The Minister for Tourism, Equality, Social Services and Housing, Samantha Sacramento has presented Daniel Yeo with the Royal Life Saving Society's "Giovanni Sene Award" for the best lifeguard to qualify for the National Beach Lifeguard Qualification for the year 2015.

In her address Ms Sacramento congratulated Daniel for achieving this award and praised all the Lifeguards for the excellent and valuable work carried out by them every summer on our beaches. President of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) Gibraltar, Norbert Sene, explained that after consultation with the other RLSS Trainer/Assessors and the Gibraltar Tourist Board's beaches management team, Daniel had been selected due to his outstanding performance during the training and his exemplary attitude, reliability and diligence on beach. He added that this was an extra special nomination as Daniel is brother to last year's winner, Jack.

All the candidates were trained and assessed by RLSS Beach Lifeguard Trainer/Assessors Michael Sene, Stewart Bonavia and Norbert Sene. Five groups were trained and assessed for this year's bathing season. In the first two groups, potential lifeguards undertook an intensive training course in mid-March in order to gain the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) National Beach Lifeguard Qualification (NBLQ) and be qualified for the Gibraltar Tourist Board's now established initiative to have lifeguards available on our beaches over the weekends as from start of the Easter weekend before the official bathing season. Two further groups undertook the training and assessment in May. The fifth group, a group of qualified lifeguards re-qualified in June.

The candidates had to achieve a good, basic level of fitness and be competent in the water as well as showing proficiency in the principles of beach supervision and rescue.

The assessment is designed to determine the competence of anyone engaged at any time in the role of Beach Lifeguard or undergoing training towards this role.

The NBLQ is the benchmark for the certification of beach lifeguards in the UK and Gibraltar and is also the standard required for lifeguards by the International Life Saving Federation.

The NBLQ is split into two units:

Unit One relates to principles of beach supervision and rescue and is divided into five elements assessing the candidate's knowledge and competency on the principles of lifeguarding a beach, risk assessment, casualty identification and administration of first aid and CPR. During the assessment the lifeguards also achieved the RLSS Life Support 3 award (the highest award available for First Aid and CPR). Together with the RLSS Trainer/Assessors, the Ambulance Service helped in preparing the candidates in the First Aid and CPR module.

The practical assessment incorporated a 400m timed swim in 8 minutes or less which determines whether the candidate continued to the next stage of the assessment. These practical assessments involved good practice in beach rescues and techniques.

Unit Two relates to the application of beach safety management and rescue procedures. It tests the lifeguards on the application of the skills and knowledge demonstrated in Unit One and effectively manage an emergency incident. The lifeguards were given various incidents and were expected to manage these as part of a team. The whole group was highly commended by the Assessors for the efficient and effective management of the incidents presented.

The successful candidates were Hicham Akalay, Euan Beith, Alba Ana Butron, Christopher Cardona, Ayden Collado, Nicola Cowan, Byron Ellis, Jamie Fa, Jake Haefner, Jake Galvez, Trevor Garcia, Philip Gillingwater Pedersen, Soufian Hanafi, David Horner Garcia, Jayce King, Janella Lavagna, Michael Maskill, Kelvin Moreno, Ivan Moreno, Nicole Norton, Jules Origo, Zachary Origo, Johan Randall, Jeremy Sacramento, Alaric Jack Scott, Nicholas Victor, Jayce Webber and Daniel Yeo. Iain Ballantine, Aidan Barton, Zakaria Berrak, Stefan Figueras, Johan Macias, Giovanni Origo, Lydia Oudrassi, Jamal Richardson and James Vella were successful in renewing their NBLQ.

The National Beach Lifeguard Qualification will next year be replaced by the National Vocational Beach Lifeguard Qualification which will be a more intense course requiring eight more hours of minimum training i.e. 40 hours instead of the current 32 hours and the use of the rescue board.

Trails for next year's squad will commence in early March. Prospective lifeguards are encouraged to start training at the GSLA pool early on so that they achieve swimming competency for these trails.

21-12-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR

Street soccer league idea seeks to become reality

December 21, 2015

A new outdoor street soccer league is looking to be started up by two Slovaks who are currently on the Rock to create another avenue for local footballers.

John Recicar and Marko Simonek are bringing over a tried and tested model of football that will transcend the national leagues so that clubs will be able to participate in the league from across the world.

