Greg Sproule's job is likely to make any sport lover turn green with envy. The managing director of IMG Middle East builds golf courses, organises cricket matches and promotes sports tourism in the UAE. Sara Sayed finds out if this Canadian is a good sport.
Those who have played on the UAE's golf courses can appreciate the peace and tranquillity of the undulating fairways and water traps, as well as the challenges they pose to those who strive to remain under par.
Yet behind the serene greens and fair fairways are professionals engaged in the challenging world of sports management.
Greg Sproule is one such man. A sports management pioneer, Sproule helped his company, IMG, bring golf to East Asia and is currently developing state-of-the-art courses in the UAE, helping to shore up its reputation as an international golfing destination.
Sproule, 42, insists that his tan - which looks suspiciously like a golfer's tan - was not acquired on the course, but by spending weekends playing outdoor sports with his family.
A sportsman, risk taker and entrepreneur, Sproule began his career in sports management while still at university, working for the Canadian National Men's Volleyball team.
Yet his first taste of leadership was even earlier as a school council president - and it was there he honed his skills as a public speaker, manager and negotiator.
At 22, he was drawn away from the quiet parklands of central Alberta to Seoul, South Korea - then an emerging economy. There, working in consumer marketing research, Sproule learnt a lesson that stayed with him for life.
"A switch flipped in my head about six months after reaching Korea. I was beating my head against the wall trying to adjust. I then stopped and realised that I was in another country and had to adapt; the responsibility was mine," he says.
"That change in perspective really helped me when I was 22 and has helped me in every country I have been in since."
Afterwards, Sproule moved to Hong Kong, Singapore and is now involved in planning, designing, managing and marketing sports tourism in the UAE.
His passion for the sports industry - golf, in particular - is obvious as he discusses its development and potential in the region.
I
I have always been somewhat of a risk taker. I would take on projects without knowing what I was doing and learn along the way. I will always be grateful for my first international experience in South Korea.
I met my wife, Gwen, in Singapore 10 years ago. I had seen her playing beach volleyball but didn't meet her until a few months later. Her beauty and spirit were absolutely overwhelming and I knew right away that she was the girl for me.
She has a way with people and with those she cares about that makes them feel comfortable and special in an instant. If I hadn't married Gwen I would have been disowned by my family!
We were married nearly eight years ago, also in Singapore. It was a very simple day, but it was ours. That seems like yesterday.
We have two children: Matthew, 7, and Lauren, 6. We believe we have been blessed with two of the most wonderful children on earth. Before becoming a father, I never would have believed that you could love anyone or anything more than we love them. Our motto is "give them roots and wings".
I make sure that the weekends belong to the kids. We spend time at the Jumeirah Beach Club playing tennis, swimming and building the biggest sandcastles we possibly can.
Wild Wadi is a family favourite and the kids have learned to ski at Ski Dubai, which they really enjoy. We're now able to add that to the activities we do together. Our friends back in Canada can't quite get over that our kids are learning to ski in the desert, but it's a great place for them to learn.
We have only been in Dubai since January and other than Abu Dhabi and Sharjah haven't ventured out to surrounding areas very much, but now that the weather is turning around we want to do more exploring.
I firmly believe that over the next few years, Abu Dhabi will become a premier golf destination.
ME
Me and my small-town upbringing:
I was born in Canada in a small, tightknit community called Red Deer, Alberta. In Red Deer, most people are farmers, although some work in the petrochemical and oil fields services industries. The people in my hometown number 25,000 in total and are hard working and down-to-earth.
My father owned a pharmacy and drug store and was the town pharmacist. But he was much more. As far back as I can remember, my father was actively involved in community service.
He was a Kinsman, (member of a charitable community group), a Rotarian, a Shriner, and the chairman of the hospital board. Growing up under the wing of such an active and well-known member of the community was both a good and bad thing.
I was known as "Ken Sproule's son" and the residents of Red Deer watched my every move. At that time, I longed for anonymity and found the public scrutiny annoying; but looking back, it kept me out of a lot of trouble.
The community watched me and watched out for me.
As a teenager, I worked for my father's pharmacy as a delivery boy. I would ride my bike around town and through the fields and dirt roads delivering prescriptions.
Me and "pulling up my socks":
I was an average student until grade 11. I had one more year to go before I finished high school and had no real direction in my life. I decided that it was time to "pull up my socks" and give myself the option of going to university.
In grade 12, I took my studies seriously and improved my grades. I was elected president of the student council, made captain of the volleyball team and began coaching little league baseball.
I really didn't know what I was doing back then. I was confident, I took risks without even considering the downside and had a tremendous amount of trust in the people around me. It was a 'why not just try it?' attitude.
And it worked. When I started speaking in public, I would impersonate people and make the audience laugh. I gained experience doing things in front of people, like pep rallies, assemblies, events, and making decisions on the fly.
The things I did that year had a monumental effect on my future direction. It was as if the seed was planted for me to go on leading, speaking in public and being accountable to a board and a large group of stakeholders. Those experiences at the age of 17 set the stage for university and were a launching pad for my career.
