I was one of a handful of local residents who opposed the Otters Water Polo club's proposed extension of their facilities, as presented, as this encroached on the ever decreasing rocky coastline, limiting its use to the general public.

Having said that, I am in no way trying to put an end to the club's constant endeavours to enhance the only aquatic activity on the island. On the contrary, the club has been with us for many years and despite all odds and great difficulties, and despite the fact that it is always at the bottom of the league table, it is still there and doing its best to give our youngsters the feeling of an up and coming water sport. But for how long?

The only other sports association that has been thriving, for many years now, on the island is the Gozo football association, having been blessed with a good turf football pitch, good spectator seating facilities, dressing rooms etc. Unfortunately, many things have changed for the only water club on the island. Marsalforn Bay has been inundated with swarms of jelly fish which has been classified as the new scourge of the Mediterranean.

This is making it extremely difficult for the club to hold extensive training let alone competitive engagements. Time and again the club's committee undertook to take the youngsters to other venues for training at considerable expense.

Now that a new school complex is being erected in place of the old structure, very close to the Gozo Sports Complex, it would not be amiss if a water pool was to be constructed to enable all kinds of water sports to be practised. It would be a first for Gozo.

Surely our youths deserve this. It will encourage them to train for other water disciplines, besides water polo. I would not expect a Tal-Qroqq kind of pool but one big enough to hold any kind of water sports.