The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Programme for Sports Leadership Development (HBMPSLD) has been developed to reformat the sports sector and transform it into a business industry rather than a personal industry.

This is according to HBMPSLD director Adel Al Shared, who was commissioned by Dubai Sports Council (DSC) to customise Dubai Government's Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development specifically for the sports sector.

"The objective is to ensure long-term customised leadership development in the sports sector," revealed Al Shared.

"The second objective is to lead change and project a sports society, so basically that will be a ‘change agents' programme," he added.

Al Shared explained the rationale for the course: "First, certainly all sectors need to develop in Dubai. However, the sports sector has a really good potential to reformat the whole set-up - to look at the sports industry as a leisure industry and business industry rather than very much a personal, physical industry.

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"We need those on the course to be ‘change agents' - to change the practice and culture of doing sport within the UAE.

"We will work closely with them on career planning and creative change programmes to utilise their learning," said Al Shared.

"Also, we face the challenge here that everyone sees sports as a male-oriented sector, so the HBMPSLD has very much encouraged females - 7% of applicants are female which is very good," he added.

The programme, which has so far received 500 applicants who will now undergo a thorough screening process, has capacity for 35 UAE national sports industry professionals on the course. Seven places would be reserved for women, added Al Shared.

The successful applicants would stay in their jobs, said Al Shared, and receive on-the-job training for 18 months, in addition to class-room training, coaching, a personal development plan and in some cases travel so as to understand benchmarking and the global outlook.

Training providers would include international business school INSEAD, Duke University in South Carolina, US and Manchester Business School in the UK.

HBMPSLD intends to cover all types of sports, from school sports to official clubs and from football to water sports, desert sports and new sports, said Al Shared.

It will teach project management, finance, asset management, ideas planning and how to sell those ideas and build the community to support new projects and new sports, he explained.

"All these practices are also world class, and very much focused on global outlook, so the country can invite and run international and regional tournaments and sporting events," concluded Al Shared.

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