Young’s touch football community is gearing up for a massive weekend as teams from across the state converge on Wagga for the annual Junior State Cup.
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Young will be sending five junior teams across to play in the state’s premier touch football event which attracts hundreds of teams from around the state.
Young Touch Association President Nayah Freeman said that the level of excitement is building as the event draws closer.
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"Our teams have been training hard and attending a number of carnivals in the lead up to the event. The players and coaches are very excited to have the opportunity to play the best teams in NSW and are looking forward to learning heaps over the weekend," Nayah Freeman said.
This is the biggest contingent of teams that the Young Bluetongues have sent away to Junior State Cup and committee member Susan Wilkinson is elated that Young has such a large group attending the event.
"This is a great opportunity for our club to expose players to the highest level of touch in the state. It will be great to see so many Bluetongues teams out on the fields in Wagga," she said.
This year sees Young enter teams in the 14s, 16s and 18s girls divisions and the 14s and 16s boys divisions.
Young Touch Association sees this as the best chance to allow young people to play at an elite level and build skills.
Club captains Kieran Burns and Mackenzie Brownlie will lead the Bluetongues into their Junior State Cup campaign.
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Mackenzie plays in the 18s girls team and has been an integral part of the club always volunteering her time to help build the association. Kieran plays centre in the 16s boys team and has refereed and coached teams for a number of years.
Both are excited for the upcoming weekend.
"Bring on JSC 2019. We can’t wait to get to Wagga and play," Mackenzie said.
This is Young’s fourth appearance at Junior State Cup. According to committee member Ben Cooper it has been a long road to build the club up to where it is today.
"We sent our first team off to Junior State Cup in 2013. Since then, we have headed north to Port Macquarie to take one team to play in the competition each time," he said.
This year, for the first time, NSW Touch has split the competition into a northern and southern conference due to the explosive growth in team numbers. The winners of each conference will play off in the state finals in April.
Cooper is proud of Young’s ability to field so many teams this year.
"We applaud NSW Touch for making the decision to host the Southern Conference in Wagga. This will open up opportunities for more rural teams to be able to afford to play."
Cooper has put the growth in Young’s representative teams down to the exceptional volunteers the club currently has.
"Without referees, coaches, managers and administrators we would not be able to field the range of teams we currently have.
The most rewarding thing is to see some of our original players from our 2013 team now back coaching with the club. We look forward to continued growth in the future and wish all our teams a rewarding and enjoyable experience at Junior State Cup."