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Interview with the coolest Course Director in Sharm El Sheikh - Well...it's a long story ....I'll try to make it short! After several years of seasonal working in the Mediterranean sea in 1995 I decided to visit Sharm ! ..everyone ,I mean clients and colleagues , were telling me "have you ever dived in the red sea? ...You will love it! " ... I was very curious ...so in one of my breaks from university I decided to get a flight ...and without any pre-employment I landed in Sharm el Sheikh ... after some days of job research and several days on the boat learning the different dive spots and the different way of working I finally found work as a free lance ! It was like being in paradise ... warm water , nice people , beautiful dives ! ... so I started meeting people and "building connections" ... My "enterprising " nature made me get nice deals with some diving centers in Sharm ... and once back home in Italy I was arranging diving groups ....twice a year I was traveling to Sharm doing some dives... having fun ... and getting paid !! not bad for a university student!! My main objective at that time was to finish the university but ... during a Tourism Show in Milan while walking with some friends through the booth of Egypt... we got in contact with the GM of an hotel "under construction" in Sharm...of course the first question was "do you have a Diving Center inside the resort??" The GM was surprised.... a diving center was something new to him ... but he was quite interested! ... after faxes on faxes with proposals , Cvs etc etc ... it was during one of my "diving group trips" that we decided to go and see the GM personally ... he was even more surprised to see us in his hotel ... I think that was the right move ... and in may 1998 we finally signed our contract!! In july 1998 I got my PhD in accounting ... and in August we finally opened Scubadreamer DC! After that , it was a continuous growing : the center and me! ... Year after year the center was getting bigger, offering better services , "covering" more languages... on my side ...I started assisting IDCs to keep myself updated and year after year my diving education was going further and further ... till when I become a Course Director. 2. What is your attraction with Egypt? What are your favourite things of working in that part of the world? Yes , you are right it's an attraction ! I have to admit that at the beginning it was not easy for an "European accountant" to get used to the Arabic mentality/rhythm .. but after a while you start understanding the culture and if you respect the fact that you are "guest" you find the way to fit in it! The other good things on working here are... first of all the sea (one of the most beautiful places where to dive) then the weather (always good during the year) , the nearness with Europe ,the cost of life , and the fact that you can run a non-season related business! ....you can easily dive/work all the year around ! 3. Tell us about a normal day during an IDC for Matteo as a Course Director?
4. What is more challenging - the role as Manager or Course Director? both .. and they go together ... whenever I teach I try to use my experience as a manager to "pass" useful tips to my candidates ... and whenever I manage I try to apply new standards, ideas etc ... that came out during a course or an update! ....basically I always need to do something new ... and being a course director pushes me to be a better manager and being a manager pushes me to be a better course director! ;-) many times I realized that the needs of a manager are quite different from the request/needs of an instructor .. quite often instructors are forced to do standard violations or dodgy things to make their manager happy or not to lose their job position! ... I feel lucky being a "Course Director Manager" !! 5. what is the philosophy behind your PADI IDC courses? To "create" diving instructors ! ... my mission is not just letting my candidates pass the IE ... I want them to become professionals ... use all my "know how" and my experience to be able to work in any place around the world! ... be team players ... be responsible ...safe and fun ! 6. Tell us about Scuba Dreamer and your plans in the next years in the Red Sea? Scubadreamer is more like a son than an activity for me! I grew it up from "0" ...we started with a low budget in '98 and step by step by reinvesting what we were earning we grew it up! ... there was nothing when I started ... I was drawing the maps with the engineers ... assembling furniture , painting , drilling , welding ... a bit of everything ! ... we started with 1 compressor .. few diving sets and few tanks ! That's the reason why I'm really "attached" to the center. For the future ... is a big question mark! I'm used to think positive ... so I keep on planning to grow... I never stopped ... and I'm not gonna do it now! On the other hand I'm realistic ... and I know that everything can easily suddenly finish if the politic situation in "the world" doesn't reach a stable "buoyancy" ! 7. What do you search in future instructors? What will make a great staff instructor? What I told u before ... a good instructor has to be responsible , safe , fun , speak few languages, be good in "logistics" , be a Team Player and most important "HUMILITY"!! ... that what I pretend from my employees ! It's easy to teach someone to breath underwater ... hard to respect the rules of the center, make the operations run smoothly and cooperate with colleagues of different nationality/culture! ..if you can do that you are a professional! During the pre-employment training, I let the new instructors cover all the different positions/duties ...that's the only way they can learn how to cooperate. 8. What are you doing when you are not diving? Any kind of extreme sport ! ... at the moment I do kite surfing , free climbing and bike rides in the desert (with my Kawasaki KLX650R!) ... and when I can escape from Egypt I go skiing and sailing! 9. Any advice to people considering doing their PADI IDC or doing a career in diving in the Red Sea? Just do it! ... there is place for everybody ... if you are a dynamic person and you like challenges ...that's the place ! few other places around the world allow you to work 365 days a year .. The only advice.... be prepared to adapt yourself to a different culture .....and you'll succeed ! 10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Who knows .... I have few ideas in mind but I'm used to keep my projects secret until I realized them! I live of objectives ...my next one: the IDC in November! 11. When did you realized you wanted to spend the rest of your life as a diving instructor? When I was at the University ! ... at the beginning diving was an escape ... was like an "award" ... I was telling myself "Teo if you do at least 3 exams in this session then you go working 3 months in Egypt rather than Sardegna " ... and it worked .. I was putting a lot of efforts in my studies ...because I knew that when that was done I could go diving! ... I early realized that's could be my life ... I forgot to tell you that ,at that time , I was working as an accountant in the morning and studying in the afternoon ... so I knew what to expect once my studies were completed! Once you try to work in the diving industry ... you quickly realize that be an accountant sitting behind a desk 8hrs a day is not what you willing to do for the rest of your life! 12. What is the thing you miss the most from your home country? My family: My parents , my sister , my beautiful niece Beatrice! ...my dog ! ... and sometimes "italian food" and the snow! 13. What are your diving obsessions? What sort of diving do you like? I like to explore ! Anything new is exciting for me! ...I like technical diving! ... And believe me do technical dives in the red sea with warm water and good visibility is "the bomb"! ... I also do love filming underwater ...I founded ScubadreamerVideo .. And when I can , I jump on the boat filming clients .. I've been also cooperating on some small production filming sharks in Sudan and the Great White inSouth Africa ... 14. Where do you see the diving industry heading in the next years? My experience is limited to the Red Sea ...But I'm sure that the diving Industry is going to grow!! ..less certified divers doing fun dives ....but , supported by new training materials/standards and new technologies, more and more people are going to enroll in a diving course and start their "diving experience"! 15. At to finish can you describe in a few words why you love so much diving and the underwater world? It's the "direct" interaction with the nature ... you are not only observing ..you become part of another world ... the underwater world!
SCUBADREAMER
DIVING COLLEGE - PADI S-7955
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Matteo, tell us a
little bit about your beginnings in the diving industry and how you achieved
your status of Course Director
Early wake up ! ....I
start my day as a Manager... get to the center at 7.00am ...make sure everything
is sorted for the day , check the mails .... at 8ish I
switch to the "CD mode" I prepare the class and the material I need for the
idc... at 8.30 we start ..normally with an academic presentation ...10.00 coffee
break for the candidates .. and a quick look to the diving center operations for
me! we normally finish at 12.30 /1.00 ... a couple of hours lunch break ... and
we start the afternoon with the in-water sessions ...I realized is the only way
to keep candidates awake after lunch! ;-) .. back to the classroom until
7.00 pm