’re in the team, you’ve done well throughout the trials and stuff. And my mum and dad were just like sort of jumping around with us. It was a really special moment,” he said.
The striker, who set the tournament alight with a hat-trick against Fiji in group play, and helped New Zealand win the final by scoring against Fiji, has set himself some immediate goals.
“I think I want to make my professional debut with this season coming. I was training with the Phoenix for two weeks before I came here and then hoping to continue training with the first team when I get back.”
“And so I want to hopefully play a professional game by the end of this season coming. So I think I’ve got to about May next year, but in the long term, I’ve always said I’ll know I’ve made it when I can buy my parents a house.”
The prospect of playing at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar next year is a huge motivation for Brooke-Smith, who knows scouts from all around the world will be in attendance.
“Three mates went to the last World Cup and I think they got sick of me asking questions about it!
“Scouts are going to realise that talent is coming through New Zealand and they’re going to start looking at the games. Then it’s just up to me on how I want to do – if I perform, then you never know what could happen.”