"We want to give everyone from the age of 16-40 who just wants to go for a kick-about, or even aspires to play at a higher level to join our league," said Recicar. "It will involve four players plus a goalkeeper with the rules being similar to that of Futsal but on an outside pitch.

"We hope to reach 16 teams in the first season with cups and medals for winners and runners-up. In time we hope to get some newspaper and TV reports of matches going, so the league operates alongside the national football leagues."

While the strict regulation on allocations being imposed with one of the two five-a-side pitches being taken by the GFA may mean the matches are finally not played on the Rock, it is possible they will contain a lot of Gibraltarian players.

Patio football

Although the plans are still at embryonic stage and as yet the GSLA has not been contacted, Recicar was hopeful he could kick off the spring season this March, before breaking up for summer and continuing in September.

"Street soccer is always more technical and you need to be in better shape so you can run more, while it gives an opportunity for new talent to be discovered which will also benefit the rest of the football fraternity," said Recicar. "While we will be aiming for professional standard in the future, for now we're just aiming to get people to join the league so we can start it up and get it going in Gibraltar.

"It is up to each team to get the best players they can to win the league because everybody eventually wants to be better than the other."

Street soccer, which has its roots in the Brazilian game, where children and young adults play football on the streets of Rio de Janeiro to Samba beats, is now an initiative which has spread to the USA, where it has a healthy following.

Gibraltarians, who have always had a liking for 'patio football' to flamenco vibes, have already taken to the idea, especially as the current football scene has prized out those who want to play football for fun rather than train incessantly for European tournament participation.

Fast growth

But Recicar said he was keen to recall that foreigners would also take part: "There are many people who are working in Gibraltar and Spaniards who come from over the border and they will be allowed to play in our league. In fact, eventually we want to spread the league to Spain so that clubs can be based there as well and eventually each club will choose their own home ground."

The street soccer league concept is already operating successfully in Slovakia with very young players playing against much more senior players in the same league, emphasising that age is unimportant in football.

"In the two years I was there I saw it grow to the same level as the professional league," said Recicar. "They're playing with match officials overseeing the game from the mainstream game and the fact that it is so much easier to start a league means it is very successful and growing quickly.

Recicar and Simonek have both played in the Street Soccer League in their native Slovakia, having seen its membership spread to teams in neighbouring Czech Republic. They hope this dynamic could be replicated locally, as the Street Soccer League could be used to mend wounds between Gibraltar and Spain, with players from as far as Portugal and Argentina already having expressed interest in participating.

The last day for registration of 16 ten-man squads is January 27, 2016, with the second division set to start in September and sponsorship already being sought.

21-12-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR

Support for Calpe House appeal

December 21, 2015

The launch of the New Building Appeal 'Calpe House Needs Your Help' took place at the Piazza, including the presentation of the plans, at the Charity's Flag Day.

Calpe House has been a great asset for Gibraltar, and now it needs to a bigger and better building to provide an even better service - let's all support the scheme.

21-12-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR

Who cares about Gibraltar in Spain?

December 21, 2015

Talking Point

If you ask anyone if he would like to win the lottery, he would say Yes. Likewise, if you ask a Spaniard if he would like to have Gibraltar, he would probably also say Yes.

But wishing for Gibraltar is one thing; it is something else if they have a right to claim it.

Not only that, but as we have seen in the Spanish general election, Gibraltar has not featured country-wide.

There may have been a reference to the Spanish claim here and there, and the odd debate in the Campo area, but Gibraltar has not been an election issue.

What does that mean?

It means that there are plenty of other issues in Spain for people, or politicians even, to worry about Gibraltar.

Of course, Gibraltar does not belong to Spain. It was given away by the Spanish over 300 years ago - and that's long enough for them to have lost all rights to it.

But officialdom in Spain, those who are anchored in the past, may keep harping about it, but even they know it is a lost cause.

What the Spanish officials should do is drop their anachronistic claim to this Gibraltarian/British territory which is the home of the Gibraltarians.

However, for as long as they try to keep the claim alive, the people of Gibraltar must keep a watchful eye on what happens in Spain about the Rock and its people.

They could keep 'wishing' for it, but that is one thing; it is something else if they keep their claim alive.

Hence, for as long as there is a claim, the people of Gibraltar must not drop their guard. Because the claim is there.

Right now, as the Spanish election has shown, the claim appears to be somewhat dormant in a country-wide context.

But they need to drop it completely if they want the kind of normal relations that are evident between neighbours.

21-12-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR