Summer Programme sprays rainbows into the air for future of sport

As the water sprayed through the air, a gentle breeze seemed to highlight the fact that this was the end of the Summer Sports Programme. After a summer of intense heat, the now-cooling air signalled the proximity of the start of the academic year, closing the doors on what had been another successful Summer Sports Programme.
Screams and laughter filled the air as children enjoyed a water day. Closely monitored by leaders, many of them participants in the activities themselves, Friday was a day to celebrate friendships, not just between participants, but also between leaders and students, some of which will grow for years to come.
It was a day when even GSLA CEO Reagan Lima and Minister for Sport Leslie Bruzon joined in the fun. With bathing shorts and T-shirts on hand, both would find themselves soaked and slowly coaxed into joining in the fun.
From sliding down the wet plastic sheets at the hockey pitch to spraying each other, children were also treated to bucketfuls of water dumped over their heads while being interviewed by the media.
Both fathers in their own right, the rigidity of protocols was cast to one side as they had fun alongside the many children gathering around them. Bucketfuls of water greeted many of those dry visitors venturing onto the pitch, while others ran around chasing more targets.
With rainbows shining across multiple areas as the spray filled the air, it was a unique moment highlighting the importance of the Summer Sports Programme as an integral part of society and the close-knit community that the programme created every summer, where participants and organisers became one and the same.
A summer of sports, safeguarding protocols, fun and celebrations was coming to an end, but very much in an orderly and well-managed environment.
The programme had, over its many years of operation, heralded far more than its initial idea of being just a summer programme of activities. Lessons in safeguarding, education, leadership and discipline had been developed. So much so that the programme was now seeing the fruits of its labours.
Generations of youngsters, now coming into adulthood, with some already grown-up adults in employment, were providing the platform and foundations for the future.
The brainchild of Michelle Turner and former GSLA CEO Joe Hernandez, the programme was very much an integral part of our community. So much so that, as officials readily admitted, it would be difficult to fill the void if the programme came to a halt.
The programme itself was a victim of its own success, although you could not really call it a victim, but more of a voluntary evolutionary participant.
Its own protocols and the many areas across which it was now spreading its tentacles were shaping many aspects of youth care, youth interaction and policies for the future. It was something few had envisaged might happen.
However, there was one person whose vision had much to do with this happening.
As GSLA CEO Reagan Lima commented, Michelle Turner was the heartbeat of Summer Sports and would be very difficult to ever replace, such had been the legacy she was creating.
A sideline conversation with Ms Turner highlighted how she had always hoped to see the programme extend further than just providing activities for the summer. As she pointed out, the programme had been opening doors to many youngsters. Now that the programme was running across so many other facilities, and with the doors opening wide for greater inclusion through the Stay and Play programme, it was also making many aware of what was on offer across Gibraltar.
It was providing a new and fresh perspective on what you could do and how doors were open.
From education through sport to life skills, and through to developing and learning new and varied approaches, the programme had grown in magnitude. However, to safeguard its future, the legacy needed to be followed through into the future.
There was little question that the view to the future was in everyone's mind. This might have been the most challenging of years, especially with the new UK-EU treaty, changes to the school term and issues as impacting as climate change, coupled with the magnitude of the numbers participating, both as users and volunteers. Yet 2026 was also being described as one of the "best years on record" by organisers.
There was little time, though, to celebrate this year's success, as Minister for Sport Leslie Bruzon highlighted that the programme keeps "growing year on year". But, as he pointed out, the work for next year had also "already started", with both Level One and Level Two leaders being trained this year for next year.
"We take a week off and we start again for next year," he told this newspaper, as he highlighted how the organisation of the programme did not take much of a break and was in no way a last-minute decision.
There were also no concerns as to how the programme would continue into the future. Mr Bruzon pointed out that, while it was reliant on young people taking up the opportunities, the growing numbers of youth leaders coming through the programme, and even users becoming youth leaders, meant that there was a pool of people on which to count for forthcoming editions.
Among the incentives was that this was a "good summer job for them".
The programme itself was also going to continue expanding, with this year having seen more venues and facilities on offer to ensure different groups could have more opportunities.
Although there were no concerns among the hierarchy over issues such as funding and resources, the growth and development of the programme was nevertheless a silent concern for some. More so, as was pointed out, when those who have been involved at the top step aside one day.
For the time being, those coming through the ranks were already showing that they were bringing new and fresh ideas of their own and were willing to take the programme forward into the future.
There was an organic growth, but nothing was written in stone to ensure that this growth was protected into the future.