“Today is a very special day, a dream has come true” were the most repeated phrases during the inauguration of the putting green in the courtyard of the CRA Los Olivos School in Brea de Tajo, a small town of 560 inhabitants in the Community of Madrid where on this special day there was only talk of golf.
The whole town has turned out and everyone has participated in a “unique and endearing day that we will never forget”, acknowledged its mayor Rafael Barcala, who presided over the inauguration together with Rafael van Grieken, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport of the Community of Madrid; Ignacio Guerras, president of the Madrid Golf Federation; Daniel Esteban, director of the CRA Los Olivos School accompanied by all the teachers; and the mayors of neighboring municipalities.
“It fills me with pride to see so many people here celebrating with us a dream that has become a reality thanks to the support of many, mainly the Golf Federation of Madrid and the Ministry of Education, and in which the Parents Association, Civil Protection… have also collaborated because this project belongs to everyone,” added the mayor with emotion.
Rafael van Grieken, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the Community of Madrid, emphasized that “a place as endearing as Brea de Tajo lacked the drive that the school has provided. This project shows that in order to achieve high goals, it is not necessary to have great resources, but rather ideas, drive and unity on the part of everyone to make them a reality. This is a beautiful story deserving of recognition and worthy of the greatest applause”.
Ignacio Guerras did not hide his satisfaction: “Today is one of the happiest days for everyone in the Madrid Federation: we have seen a dream come true. Golf has inherited a heavy burden with the image that some people still have of our sport, but the students of Brea de Tajo have shown the opposite; hopefully they will serve as an example and encourage others to come and learn about this wonderful sport, full of values, which can be practiced from 3 to 80 years old. As our motto says, today, more than ever, golf for everyone”.
“The whole town is revolutionized and everyone is very excited”, admitted the school principal, Daniel Esteban, for whom “this project is the one that best represents the concept of Educational Community with all its legs: The Ministry of Education and the City Council of Brea de Tajo, entities such as the Health Center and the Civil Guard, the neighbors, the Madrid Golf Federation with whom we fell in love as soon as we met, the families to whom we are always proposing crazy things and they double the bet, the students who are our reason for being, and an essential leg which are the teachers. I was asked what material the putting green is made of and Humphrey Bogart’s line in The Maltese Falcon came to mind: this green is made of the material from which dreams are forged”.
Nobody wanted to miss such a special celebration. Throughout the morning there have been various activities organized by the families: target shooting, contests, various competitions, raffles, golf lessons … For the sale of drinks and snacks the parents of the students have set up a “bank” where you had to exchange euros for “moneygolf”. Today, in Brea de Tajo, everything revolved around golf.
The putting green, built by The Golf Company, was inaugurated with a tournament in which the students participated, who had previously received a golf lesson given by the young professional from Madrid, Luis Vega, recently arrived from the United States, where he graduated in Mathematics and Business Administration with a degree in Leadership from Brevard University, a great example for the children. “It’s all very well for you to play golf, but don’t forget the most important thing: you have to get an education and study a career”.
The Colegio CRA (Colegio Rural Agrupado) Los Olivos is made up of the schools of Brea de Tajo (with 33 students between 3 and 12 years old), Valdaracete, Valdelaguna and Villamanrique de Tajo, whose directors have asked the authorities present at the inauguration for help in the construction of a golf facility.
Its director, Daniel Esteban, was born in Germany on October 2, 1973 and two years later his family moved to Spain. After obtaining five degrees from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid -Physical Education, Master in Early Childhood Education, Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, and two postgraduate Masters in Quality and School Improvement and in New Technologies applied to Education-, “Dani” started working at the school on September 1, 2004 as Head of Studies, and the following year he was appointed Director.
Daniel Esteban: “In 2015, Diego Parra, the school’s Physical Education teacher, told me that the Madrid Golf Federation had a program to promote this sport in schools and I called Bárbara Serrano, who was in charge of the initiative, to explain it to me. I was amazed, I thought it was spectacular and I told her: ‘We are not satisfied with being just another school, we want to be the image of “Golf in Schools” in the Community of Madrid’(www.golfencolegios.es).
“We discovered golf and we were passionate about it. The kids were enthusiastic, they spent the whole day talking about golf and that was combined with the fact that we were implementing the “Design for change” program(www.dfcspain.com), which promotes three key aspects of learning – empathy, creativity and teamwork – with the slogan: “Kids only need one chance to change the world”. A beautiful slogan. Through this international program in which Fundación Telefónica collaborates, children analyze their environment and decide how they can improve it; our students liked the golf experience and decided they wanted to have a green in the schoolyard, something that we adults would not have thought of, in fact, I thought the teachers had manipulated it!
“The kids got down to work. Building it was complicated and we were looking for something very rustic. They made a study, measured the patio, calculated the number of rolls of artificial grass needed, made prototypes to play golf and make it more fun… and the Madrid Golf Federation came across our path. They came to see us, the kids told them about the project and the manager, Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba, told them: “We are going to help you to get your green in the playground”.
“It has been a joint project: the Madrid Golf Federation has paid for the green and the City Council and the Community of Madrid have covered the costs of preparing the land and moving the earth. The kids know that if we all dream and work together, together we will get what we want. They wanted their green and now they have it. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfOG0hPuar0&feature=youtu.be)
“Our school uses technological innovation through active methodologies in which students become protagonists; they are not recipients but an active part of their own learning. We are one of the few schools that teach the subject of Technology in Primary School, which is not the norm, and for this reason we had to ask for a curricular modification. This subject is developed around the GNULinux MAX Educamadrid distribution, so students can replicate at home what they learn at school for free.
“We also include cooperative learning techniques, “Project Based Learning and Successful Educational Actions”, that is, the whole community participates in the center, we involve families, the City Council, the surrounding entities and the whole town as part of our educational project. One of our priorities is to increase the channels of communication with families, and it is precisely the families who are organizing the green opening party.
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