Medway Park Crusaders coach James Vear. Picture by Cesar Velasco.

Medway Park Crusaders coach James Vear moves on to dream job.

Medway Park Crusaders have been dealt a huge blow with the departure of head coach James Vear.

He has been offered a dream job in Canada as assistant coach at a university side in Halifax, which he felt was too good to turn down.

It brings an end to a successful spell for the 31-year-old who took over the season before last and guided the Crusaders to promotion, and a strong finish last term.

And Vear knows it’s going to be a huge step up across the pond as he chases his ultimate goal of coaching in the States.

“My first aim when I joined the Crusaders was to get them into the division they are in, and I did that in my first season. I did want to win something before I left, unfortunately this opportunity was too good to be true,” he said.

“It’s going to be a lot more intense for me, I will be expected to do a lot more.

“We only trained once or twice a week at Crusaders, in Canada we are going to be training every single day. It’s going to be a big step up, a lot more competitive.

“I wouldn’t say I have any regrets, I might have done some things differently, I have definitely learnt a lot this season compared to last season.”

It’s not the first time Vear has been invovled in basketball abroad, as he played in Texas on a scholarship when he was younger.

But he picked up a serious knee injury in his early 20s from which he never fully recovered and that led him into coaching at the Sevenoaks Suns women’s side, before becoming assistant coach at the Crusaders.

Vear has a year to impress at Halifax with his future beyond then undecided.

“I’m trying to push myself as much as I can in coaching,” he said. “You never know what might happen after that year, I would like to move to America, but you never know what’s going to happen.

“Because I’m the assistant, it’s more about how I get on with the head coach, and how much rapport I have with the players.”