Why Schools Are Investing Big in Specialist Sports

Tim Elliott (0:00)

It's the Morning Drive at Mira Business FM. Schools are moving beyond the traditional football and basketball and athletics with specialist or more specialist sports like golf and motorsport entering the classroom. As schools invest in specialist facilities and academies, these are the sports that are perhaps becoming a new competitive advantage in education. We're here to talk about the business behind what this shift is.

What it means for education and the market of education is Joshua Levenson, who is the Director of Futures at GEMS School of Research & Innovation. Josh, it's good to have you here.

Joshua Levenson (0:41)

Good morning. Lovely to be here.

Tim Elliott (0:43)

You're very welcome. Director Futures is a great title, by the way.

Joshua Levenson (0:48)

A title that could only exist at the GEMS School of Research & Innovation.

Tim Elliott (0:51)

Yeah, I think so. So, if you ever move on, keep a little box of business cards. So, you always remember that. That would be my tip. But look, welcome.

When we look at schools expanding beyond the sort of traditional team sports approach that we're all very aware of and into kind of specialist hubs like, you know, you've got golf and motorsport academies there. What's driving this evolution? Because it's a reasonably big change.

Joshua Levenson (1:17)

Yeah, opportunity is the first and foremost point that we're working on.

And a school is changing the landscape of what education is looking like, not just on a curriculum level, but also in how we are educating future ready learners. And that's the goal and that's everything that we're working towards. We can step away from the traditional model. So be that with some of the lessons that are taking place in class, with some of the technologies we've got, but also on the sporting aspect of it. So we can move beyond just the football, netball, swimming. If we want to do that, we've got the wonderful facilities. We've got the FIFA, La Liga-grade pitch. We've got the indoor basketball courts and netball courts. We've got a 50-meter Olympic pool. But how else can we hook other students on to excel in within a sporting field as well? And that's where the Golf Academy comes in. That's where the Motorsport Academy comes in.

Tim Elliott (2:05)

OK. So I mean, all the other sports are catered for. What's a La Liga-level pitch, by the way?

Joshua Levenson (2:11)

So in terms of, yeah, the standard of it, the size of it, the type of turf that's used for it as well. So because it's a 5G pitch, so that continued investment in having the very best quality.

Tim Elliott (2:24)

A 5G football pitch.

Joshua Levenson (2:25)

5G football pitch with a wonderful screen and quite the set.

Tim Elliott (2:28)

I've learned something. So is this because student interests are changing? Is it parent demand? Is it a differentiation thing? Is it all of the above moving towards Golf, Motorsport, Academies like that?

Joshua Levenson (2:42)

Yeah, it's a mixture of all three. There is that appetite to prepare students for the world of 2040 or even just the next chapter of their learning as well. And so that means, like I mentioned before, stepping away from that traditional model as well. How can we create students who are able to thrive in a world that's unknown as well? So that means broaden their experience. That means giving them different opportunities as well. So not just funneling children into the typical football, swimming, netball aspect as well. A child may take part in the Golf Academy. They may really enjoy hitting the balls, but they may also see some of the analytical points as well. So the technologies that we're bringing in within the Golf Academy, it's the same within the Motorsports Academy, is blending that technology with sport as well.

If a student enjoys driving around the track, but also really enjoys taking apart a car and building it up and seeing some of those engineering skills as well, then we're opening up new pathways. And that should be everything that students are getting at SRI.

Tim Elliott (3:39)

Okay. And I guess kids, students are becoming more interested in golf and motorsport. They're huge sports, particularly popular here. So the demand is there from that point of view.

Joshua Levenson (3:53)

Yeah, it is. And the continued investment of the GEMS group in making sure that we have these opportunities and these partnerships, the Motorsport Academy with XL Motorsport, Robert Dombos and Olly Millroy, some of our parent ambassadors. And the same with the Tommy Fleetwood Academy as well. That TFA program is built around not just creating better sportspeople, it's also about creating character as well, those qualities that separate our students. And in a very competitive field within the UAE, but also across the world, we want our students to have a mark of a slightly different educational upbringing.