When she started playing football, there were not as many girls' clubs as there are today, and most female footballers began in youth sections of local boys' teams. According to Smith, the facilities and the way players train have changed as well.
"When I first started playing for Tranmere, we trained twice a week, and the club were among the best in women's football at the time. Everything is different now. The training facilities have improved, girls can play football at school and everything has changed dramatically, which is fantastic," she said.
The role of the coach is, of course, also crucial to the development of players. "I don't think I was properly coached until I played for England. I was 17 at the time. There were not enough coaches who were prepared to lead a women's team," admitted the former winger.
Female coaches can also serve as role models. "There is an ever-growing effort to involve more female coaches, and young girls can aspire to those roles. It is important for them to see that they can become professional footballers as well as coaches."
Smith now works as a reporter and analyst for several platforms. That was also a step into the unknown for her in some ways, particularly because she was often the only woman in the mixed zone, for example.
"I like challenges," she began with a smile. "It was a little intimidating at times, but I grew up around boys and have some really good male friends, so I was fine. But it was harder for some of the other female commentators and co-commentators I spoke to," she explained, describing her experience of working in a predominantly male environment.
"Everyone was amazing and helped me a lot," she also recalled of her early days in front of the camera. The fiercest criticism has always come, and still comes, mainly from outside.
"Social media is the worst. I ignore it now, but I used to look at it almost constantly and wonder why people were writing such things about me. It is not important to me anymore. As long as the people I care about think I am doing a good job, that is the only thing I really care about," she concluded.
The full television version of this episode of the Big Pete documentary series will be available on CANAL+ Sport and the CANAL+ streaming service in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Poland, Myanmar, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania and Hungary, and on SuperSport in South Africa and Switzerland.