About
From passion to profession · since 2015.
We are SAS-CCE · the Sports Academy School Center of Continuing Education. Since 2015 we've delivered the SAS Coaching Diploma: internationally accredited fitness, rehab and sports coaching credentials across Lebanon, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The story
Built by practising coaches, doctors and Olympians.
SAS-CCE was founded in 2015 inside the Sports Academy School group with one question: why is it possible to coach without a single hour of supervised practice? Every cohort of the SAS Coaching Diploma since has answered it the same way · real instructors, real cases, real hours on the floor. No off-the-shelf curricula, no influencer-led shortcuts.
Vision
A generation of sports professionals · coaches, trainers, rehab specialists · who shape the future of athletics in MENA and have a credentialed career path to build on.
Mission
Deliver internationally accredited, locally attested coaching diplomas that translate directly into employment with the region's leading fitness operators.
Three markets, one academy
Lebanon · EREPS EQF Level 4 Personal Trainer + EQF-aligned specialist diplomas. UAE / Dubai · NASM CPT with a KHDA-attested diploma; the dual-credential flagship for the Gulf. Saudi Arabia · SAS × Enhance Academy partnership where top performers get directly recruited by Enhance Fitness.
Hosted at Performance First
Lebanon practicals run at Performance First, our group's training facility in Beirut. Coaches teach where they actually work · same floor, same equipment, real clients walking through.
Numbers
Eleven years. Real graduates.
2015
First cohort enrolled
10,000+
Graduates across 11 years
3
Markets · Lebanon, UAE, KSA
9
Diploma tracks across the catalog
A network of working professionals teaches our diplomas: surgeons, DPTs, Olympic coaches, national champions, and specialty instructors who lead the floor with us. The core faculty is the start, not the full bench.
The people behind the diploma
Built by Olympians. Not influencers.
The SAS Coaching Diploma comes out of a wider sports-education family founded by Olympic athletes, sport scientists and national-team coaches, the same people behind Performance First and the Sports Academy School.
Dr. Zeina Mina
Olympian, Los Angeles 1984 · PhD Sport Sciences · Sports-education leader
A former Olympic athlete and PhD holder in Sport Sciences, Zeina Mina has dedicated her career to advancing sports education and high-performance sport. She has served as Ministerial Advisor (2006–2008), Director of the Games of La Francophonie in Beirut (2009), Dean of the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Antonine University (2009–2019), and Director of the International Committee of the Games of La Francophonie (2019–2025). A visionary entrepreneur, she founded the ecosystem of Performance First, the Sports Academy School and the Continuous Education Center, now also in Dubai.
Dr. Georges Assaf
PhD Sports Physiology · Olympic Coach · High-performance scientist
Sports physiologist and high-performance coach who has collaborated with elite athletes and national squads across the Arab world, in football and basketball. He currently serves as an Olympic Coach for track-and-field athletes, guiding evidence-based preparation, competition peaking and injury-risk management. He holds a Doctorate in Sports Physiology from the University of Kinesiology in Zagreb, bridging physiological testing, individualised training and recovery to reach international podium standards.
Joe Naimeh
MSc International Business Economics · Sports-education entrepreneur
Co-Founder of Performance First and the Sports Academy School. With a Master's in International Business Economics from City University London and a DUEPP from Université de Lyon, he combines academic expertise with entrepreneurial leadership to advance sports education in the region, driving new accreditations, innovative programs and strategic partnerships across MENA.
An Olympian. An Olympic coach. A founding team in sport science. That's who builds your diploma.