The Castellers de Vilafranca are organizing the second edition of JoVerd this Saturday, May 14, at Cal Figarot, the competition between Castellers' gangs from the secondary education centers of Alt Penedès.

pineapple in the first edition of youth

The JoVerd is the point and end of a program that began a few months ago in each of the institutes and schools that provide secondary education in the region. From the Castellers, all Physical Education teachers were contacted and a castells workshop was set up in each centre. The workshops were led by the Vice-Chairman of the Vilafranquins Association, Toni Bach. Individually, each center has been working, together with the teachers, on the structures that have been asked of them to participate in JoVerd: several pillars of 2, a pillar of 3 with the bottom removed, a top knob and a structure to choose from. At the end, the winning team will be decided by a tug of war.

There will be a total of nine centers that provide secondary education that will participate in the II High School Gang Competition, JoVerd'11. These groups will be from IES Alt Penedès, IES Eugeni d'Ors, IES Milà i Fontanals, El Montagut, Sant Elies, IES El Foix (Sta. Margarita and the Monks), CES Alt Foix (St. Martí Sarroca), Sant Josep (Sant Sadurní d'Anoia) and the Intermunicipal Alt Penedès (Sant Sadurní d'Anoia). The gang leaders from each of the centers are summoned at 10am at Cal Figarot. At quarter past 11 the draw will take place and at 11am the contest will begin. Each of the gangs will be made up of around 30 members. JoVerd is aimed at 1st year high school students, although it is also open to students in ESO courses.

The first edition of the JoVerd, last year, left very good feelings, as it was possible to see a satisfactory entry of boys and girls into the gang during the season. This year is on the right track, because before JoVerd'11 was celebrated, new faces of young people could already be seen in the rehearsals.