Zach Salmi has returned to his hometown of Stawell after nearly 12 months in the United States chasing his dream of playing American football.
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Salmi moved to Missouri in August last year after earning a spot on the football roster of National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics college team Central Methodist University.
The 21-year-old played as a punter, taking to the field in his college’s top side just twice, taking just two punts.
“I dressed for every varsity match and got two punts. They didn’t go too well,” he said. The CMU Eagles struggled last season, winning just two matches.
Despite not earning much game time and having limited success, Salmi said his experience playing college football was “unreal”.
“It was amazing, I loved it. It was a lot different from doing school here,” he said.
“Sport is a lot bigger over there. I just wanted to go over there, see how I liked it and get the American college experience. I enjoyed myself even though we didn’t have too much success.”
Salmi had never played American football before his experience with the Eagles, playing football with Horsham District side Swifts.
READ MORE: SALMI TAKES A PUNT ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
He said adjusting to the new game was not the most difficult thing he had to overcome.
“The hardest thing was waking up at 5.30am to get to 6am practice in negative three degrees, that wasn’t too much fun,” he said.
“We had training three times a week, three weights sessions and about 10 hours worth of meetings. More than 90 per cent of the students are athletes which made doing all of that a lot easier.”
Salmi studied athletic training while he was in the United States. Despite enjoying his experience, he will not return to complete his degree.
It was amazing, I loved it
- Zach Salmi
“Jobs don’t really exist in Australia for the course I was studying which put me off a bit,” he said.
“I will stay in Australia and go and study nutrition in Melbourne next semester. I would have loved to have gone back and was planning to do so but it is best for me to stay in Australia.”
Salmi took to the field in Swifts’ drawn match with Natimuk United at the weekend. He will play out the remainder of the season with Victorian Amateur Football Association team Prahran Assumption.
READ MORE: STAWELL’S SALMI MAKES VARSITY DEBUT
He said he will miss the “different culture” of American sport. “Everyone sees how massive their pro sport is but college sport is nearly just as big,” he said.
“We had a small school but would still have hundreds of people watching and cheering. It is completely different to anything I have ever experienced here.”
The 21-year-old said he plans on returning soon.
“In a couple of years I’d love to go back – I made some really good mates over there,” he said.
