SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Sitting on a large stone at the boundary’s edge, Roberto Nelson was a picture of contentment as he watched his friends walk out to play cricket at Rocky Hill playing field in late July.

He wasn’t a cricketer — he liked to play football, Nelson told the Jamaica Observer — but he liked to watch others play the glorious game of bat and ball.

Most of all, he enjoyed the community spirit engendered by what had been advertised as Summer Blitz 2024 in Rocky Hill, a farming and freshwater fishing community just west of Santa Cruz.

The fun day, organised for the second year in a row by Midway Missionary Church, embraced cricket, children’s races, board games including dominoes and draughts (checkers), simple relaxation, and plentiful food.

Described by organisers as a fellowship opportunity for church members, other locals, as well as residents of neighbouring communities, the event was particularly focused on men — although they were probably outnumbered by women and children.

For Nelson, a resident of neighbouring Burnt Savannah, a sad aspect was that such community activities were becoming much fewer than in years past.

Why was that?

“It feel like social media tek over,” was his immediate response. “Everybody deh pon social media, pon dem cellphone, from the young ones come up…,” he added.

The impact of rapidly evolving digital, audio-visual technologies as well as social media wasn’t lost on Gary Gardner, pastor of the church community and lead organiser of Summer Blitz.

“… When we [older folk] were growing up, we had pets; some of us had goats, pigeons, other animals to care for. That helped us in terms of being responsible and taking responsibility. What has largely replaced that are [digital] gadgets — and a worrying trend for me is that some games on these gadgets are training our youngsters to kill, to rob, to rape, and create mayhem. [We need] games that help them to develop life skills, problem-solving, critical thinking …,” Gardner said.

“I would love for [the Jamaican] Government and [others] to provide incentives for university students doing IT [information technology] to create games that help with critical thinking …games that people can enjoy at the same time,” he added.

In terms of attracting young people to become involved in basic community events, Gardner feels the pull of digital devices should be embraced by community leaders — including the Church — in a positive way so as to advance education, knowledge, and proper values.

“There has to be an incentive, and what they [the very young] are actually excited about right now are gadgets. … A typical 10-year-old now is very exposed to the technological world. You find children now age five having to solve technical problems for their parents on the phone … You will see two-year-olds on their tablets watch what they want to watch, stop it, reject something else, and they choose something else,” said Gardner.

“This young generation is very advanced,” he added admiringly.

Regardless of the impact of technology, an upbeat Gardner said Midway Missionary Church in Rocky Hill is set for the long haul in terms of continuing Summer Blitz as an annual event. This is still the case although this year Hurricane Beryl had proven a major damper, said Gardner. He noted that residents had to do without electricity for extended periods although northern sections of St Elizabeth, including Rocky Hill, had not been as severely impacted as further south.

“After last year’s [Summer Blitz] we saw deep fellowship and a deep appreciation [and anticipation of others stagings to come]… this year when you see the enthusiasm it tells you that it was time well spent and the goals set were achieved… we are looking forward to coming back again …,” he said.

Come next year, Gardner said he would be seeking “more donations” and more support from political representatives.

“We need to see how we can incorporate them [politicians] in the process… because of the situation in St Elizabeth I do understand a lot of people weren’t able to come because of the displacement caused by Beryl,” he said.

For Carl Wright, a former Jamaica wicketkeeper/batsman and current coach of the St Elizabeth Technical High High School (STETHS) cricket team which played in a 10-over-per-side game featuring lots of big hitting, the community fun day presented another opportunity to showcase cricket.

“We need to do more to help youngsters appreciate the game,” says Wright.