Me and university:
I was admitted to the University of Calgary in Alberta where I worked towards a bachelor's degree in commerce, concentrating on marketing.
I had many great experiences in university, but the most valuable was my participation in the International Association of Students in Economics and Commerce (AISEC).
AISEC is a student-run organisation in 800 universities around the world. Among other things, it operates an international job exchange programme.
The students find employers in their own country who are willing to employ and pay a foreign student to work in their establishment. If you secure, for example, 80 jobs in your country, you can send 80 students to a foreign country for a job that lasts between 2 and 18 months in the summer or after graduation.
By my fourth year in university, I became president of our chapter and chaired AISEC for Western Canada. Until that point, I had never been out of Western Canada, so I was able to travel to several cities in the eastern part of the country and subsequently around the world. It was a real eye-opener for me.
Even though I was not an A-student, I realised there were other experiences during university that were equally important. I was very passionate about the organisations I belonged to and organised several trips to Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies and several skiing events.
While I was in university, I worked part-time for the Canadian National Men's Volleyball team. I took care of sponsorship, sales, and organised North America's largest outdoor volleyball event in 1985.
My passion was AISEC and in 1987, the year I was graduating, we sent a comptroller to the AISEC International Exchange Congress in Sweden. This is where students are matched with jobs around the world.
When our comptroller came back, we had a big party with a huge map of the world on the wall. The students' names were picked out of the hat and placed on the country where they were going.
Some went to Iceland, others to Australia, Germany, Taiwan and Hungary. My name said 'Seoul, Korea' and I could not have been happier! I was going to Korea in 1987 and the Summer Olympics were going to be held there in 1988. I could not have been luckier.
Me and my Korea move:
In 1987, Seoul was like the UAE is now - developing and booming. There was no unemployment, companies were profitable, the country was under construction and the future looked bright. It was amazing.
It wasn't all a bed of roses, though, at least not in the beginning. At the time when I was supposed to go to South Korea there was a lot of student unrest in the country. They didn't want to give foreign students visas because they thought that we might fuel the tensions in their country. It was very frustrating.
I waited for the visa for days. I flew to Vancouver to be close to the consulate, and waited there day after day for seven weeks. I finally got the visa and arrived in Korea on November 2, 1987.
I was 22 when I moved to Korea and the early days were the worst days of my life. The bus ride to my office was 45 minutes long and harrowing. I lived in a dusty condo development with a local family.
The only things I had in my tiny room were a mattress and a fluorescent light. I slept on the floor and washed in a big bucket of cold water. I didn't know how to use chopsticks.
I struggled with eating rice and fish for breakfast, not knowing the language well enough to communicate with people, navigating the complex bus system, and being a stranger in a strange place.
But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Why? Because up till that point, life was good. My father was a fantastic provider. I wasn't spoiled, but we had everything we needed. He taught me about money and responsibility.
My survival in Korea depended a lot on the values that were instilled in me as a child. When you are 20,000 km from home, unable to communicate with others, you absolutely have to depend on yourself and not give up.
In fact, giving up did not even occur to me. It's remarkable how a period in your life can be both the best and worst experience. I grew to love Korea.
I worked for the largest consumer marketing research company in the country. We did work for Pepsi, Kodak, General Foods ... and other multinational companies that were ready to launch products into the newly affluent Korean market.
It was a great experience. We did a study for Epilady and found that they couldn't do business in Korea because Korean women were not hairy. We did a study for Subway and found that they needed to make their sandwiches smaller, because in Korea it is considered rude to take big bites out of food.
We helped companies avoid costs and embarrassment in the (then) newly developing Korean market.
Me and the Olympics:
There were two big events that occurred when I was in Korea. One was the Winter Olympics in Calgary at my campus; the other was the Summer Olympics in Seoul, where I was residing.
It was really difficult for me to miss the Winter Olympics, but I was thrilled to be in Seoul for the Summer Olympics. I was there sitting right behind Canadian runner Ben Johnson's mother when he crossed the finish line.
I went to my office so proud that a Canadian runner won the gold. So elated! Then my Korean colleagues held up the newspaper and it said "Ben Johnson on Drugs." It was humiliating and deflating.
After some thought, I tried to look at the positive aspects of the Olympics that year ... it was a real launching pad for South Korea in the eyes of the world. In that respect, it was a success.
Me in Hong Kong and Singapore:
When my placement in Korea was finished in 1988, I was immediately offered a job in Hong Kong with a company called Hankook Research.
I moved to Hong Kong to do industrial market research - this was really where my interest lay. I travelled to many foreign countries for work, doing market studies on industrial markets for large clients.
It was a great platform to learn and develop my skills. I was with them for three very intense and exciting years. During that time, I travelled all over South East Asia. I loved Hong Kong.
I then joined a company called Technomie Consultants and moved back to Seoul. I was working on Whirlpool's Asian strategy at the Chicago headquarters when I met and made friends with the people at Maytag (a home appliance manufacturer).
