Smith, who has five England caps to his name, spent the summer abroad having been given time off by head coach Pat Howard. Ollie's father, Melvyn, died shortly after the then 22-year-old was selected among Sir Clive Woodward's squad to tour New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions in 2005. After deciding his father would not have wanted him to miss out on the chance to represent the four nations, Ollie travelled south and then returned to play a full season of domestic and European rugby for Tigers. After such a challenging period, both Ollie and the club felt he would benefit from a break from the game.
"I spent part of the summer travelling around South America for six weeks, which was an amazing experience," says Smith. "I had a fortnight in Venezuela with my girlfriend Lucy before heading off on my own to spend two weeks in Peru and another two weeks in Brazil.
"It was a totally unique and eye-opening experience for so many different reasons. It literally couldn't have been any more different from Leicester. In many ways, the whole environment was a little bit backward - it certainly wasn't how things are over here. Buses were constantly late and my flights were continually delayed. It didn't take too long to become accustomed to it all though and I soon learnt that you just have to go with the flow. By the time I left, I could easily have stayed for six months rather than six weeks."
After a brief period in the United States, next stop for the former Premiership Young Player of the Year was the east coast of Australia, and namely Brisbane. Smith stayed with Howard's parents, having arranged to spend some time training with this season's National Rugby League champions, the Brisbane Broncos.
"I was only meant to be in Brisbane for a couple of weeks, but because of the delays at Heathrow following the terror alert, I ended up training with them for a full month. I stayed with Pat's parents, who were very kind in putting me up. In terms of the rugby, the whole set-up was very professional, which is just what you'd expect from one of the world's top league sides. Saying that, the situation here at Tigers is equally impressive. Craig White and his conditioning staff have made massive strides and we can definitely compete with the best in that department."
Despite enjoying the different elements of his travels, Smith says he's glad to be back at the club he is so proud to represent.
"I had a fantastic time while I was away, and I learnt a lot from the rugby league experience but it's really good to be back at Tigers. While I was at the Broncos, I was
only there to train, so I knew I was never going to play. I'm definitely feeling refreshed and ready to go and I've got a slightly different attitude towards things now that I've been away and seen another side of life. Now that I'm back, I really hope that I can make a difference to Tigers, which is something that was obviously never on the cards in Brisbane. Hopefully things will continue to pick up from here on in."
