At one of the recent events organized by the team at Espai Jove, San Antonio, generations young and old were invited to share the same space and swap their knowledge, experiences and social habits. This intergenerational activity involved the elders showing the youngsters how to play a traditional game of cards, while the youngsters showed the elders how to play the same game using an app. It was an intense and fun exchange of know-how that had the mature participants gaining a new appreciation for technology and kids reaching into the back of their parents’ games cupboards in search of their old decks of cards.
It’s something that is unlikely to have happened without the creativity of Espai Jove, the council-run project which is a youth club, activity and educational center for children and young adults, and a massive helping hand for working parents rolled into one. Espai Jove director, Samuel Garcia, a warm, vivacious character who has headed up this space since 2018, is the man responsible for organizing this successful exchange in conjunction with the civil center for the older generation of San Antonio, known locally as Clot Mares.
Operating out of a three-story building in the center of San Antonio, the council-funded project was set up in 2009 with the idea of “providing the youth of the district with a specific infrastructure to develop a quality leisure offer for children and young people”. And it has certainly done that. The list of activities they organize is long – theatre and movement workshops, cooking classes, golf, investigation into the history of the island, petting-farm visits, workshops to create escape rooms, and, finally, laser combat outings to the forest in Cala de Bou armed with an inflatable shield to hide behind while trying to zap each other amidst fits of giggles.
Diverse, creative and appealing to youngsters, there are also summer schools with an English-learning component. Four are in progress; three dedicated to three-11 year olds and one 12-16. “Every year, the team try to do new activities”, says Samuel. There are a wide variety of day excursions that take the kids on adventures all over the island, including climbing at Es Viver sports center, kayaking in Es Figueral and a selection of water sports at S’Estanyol beach.
As the busy summer season sees many parents embroiled in long working hours, Samuel says the program can be an absolute “relief ” to families. “When you have a job that’s seasonal it can be complicated to sort out a schedule that works with kids. So we make it easy for them to sign up to our spaces.”
The cost is minimal: for example, there is a basic fee of €30 per trimester or € 10 a month during term time, making it widely accessible, including to those who live outside San Antonio – as long as you’re fast. “The first day we open inscription, it’s full!” laughs Samuel. “There are always waiting lists!”.
