After 15 years as either captain or coach of St. George's -- and sometimes both -- Wendell Smith is looking forward to a summer without any heavy involvement in cricket.

Except for offering his services to Bermuda Cricket Board of Control's youth clinics during the month of July, school principal Smith will cherish his free time once school breaks for the summer.

"My plans for this season are to take a break from club life, primarily because of my career and my family which are taking priority,'' said Smith.

"Because of the demands on my time I really don't have time to do a proper job of coaching. There are always things I could be doing, school related.

Most days I don't get out of school until 5.00-5.30.'' Smith is the head teacher at Paget Primary, and with two children of his own, he recognises the importance of being able to spend quality time with them.

"I have sacrificed enough of my family life in the past and I don't want to do that again,'' he said.

"As a principal I see that there is a need for fathers to play their role in the family. My son is four and my daughter seven and developmentally those are critical years in a child's life as far as academic and social development and I want to be there as a father for them. Most people I speak to understand that.'' A conversation Smith had with his daughter made him realise that he was missing some important occasions.

"She said something that pricked my conscience the other day when she was talking about her birthday that's coming up in a few months. She said `I can only remember you being at one of my birthday parties' and that made me realise that I didn't want my children to grow up and realise they didn't know their father.'' The timing of Smith's decision to step down would suggest that he has another motivation for doing so...namely the treatment of his brother Clay by St.

George's last season when he was controversially dropped for Cup Match.

"People might think it's coincidental that he's leaving after they kicked his brother in the behind,'' said Smith.

"But the truth of the matter is I had spoken to a couple of my good friends three weeks before Cup Match and said that I knew this was going to be my last year at St. George's, based on the fact that I couldn't commit myself to the programme as I would like.

"And, Robert Calderon alluded to this when he said, `a coach can tell when his time is up'. When you have been there a while you have to start wondering if your message is losing its freshness.'' Smith was responsible for turning St. George's into a formidable unit in the 1980s and '90s and was widely recognised as one of the Island's top captains -- and later leading coaches.

While Dean Minors is set to take over the coaching of St. George's when he returns from school, Smith recently had an offer to coach another club, which he turned down.

"In the grocery store I had an offer from somebody in this neck of the woods,'' said the Paget resident who still has St. George's in his heart, despite what happened last year.

"St. George's were good to me, they helped send me to England three times for coaching.'' Smith was chairman of the selection committee last year which had three members intent on removing his brother from the Cup Match team. Only he and captain Herbie Bascome were pulling for Clay's retention.

"That meeting that we had to select the Cup Match team did leave a very, very bad taste in my mouth,'' Smith admitted.

"But that's not why I left the club. I have stood down from everything because I just don't have the time.'' And while Smith has achieved plenty in a playing career that saw him become the first batsman to reach 1,000 Cup Match runs a few years ago, he does have one major regret...that he didn't last long in the Bermuda captaincy.

Now, he doesn't have any designs on the coaching job with the senior national team.

"No way, my job is just too demanding, as any principal will tell you,'' Smith stated.

"When I took the advanced coaching course in England there were only four people on the course -- Wasim Raja who coaches Pakistan, Dave Houghton who just finished coaching Zimbabwe and a county wicketkeeper from Somerset.

"I was still aspiring to be Bermuda's captain when that position might have come up and obviously you can't be a player and national coach.

"I got the captaincy very briefly, for one tour of England, and we were due to go to the ICC a year later and I injured myself. Albert Steede was given the captaincy and I was never given it back. I don't mind saying that it hurt very much.'' Added Smith: "My biggest regret was getting injured prior to the ICC in Kenya because thet team that went to Kenya should have gone to the World Cup. "That was when three teams would have the opportunity to go the World Cup and Bermuda were in the semi-finals with Holland, Kenya and United Arab Emirates and Bermuda was the team that missed out. That was the tour when Arnold Manders never bowled a delivery!'' Smith's teaching career developed after that tour as he returned to school for his Masters degree and went on to become head teacher.

"I have turned a negative into a positive, because that same year I decided to go on and do my Masters, so it was a blessing in disguise,'' he says proudly.

"Had I not got injured I may not have this position that I have now. I probably would still be deeply rooted in cricket.'' Family man: Wendell Smith, player, captain or coach for St. George's for more than two decades, has decided to put his family first this summer and skip the cricket season.