Back when Scott Smith was playing on the national men's field hockey team and vying for a spot on the Olympic squad, illegal drugs were the farthest thing from his mind.

Fast forward to September 2007, his playing days behind him, drugs had become such a big part of his life he landed at Grace Hospital in a cocaine induced coma.

"I ran into a couple of bad eggs," Smith told a judge yesterday. "For a lack of a better term it was peer pressure, which shouldn't happen for a man of 35. I can't believe I put myself in that position."

Smith, the former executive director of the Manitoba Field Hockey Association and coach for the senior women's team, pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding the volunteer organization of $6,300 -- money he spent on a lengthy crack bender that landed him in hospital.

Judge Linda Giesbrecht sentenced Smith to 15 months of house arrest and ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service work.

Giesbrecht said Smith's actions were clearly out of character, but chastised him for abusing the trust of volunteers and children.

"What does that do to some idealistic young kid looking up to their sports heroes?" she said.

Court heard Smith had cheque-signing authority for the association and used that power to write 13 cheques over the course of four days. Smith cashed some of the cheques himself, others were cashed by friends or acquaintances who were paid with booze, cigarettes or crack. Volunteers alerted police to the suspected fraud and tracked Smith to the Grace Hospital.

Police launched an investigation and arrested him the following February.

Smith's curfew confines him to his home except when he is working or for the purposes of physical rehabilitation. Court heard Smith is still recovering from a gunshot wound to his foot suffered at the now defunct Empire Cabaret in October 2007.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca