In order to encourage youths to make good use of the summer time and cultivate good interests, this summer, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and the Macao Sport Development Board had as usual organized a range of different kinds of wholesome recreational as well as sports activities for the youths to participate in, thus enabling them to have a flourishing summer as well as a balanced development of body and mind.

On 28^th June, Mr. Vong Iao Lek, the President of the Macao Sport Development Board, and Ms. Kuok Sio Lai, the Deputy Director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, presided the launching ceremony at the Leal Senado Square and signaled the start of the 2011’s summer holiday activities.

Various recreational activities and performances were included in the ceremony, such as Gu Zheng solo recital, children’s aerobic dance, children’s dance and karate demonstrations. Although it was scorching on the day of the ceremony, the heat did not affect the performers and their excellent performances attracted many residents and tourists to stay and enjoy the ceremony.

This year’s summer activities consisted of two main categories, cultural and sports. The two together offered a total of 329 programmes, comprising of over 1,400 classes with more than 46,000 places available for local youths to sign up.  Registration started on 29^th April, over 30,000 applications were received. Drawing lots and enrollment were completed by end of May.

During the period of registration, the Macao Sport Development Board entrusted the University of Macao to conduct a survey about the degree of satisfaction of applicants on the related works such as registration procedure and performance pledge. Through the evaluation and review conducted, the Macao Sport Development Board hopes to improve service quality and to refine the related procedures, thus providing high quality services to the residents.