SCOTT SPEARING says he hopes to be given another chance to bring success back to Bracknell Bees.
The club’s season finished in disappointment last weekend with a 10-7 aggregate play-off quarter-final defeat to London Raiders to bring to an end Spearing’s first campaign as head coach.
Having taken over from Lukas Smital with lofty ambitions to challenge near the top of the league, Spearing could only guide Bracknell to fifth in the NIHL Division 1 South table, 22 points off the top.
And he admits it has been a difficult challenge.
“No matter how hard you think it may be, it’s never as hard as you actually realise once you’re in it,” Spearing told The Wokingham Paper.
“It’s definitely a new situation and a difficult thing to go through, especially coaching all my ex-teammates/friends and trying to tread that fine line between friendship and coach and team-mate, trying to balance them all up is very difficult.
“I’ve got more appreciation for people that do it and have done it, being a player-coach and even coaching.
“It’s not an easy one but it’s something I’ve learnt a lot from and I really, really appreciate the opportunity from (club directors) Carol (Miller) and Stuart (Robinson) to trust me and allow me to do it this year and I’m very proud that I was given that opportunity and I’d love to do it again.
“But I need to speak with Carol and Stuart and find out exactly what’s going on with next year and then we can move on from there.”
Bees faced an uphill task to reach the semi-finals after losing the play-off first leg 6-5 at The Hive on Saturday.
And while they levelled it at 7-7 overall on Sunday, Raiders pulled clear late on to win 4-2 on the night and 10-7 on aggregate.
“The most disappointing thing is that we just didn’t play as well as we could,” said Spearing.
“That’s the worst thing. I understand that sometimes things don’t fall your way but we beat ourselves.
“It wasn’t the fact we got beaten by a better team.
“We made mistakes to cause the loss and that’s obviously very disappointing.”
Having only been drafted in to replace Smital in May, Spearing had to assemble a brand new squad following Bracknell’s move in the National League.
But if he is handed another season in charge, the player-coach will at least have a bit more time to begin building his side for the 2018/19 campaign.
“It was my first year and there’s a lot of things I’ve learnt and it’s not instant,” said Spearing.
“Unless you’ve got a huge budget, you can’t just walk in and bring whatever players you want in.
“There’s a lot of recruitment that goes on behind the scenes in the summer.”
He added: “Last year the recruitment was quite delayed whereas other teams were already recruiting.
“So hopefully I’ve got a bit of a headstart this year and I can start recruiting a bit earlier.
“I know the protocols and the process of getting guys in and stuff like that now so I’ve already spoken to a lot of guys from last year so I’ve still got all their contact details and I can try and speak to them as soon as possible really.”
