Touch Football
TOUCH FOOTBALL NEWS
Touch Football Success!
Touch Football was introduced at CGGS during Term 2 this year.There has been a small group of students that has had a lot of fun learning and developing the skills with the assistance of Brad Cooney, Raelene Ernst and Dafydd Gwynn-Jones. The students have trained on Monday afternoons and over only small number weeks; their skills have improved very well.
There has been a strong group of Year 7 and 8 students that has been very keen and have developed particularly well. This group has trained well together and with only one special extra training session held on Tuesday morning this week with Dafydd, they entered the 2007 NSW Touch Association’s All Schools Regional Qualifying tournament which was held at Madew Park, Jerrabomberra on Wednesday 12 September.
We went out there to learn with the aim of developing our skills over a series of 6 x 7 a-side games, played flat out for 20 minutes, constantly substituting players on and off the field. Teams from Canberra, Cooma, Goulburn and Queanbeyan were entered. We had an additional aim to win as many games as we could.
Our first game was against Merici College. This was a good settling game where we worked out our combinations and won comfortably 4 – 1. Our second game was a ‘shocker’. Playing a team from Goulburn High School, we allowed them to run straight through our defence and score within about 15 seconds! The team struggled with their form in what should have been an easy game but managed to win 2 -1. After a serious chat and a decision to never play that way again, we ran out against the Mulwaree High School B team from Goulburn that had won both its previous games as well. We played well improving our communication and sorting out our positional play as the game progressed. Another win; 2 -1.
We were on a roll! We now thought that we had a good chance of success and discussed tactics and plays from what we had learnt in the first three games. Our fourth game was against Snowy Mountains Christian School and they were now playing with good determination and much improved skill. Another win; 3 – 0. The games were played with only about 30 minutes between so although we had 12 players, they were now starting to feel tired. The team dug deep for its fifth game which was against Karabar High School and produced a terrific 5 – 1 win.
We were 5 from 5 and had a bye in the next round. We were constantly checking the results board and quickly realised that the Mulwaree A team was a very good team having won all its games with not a try scored against it. Having the bye helped and we sat and watched them play, noting their strengths.
The tournament was a round robin with no finals and the overall winning team being the one with most wins. The players were ‘pumped’ for a great last game as the winner of this game would be the overall winner of the tournament. It was a tough game with both teams playing very well in both attack and defence. No tries were scored for the first 10 minutes. The CGGS team was playing terrific touch footy for a group with so little experience. We broke through their defensive line in skillful fashion and scored the first try. Jubilation! After about 4 more minutes of hard playing, we had a lapse in our defence and they scored. The girls from CGGS dug deep and played some great touch over the last few minutes. A gap opened up in their defence and we scored with only seconds remaining. Another win, 2 -1. The girls were understandably ecstatic. They had gone through the tournament improving with each game with an undefeated record.
The team did play well throughout the day and thoroughly deserved its win. I was very proud of their performance.
The win means the team have been invited to compete in the All Schools State Final to be held in Wallsend, NSW on 16 November.
Dafydd Gwynn-Jones
Touch Football Coach
Back row: Stephanie Scott, Sian Gwynn-Jones, Jennifer Walsh, Emily Antill
Second row: Bridget Hone, Shannon Taylor, Olivia Collins, Lara Hutcheson, Louise Rush
Front row: Kate Gilmore, Pip Marques, Caitlin Magee
Please click here to return to CGGS Newsletter 27 - 14 September 2007