A keen footballer at a young age, Richard Chapman decided early on that he would prefer to be the coach than the player.
He studied a sports business degree and moved to the United States from the UK as a soccer academy manager at a New Jersey football academy.
“I was always good at school and I thought it would be better to go the university route and do my coaching qualification, and business was a passion of mine,” says the 33-year-old Englishman. “If I could combine both, that would be a win-win situation.”
His ambition came true in January last year, when he and his business partner, Steve Whittaker, 33, set up Elite Sports Academy, a Dubai-based multi-sports company that provides coaching to children in the UAE. When Elite first launched its after-school training programme, it partnered with six schools in Dubai and had four employees. Today, the business runs sports classes in 15 schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with 12 full-time staff.
The fledgling business is among a growing number of private sports academies in the UAE as parents and children try to complement the education received at schools with a more focused approach, says Mr Chapman.
Shortage of physical education (PE) teachers in government schools has been a worry for the Ministry of Education. In 2011, about 100 schools in Dubai and the Northern Emirates did not have PE teachers and around 460 schools needed at least two teachers on staff, the ministry told The National.
UAE schoolchildren have one of the highest incidences of obesity in the world. Around 15.5 per cent are obese and 39.2 per cent are overweight, according to the Ministry of Education’s school health campaign this year. Unhealthy lifestyles are a major contributing factor to the problem.
“Only 17.2 per cent of the pupils have more than 60 minutes of exercise a day,” the ministry revealed.
Sports coaching “is a hugely growing area, not just in Dubai but the whole of the UAE”, Mr Chapman says. “And that shows with the growth of the school market, and shows how many families are moving to the area.”
Elite’s after-school training programme has 11 coaches for a variety of sports from football to swimming, karate, gymnastics, tag rugby and tennis. It also employs 10 part-time coaches a week.
Out of all the schools for which it provides football coaching, it then selects the best players and prepares them to be professional footballers.
Last year, it took 24 of its top students to tour the grounds of Manchester United, Manchester City and Newcastle United, playing them against the clubs’ junior sides. Next April, it expects to take under-10 and under-12 players on a similar trip to the UK.
In June, it wants its under-14 and under-16 teams to participate in the Gothia Cup world youth football tournament held each year in Sweden.
Some of its coaches also deliver sessions during curriculum time, covering for school staff when they are on leave.
While Elite has trained its football students on school campuses to date, last month it opened a facility in partnership with Horizon International School in Umm Shief. The academy manages it from 5pm until midnight for football, netball, rugby and hockey, offering sessions to children and adults.
The other sports continue to be coached at the schools.
Started with an initial investment of Dh250,000 – sourced from the founder’s savings – the company hopes to raise Dh4 million by next summer to open its own facility and expand to Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East. It expects the facility to be ready in September next year.
“The schools are delivering their own after-school extra-curricular activities, but they do not necessarily have a specific karate instructor or a swimming instructor,” says Mr Chapman. “Lots of new academies are starting up and there are a lot of start-ups in this sector in the last six to 12 months.”
Elite – which has coaches from India, Ukraine, France and the UK and Ireland – recruits via online advertisements on UK and Irish sites as well as through local headhunters and job portals. But recruitment has proved tough, says Mr Chapman.
“It’s a challenge to get the correct staff and get them for the salaries that you can pay as a company and that they want to earn in this part of the world if they are highly qualified,” he says.
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