The eager children looked backwards at Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who was observing them as they obeyed their swimming coach’s instructions and jumped into the pool head first.

It seemed more like a tummy-first jump but for the youngsters it did not matter. They were happily swimming away in the refreshing cool water of the National Pool at Tal-Qroqq.

The water provided a temptation to Dr Gonzi, his wife Kate and the rest of the media entourage that accompanied him for a visit to the facility where children aged four to 16 were training.

“He wouldn’t say no,” Mrs Gonzi smilingly told a photographer who asked her whether somebody should push her husband into the water.

It was an issue Dr Gonzi himself joked about a couple of minutes later as the children continued splashing away while swimming with foam noodles from one side of the pool to another.

The children form part of the Malta Sports Council’s Summer On The Move programme, which aims to teach them how to swim while engaging in physical activity.

Trained by professional coaches, including some of Malta’s top aquatic athletes, the children in various age groups filled the Olympic-size swimming pool as they performed various exercises.

Some parents joined in the fun with a dedicated programme for them while their children were training. Addressing the media after walking round the pool accompanied by Sports Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli, sports council chairman Bernard Vassallo and Aquatic Sports Association president Joe Caruana Curran, Dr Gonzi reiterated the government’s will to continue investing in sports facilities.