Kicking a ball is one of the pastimes that young people like the most, as has been confirmed, once again, in the latest edition of the program Tan bien de noche, which was held on the four Fridays of October at the fronton of You were from Santa Marina. “Futsal, which took place for three weeks and had 12 teams, was the most popular sport,” explains Javier Melero, the head of Youth at the entity in charge of management, the Popular University of Palencia (UPP).
According to the data provided by the UPP after the end of the program, some 200 participants signed up every Friday for the Tan bien de noche activities, which, in addition to futsal, included other sports, such as climbing, badminton, tennis or paddle tennis; craft workshops (henna, mini dreamcatchers, badges and keyrings were some of the topics) and other leisure and sports activities, such as free bathing in the pool, bodybuilding with expert advice, relaxing massages or cold cooking. In this case, Melero speaks of participants and not of young people because “some participated in more than one appointment.” “For example, some repeated because they took the opportunity to do something else while they weren’t playing little football,” adds the head of Youth at the UPP.
By activities, he calculates that, on average, about 110 young people enjoyed futsal each of the three days that the tournament took place; 25, from the craft workshops, which were held at a rate of two per day; 32, from paddle tennis; 30, from the bodybuilding room; 15, of the swimming pool (free use and canoes); twelve, of the massages; ten, from self-defense and a fortnight, from climbing, climbing in a bouldering room and jumping into the void. The activities, scheduled from 10 p.m. to midnight, took place from one to four Fridays. Likewise, Melero emphasizes that the most frequent age range of the attendees was 14 to 21 years old, a fact, in his opinion, “important” because “these are the years in which young people start going out at night ». “If this alternative leisure did not exist, they would have to look for other options,” explains Melero before declaring that parents, with Tan bien de noche, “know what their children are doing.” The participation of people over 21 years of age, vetoed in the demanded futsal, was a minority and was especially concentrated in paddle tennis, tennis or self-defense.
With this initiative, promoted by the City Council of Palencia and the UPP, it was intended to promote rewarding alternatives for youth, educate for free time from creative contexts and spaces, occupy leisure in a healthy way and promote participation. In this case, these objectives were achieved through playful-recreational and physical-sports activities.
The balance of the development of the program of the head of Youth of the UPP is very positive. The attendance figure, as Melero assures, has been maintained with respect to Tan bien de noche in May and is higher than the last +Jóven, the name given to this activity in previous years. It also highlights the involvement of the Councilor for Sports, Víctor Torres, to carry out this youth event, which this year recovered the name with which it began to be promoted in 2000. «Since then things have changed a lot. Now they like sports more than workshops and the way of having fun is different », he assures.
