Charlie Smyth is focused on keeping his starting kicker spot after the New Orleans Saints brought in Tanner Brown for competition ahead of the new NFL season. Brown arrives with pedigree – he is the UFL Special Teams Player of the Year.Competition is part of the job for kickers, which is something Smyth knows all about. The Co Down man seized his opportunity after Blake Grupe was released midway through last season. Smyth impressed in his six appearances in the NFL, with numerous highlights including a 47-yard winning field goal against the Carolina Panthers with only six seconds left.Brown excels in long-range kicking – also a strength of Smyth’s – and made three kicks over 50 yards in his latest practice session in training camp. Smyth, though, is focused on himself in training ahead of the first game of the regular season against the Detroit Lions on September 13th.“I’m still relatively new, I need time to establish that role so the training camps and preseason games are vital,” says Smyth. Next up for the New Orleans Saints is their first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on August 15th.He added: “I’m in the position now where I’m facing competition, but really I’m just focused on myself, making sure my process is good, showing the head coach that I’m your dude, I’m the fella who should be the kicker here.“I’ve been in this position plenty of times before, with Blake and others. The specialists, we all play cards together, we’re always around each other. It’s the nature of the business. When it’s my time to kick, it’s mine. When it’s his, it’s his. It’s not personal (the competition).”It’s a pressure-filled environment where a bad kick can cost you your job, as Jude McAtamney found out last season. Smyth doesn’t allow himself to dwell on such concerns.“When you talk about pressure, it’s just perceived, it’s not the real thing,” he says. “Once you perceive it as ‘I’ve got to make this’ and you get tight and tense, that’s when you don’t see the best version of yourself.”He is now in his third training camp with the Saints after making the switch from playing Gaelic football for Down. Smyth is enjoying a new-found fame that has seen him feature in fantasy football and the EA Sports Madden NFL 27 video game.“I saw myself in Madden there and I thought ‘this is mental’. I used to play this game as a teenager growing up, [but I] never thought I would be in this position. It’s a cool feeling, but I’m not getting too carried away with it. [I’m] just trying to become focused on being that player instead of being the fan and I think I’m doing a good job with that.”