Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/950286
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018 17 Events Hamilton Travel host Summer Tours and Cruise fair AFTER many years at the an- nual AMITEX fair, 2018 is ushering in a new direction whereby the popular travel company Hamilton Travel will be hosting their own exclusive Summer Tours and Cruise fair in March. A leading company with over 25 years' experience has be- come a household name, and has inspired Maltese and Goz- itan families to travel for years. In its infancy, Hamilton Travel were the pioneers in travel to Disneyland, Italy and Turkey, among others. Today, they are striving to discover new destinations in line with current Maltese travel trends and has big plans for the future. On the pro- gram this summer Portugal is increasingly-popular with vis- its to its vibrant and cultural capital, Lisbon and surround- ing areas. Since 1996, Hamilton Travel has been the exclusive Malta General Sales Agent for one of the world's top cruise line companies – MSC Crociere, operating Malta to Malta cruises and Fly & Cruise pack- ages. Their exclusive travel fair will be held on 9th (6PM – 9PM), 10th (3PM – 8PM) and 11th March (10AM – 1PM and 3PM – 8PM) at the Magazino Ter- minal at Valletta Cruise Port, and entrance will be compli- mentary. Visitors coming to the fair will have the opportunity to speak directly to their Desti- nation Leaders, view and dis- cover the new destinations in their glossy new brochures, interact with fellow travelers, learn more about their tailor- made journeys and be inspired. Discounts, gifts and spe- cial offers will be available throughout the fair, and light refreshments and entertain- ment will also be available. You can follow Hamilton Travel on their dedicated Facebook page and on Instagram at hamilton- travel_malta. Hamilton Travel can be reached on 21241292, and found at 4, St Publius Street, Floriana, FRN1443. Malta Robotics Olympiad 2018 offers students and public opportunity to shine THE Malta Robotics Olympiad 2018, Malta's largest technology event, is inviting schools and hobbyists to test their skills in one of this year's three main challenges - CodesprintMT, Lego Sumo and DIY Bots. Taking place between Friday 20 and Sunday 22 April 2018 at the MFCC in Ta' Qali, this year's event is set to be the larg- est and most exciting edition yet with a range of competitions, workshops, and presentations for all the family. Always seeking to create new op- portunities for experimentation, this year's MRO 2018 will be introducing its newest challenge, the DIY BOTS - The Robot Design and Make Chal- lenge. The DIY BOTS Challenge is divided into three categories. De- pending on the category the challenge will be open for team members aged between 8 and 16 years. Help from educators, mentors, friends, guard- ians and family members is allowed and encouraged to enrich the quality learning experience. The idea behind the DIY BOTS chal- lenge is to dig for new talent in the area of design, technology and robot- ics engineering. Moreover many peo- ple like to create innovative contrap- tions which are hardly recognised as educational success so this is the ideal opportunity to organise a robotic weekend project with friends, fam- ily members and schoolmates and get recognised. Participation is free and every successfully submitted project will be awarded. The second main event is the Code- Sprint Challenge in Malta open to all schools. This will consist of a four- shour coding challenges featuring five challenges that put Computing students' problem solving and coding skills to the test. Participants will be presented with a series of JAVA tasks and timed according to the level of difficulty. Participants will be car- rying out the tasks on an individual basis and submit their solution to the judges at the end of every task. A judg- ing panel will give points to the work presented to them according to estab- lished scoring criteria. The Lego Sumo competition requires no introduction having registered a phenomenal success with students in the past MRO editions. This competi- tion is open for students in Middle and Secondary Schools in Form 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 from State, Church and Inde- pendent Schools. James Catania, Education Officer ICT at the Ministry for Education and Employment said: "MRO is all about young students stepping up and trying something they haven't tried before. By participating, students gain confi- dence to explore the innovation pro- cess while learning valuable science, engineering, technology, teamwork, and problem-solving skills," The Malta Robotics Olympiad is financed and organised by the Min- istry for Education and Employment together with the support of various sponsors. For more info and competition reg- istrations, visit www.mromalta.com. Footballer Alishia Sultana fulfilling her dream SPORTMALTA through its programme #OnTheMove (formerly known as Sko- lasport) has been train- ing young participants in football since its inception in 1987. Although football sessions at the time were male-dominated, there were always young female partici- pants. Today over 150 young female football players and 200 male players follow SportMalta's #OnTheMove -winter programme, across Malta and Gozo, sponsored by Kellogg's. They are most- ly coached by former Sko- lasport participants, such as Alishia Sultana. Alishia, a women's national football team right midfield- er and SportMalta coach, had learnt the basic football skills and developed a love for 'the most beautiful game' from her first experience at #OnTheMove. At the age of 11, she started classes out of curiosity but she instantly dreamt of making football her passion in life. "I fell in love with the sport and have been practising football ever since. After gaining training experience with #OnTheMove, I joined the newly formed Kirkop United F.C. After three years, I moved to Birkirkara F.C., a remarkable club that is well-known in women's football," said Alishia. A right midfielder for both Birkirkara F.C. squad and the women's national foot- ball team, Alishia represent- ed Malta in more than 25 in- ternational matches, namely in Norway, Iceland, Switzer- land, Greece, Bosnia, Serbia (twice), Estonia, Albania and Cyprus (twice). "Over the past six years, I played with Birkirkara F.C. in more than 120 matches, winning seven major tro- phies. With the same club, I have also competed in the Women's Champions League preliminary rounds on many occasions, such as in Holland (2013) and Slove- nia (2017)." Like many other players, football was part of Alishia's family life. She followed in her father's footsteps and developed a similar love to- wards the sport as he did. "I was lucky enough to have a father who used to play foot- ball regularly when he was younger. He inspired me to go beyond my perceived limits, and acquiring the necessary competitive skills to sharpen and polish up the level of the game I play today." When asked about the secret of her success, she replied: "I am chasing my dream. I never give up and always keep in my mind that nothing is impossible. The drive towards both my per- sonal and team goals are a priority for me as they form an integral part of lifestyle. This keeps me motivated, wanting to improve con- stantly, achieving both a high level of football in my game as well as success." Alishia is currently focus- ing on this year's goal that is to win all domestic tro- phies with Birkirkara F.C. While football is unpredict- able, her main long-term goal is to improve physi- cally and upgrade her level of football even further. She urges young participants to persevere in their talent, and remarked: "Hard work pays off. Always keep work- ing hard in any sport you do. Any sport is vital in the learning stages of one's life as it helps the individual to overcome any obstacle in life." "#OnTheMove prog- ramme is important in our society. The programme offers a vast range of oppor- tunities to children from a young age and helps them to follow physical training in their favourite sport. We must focus on making sure that more and more indi- viduals are assessed during their training, so that they may eventually succeed as athletes and ultimately use the vital tools and skills on a more long-term basis," added Alishia Sultana. #On the Move – winter programme is organised by SportMalta and sponsored by Kellogg's the world's leading producer of break- fast cereal. For more than a century Kellogg's has been focusing on enriching and delighting the world through foods and brands that matter. The company has been extending its sup- port to Skolasport since 1999, and actively promotes a variety of educational sport disciplines within Sport Malta's winter pro- gramme.