Taranaki ready for touch nationals
More than half of the touch players selected to represent Taranaki this year at the national competition come from South Taranaki.
Approximately 50 Taranaki players are off to the Junior Touch Nationals at Bruce Pulman Park in Papakura, Auckland on February 10-12.
Vicki Roberts is the secretary of Touch Taranaki and also has a huge role in the Hawera Touch Module. She said that although the number of players from South Taranaki didn’t seem huge, it came down to who they were ‘associated’ with.
‘‘There’s 21 kids from South Taranaki, from the Hawera Touch Module,’’ she said.
‘‘There’s more South Taranaki players that are playing, but they go to Boys’ High and are affiliated to New Plymouth teams.’’
There are four teams going away: under 16 girls, under 16 boys, under 16 mixed and under 18 mixed.
The teams were chosen after trials in October.
Roberts said there was a selection process in place due to the change of touch overall, meaning a few players missed out.
‘‘The age group used to be under 17s but now it’s under 18s,’’ she said.
‘‘This meant quite a few kids that were meant to not be able to play this year, had been asked to come back for that extra year, making under 18s a big trial.’’
Roberts said the number of players interested in touch increased ‘‘year by year’’.
‘‘We started off having about five kids named in these Taranaki teams over previous years, and now we’ve got one of our biggest numbers attending.’’
She said there would be even more if the time of year were different. ‘‘With kids going away for uni, away to other schools, and financially it is a struggle for our kids to get there,’’ she said.
‘‘Our kids have to come up with their own funding to get there themselves. ‘‘
Roberts said looking at the pretournaments the junior teams had played in, the Taranaki players were looking like they could do quite well, but it would be dependant on the day.
‘‘If they hit the straps right, they’re going to be in front.’’
‘‘Financially it is a struggle for our kids to get there.’’
Vicki Roberts