I then began working exclusively for Maytag in Seoul. It felt great returning to Seoul. It was still as chaotic as ever, but that was what I loved about it, it keeps you grounded.
Before I knew it, Maytag shifted its Asian office to Hong Kong. I moved back to Hong Kong for eight months and was then relocated to Chicago. Nine days before going to Chicago, I received a call from a friend in Singapore.
He said that IMG was hiring for a position in sports management and the job had my name all over it. I went for the interview and found out that the job was in sales and marketing management for all their golf courses in Asia.
Twenty seconds into the interview, they asked me: "What is the difference between marketing washing machines and golf memberships?" I answered: "There is no difference. The products are different but the process is the same."
After the interview, I travelled through Europe then arrived in Chicago. My second day on the job, I received a call with the job offer (in Singapore). It was not a difficult decision, I had always loved sport, marketing and organising new projects.
I really felt strongly that not to go would be abandoning a great opportunity. I informed the president of Maytag that I was going to Singapore for another opportunity.
Singapore was by far the softest landing in Asia. It is the Switzerland of Asia - a really easy place to live. I worked very hard when I got there (in 1994), loved what I was doing and believed that we were doing great things.
I was in IMG's golf course management division, I managed sales and marketing operations for 14 golf courses in Asia.
In the past 12 years, I have had a lot of balls in the air. It is easy to work long and hard when you love what you are doing. I then moved into business development, golf division.
Me and the UAE:
Four years ago, I travelled to Dubai and found that there was great potential for golf course management and design. We opened an office in Dubai and the development here has been non-stop.
We have designed six golf courses. Colin Montgomerie co-designed the Montgomerie, Thomas Bjorn redesigned the Dubai Creek, Nick Faldo is redesigning the Wadi Course at Emirates Golf Club and Vijay Singh is designing the water course at Jumeirah Golf Estates and redesigning the first two Dubailand Golf City courses.
Abu Dhabi is the most significant event initiative. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship will be held on January 18-20. Together with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, we will put Abu Dhabi on the global golf map. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make the event a glowing success.
MYSELF
Are the golf players you work with just signatures on the project or do they really contribute to the development?
They are very dedicated to their golf course design work. It's a sad misconception that others (circulate) to make it sound like the players just add their names to the bottom of a drawing - and that's it.
What most don't see are the five or so intense design meetings that take place before the course routing is completed and the many other meetings that take place behind the scenes to determine hole strategy and the overall playing experience.
The player's greatest contribution to the design process is strategy. Where to place tee boxes and fairway bunkers, how to slope or mound fairways, what the green complexes should look and play like, how green undulations will affect pin placements, why the water edge should be brought-in more ... and so on.
If you think about it, no one in the world plays more golf under more varied conditions with a greater variety of golfers than professional golfers. The marketing benefits they bring to a project are unparalleled as well.
Has the UAE 'arrived' as a golfing destination?
I think that the UAE's 'arrival' on the golf scene has only just begun and the future is exceptionally bright. Geographically, Europe is most familiar with the UAE as a golf destination, given its proximity and its history as a great holiday destination.
The rest of the world - Asia and North America, in particular - is only starting to discover the UAE and that potential is significant.
Through the power of television and great star player fields, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the Dubai Desert Classic and the Dubai Ladies Masters have been instrumental in putting the UAE on the global golf map.
In order to further develop, the UAE needs resort or pay-for-play courses that are affordable for everyone. The existing courses have done an excellent job of establishing and growing corporate golf, membership play and junior programmes.
However, in my opinion the tourist golf business has the most dramatic long-term upside if future courses are designed, built, managed, positioned and marketed properly.
Tell us about the DLF Cup. What is the significance of this for the UAE?
We are very proud of our role in conceptualising, delivering and televising the DLF Cup, but the real credit should go to Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan (UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research), whose vision and dedication to developing and showcasing cricket in Abu Dhabi made the matches possible.
The huge appetite for world-class cricket in the UAE was again demonstrated during the event. India and Pakistan showcased excellent cricket and the amazing fan support proved that.
Together with the Abu Dhabi Cricket Club, we certainly hope to be able to deliver more high-profile cricket events in the future.
Every major cricketing nation is well represented in the UAE and Dubai is the base for the International Cricket Council (ICC). What do you envisage as the sport's future here?
It has a great future. The passion for cricket is here, the sponsor appetite is here, the facilities are in place and are improving on a regular basis, and the ICC has voted with its feet - so there is no reason why the UAE can't be a great cricket hub.
The development of grass-roots cricket will hopefully remain an important priority - both at the youth and the club levels, which includes the need for facilities in Dubai.
What's the most bizarre experience you've had in your business?
One of the more embarrassing situations was at the 1998 PGA Championship when I was walking beside the first fairway with a player's wife and a colleague who managed him.
Amy Mickelson (wife of golfer Phil Mickelson) was down further and kept looking and smiling at me, which I thought was pretty cool. I hadn't met her before.
She started to walk quickly towards me ... and as I got ready to say hello she walked past me and hugged the player's wife I was walking with. Here I thought it was me. Yeah, right.
Ask me how red my face was!
