LIFE’S HARDEST KNOCK WAS US LAWYER’S BEST COUNSEL
▶ After cancer diagnosis, Peter Dicce decided to shift professional focus, writes John Dennehy
In 2009, a cancer diagnosis led Peter Dicce to reflect on his life. He was 45, a successful trial lawyer and football coach, but felt he had come to a crossroads.
“When you go through those situations, you reflect on what’s most important to you. And what made me most fulfilled was working with young people, coaching and sports,” he says.
“And the crazy way these things work, about 18 months later I was contacted.”
That came from NYUAD. The new university was seeking Mr Dicce’s advice on who to hire for its athletics programme. But he ended up in the position. Eight years on, Mr Dicce is loving life and work on Saadiyat as assistant dean of students and director of athletics.
It’s been eight years of hard work and long hours establishing an athletics programme, building a university league, coaching NYUAD football teams and changing the landscape here from club to university-based sports.
“And most importantly, giving women an opportunity to participate,” he says.
But until that fateful call, a move to the Middle East had seemed unlikely. Mr Dicce was born in Long Island and went to law school in California. By 1990, he was working as a trial lawyer. It was a competitive world and case followed case as Mr Dicce applied the rules of the sports field to the courtrooms of Philadelphia. “You go out and play a game, look at the scoreboard and move that into a courtroom. And the jury tells me did I win or did I lose.”
But why not pick baseball or American football? Mr Dicce’s grandfather was an immigrant from Germany and, in the 1970s, would read the German newspapers to him.
“He would talk to me about Bayern Munich, Franz Beckenbauer and all the great players coming through.” West Germany won the World Cup in 1975. Mr Dicce became a life-long Bayern fan and those talks inspired his dedication to football.
“That lit the fire for me. I started playing and I haven’t stopped playing since.”
On the sidelines of case work, Mr Dicce also found the time to coach US regional, state and college teams.
“I have a wonderful wife who describes soccer as the mistress in the relationship because I’m always running off to do that,” he says.
Mr Dicce arrived in the UAE in 2010. The Saadiyat campus would not open for another four years and sports were then played at Zayed Sports City and the Armed Forces Officers Club. He recalls the heady atmosphere at the fledgling university.
“We had a temporary campus. We knew there was something out there [Saadiyat] but we didn’t know exactly what it was,” he says.
“You had to take that leap of faith and we took it together. But there was the warmth of the people I met and an excitement about what the future would hold.” Training was moved to Al Muna – a primary school near the Sama Tower campus on Electra Street. The field was large enough for five-a-side but it became a home and fostered a spirit of friendship among NYUAD staff and students.
By 2014, the campus had moved to Saadiyat. Al Muna had served its purpose but then the university had worldclass facilities.
“From a soccer perspective, we have 30 players from 25 countries – they all play, but each feels it should be played differently. So me, being an American where we haven’t figured out our style yet – I’d say – listen guys, here is our system, can I get everyone to buy in?”
The culture of the locker room and ideas of toxic masculinity are also something Mr Dicce is keen to discuss. The locker room he grew up in is different to the one that exists now.
“We try to move away from feeling you have to be the toughest or strongest. Everyone has gifts to bring.”
He’s also been involved in the establishment of an athletics league for women in collaboration with other universities. The Abu Dhabi inter-university sports league was founded in 2011. The games are hosted at Zayed University and there is also an alumni team to encourage them to continue to participate. “They need a culturally appropriate environment with female referees, coaches, administrators.”
Coach Dicce has seen off cancer, and as the university term winds down before the summer, he isn’t easing up in the race to improve young lives.
“I feel I’m making a true difference in the lives of some young people.”
You go out and play a game, look at the scoreboard and move that into a courtoom. And the jury tells me did I win or did I lose