Diving right into his new role

q&a Seth Chappels, manager of Dubai Sports City's new Swimming Academy, talks about his plans for swimmers of all levels and skill in the UAE.

Seth Chappels wants to get the UAE swimming in his new job at Dubai Sports City.

Seth Chappels is the manager of Dubai Sports City's new Swimming Academy. He previously worked as director of aquatics for the GEMS Swim Academy in Dubai and represented the UK at the ­Commonwealth Games and the World Swimming Championships.

I will be setting up programmes for swimmers of all levels and skill in the UAE, from those who want to improve their swimming standard and general fitness to those who swim recreationally.

We're going to have a 50-metre, Olympic-size pool that anyone can swim in by buying a membership. We will have two or three lanes dedicated to people who want to just swim at their leisure. All they have to do is swipe their card and enter.

I think it's a tremendous opportunity for people from all walks of life to practise. From the national to the community level, a facility like ours gives them the chance to get proper training. We will offer accredited programmes and help in creating a road map for training to a level you would like to reach. We offer classes for children as young as six months, as well as for people 50 to 60 years old. We will even have a triathlon programme for people looking to represent the UAE or their home countries. We also want to create more competition for kids and increase the level at which they can participate.

On a swimming front, we actually have a swimmer competing at the Olympics this year. It is our aim to work really closely with the UAE Swimming Federation. Right now they're doing a great job of promoting swimming and producing a number of really talented swimmers. If need be we'd be willing to loan out our instructors and our pool as well. I know the government is building, for the 2010 FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) World Championships, a facility that would give swimmers a place to train and compete in.

It was a great learning ­experience. I worked more with developing curriculum and after-school programmes for students, whereas here we'll be working with schools closely and delivering swimming programmes. Also we have the advantage of running independently from a school framework.

It was a tremendous experience. Competing at such a high level gives me an extra insight into how things should be set up. I've learnt from my mistakes so we can have great training and offer the best service we can.