President's Update - March 2023

Updated: Apr 4, 2023

It’s been a huge couple of months in the world of touch and specifically in the Brisbane region. Tries have been scored, games have been won, championships determined and lots of opportunities for players, referees and coaches to continue to foster a love of touch.

From a strategic perspective the Board is continuing to monitor a number of key deliverables including :-

· Review of the management agreement with QTF

· Review of the constitution

· Coach development and referee panel development

· Communications with affiliates and members

We are also seeking to add to this agenda by exploring the optimisation of connections between schools and affiliates.

Key highlights from the past quarter include:-

Recruitment and appointment of NTL coaches
Recruitment and selection of NTL teams
BTF Constitution Review and re-draft

BTF either has delivered or supported the delivery of the following events:-

1. QLD State Cup

2. Affiliates Conference

3. QTF Volunteer Awards

4. Q Youth Academy

5. Inferno National Touch League

Results

Fitlab Inclusive – Champions – UQ Rebels Gold – Player of the Final – Jacob Miles (UQ)

Womens Open Premier – Champions – UQ Rebels – Player of the Final – Danni Davis (UQ)

Open Mixed A – Champions – Brothers – Player of the Final – Scott Prince (Brothers)

Womens 20’s – Champions – UQ Rebels – Player of the Final – Danita Smith (UQ)

Mens 30’s – Champions – UQ Rebels – Player of the Final – Allan Shine (UQ)

Mens 50’s – Champions – BMTA Red – Player of the Final – Peter Tindale (BMTA Red)

Mens 60’s – Champions – BMTA Mustangs – Player of the Final – Mark Blakeney

Womens Open Div A – Runners Up – BMTA Storm

Mens 20’s – Runners Up – BMTA Storm

Womens 20’s – Runners Up – BMTA Storm

Womens 40’s – Runners Up – Arana

Mens 45’s – BMTA Mustangs

Mens 50’s – BMTA Blue

In connection with the festival of touch and the State Cup, QTF hosted the 2022 Affiliate Conference. The QTF Affiliate Conference was created to Unite and Inspire touch football affiliates across Queensland. The conference provides professional development opportunities, including the ability to share knowledge and ideas with other Administrators with the aim of growing the sport of touch football in Queensland. Emerging themes from the 2022 conference included

· Winning well

· The need to optimise participation AND competition pathways

· High levels of inactivity amongst Australian youth

· The match official (referee) as a connector between coach and player

· Sport governance principles and standards

· National Integrity Framework

· Enhance the community coaching profile as opposed to just elite and pathways coaching

Brisbane based affiliates featured heavily in the winners list from the QTF Volunteer Awards that were held in November 2022. The List of award winners from the Brisbane region include:

Inclusion in Touch - UQ Rebels

Referee of the Year – Brett Freshwater, BMTA

Junior Referee of the Year – Ella Grant, BMTA

Elite Coach of the Year – Renee Murphy, UQ Rebels

Affiliate Coach of the Year – Renee Murphy, UQ Rebels

Junior Affiliate Coach of the Year – Tim Gall, BMTA

Small/Medium Affiliate of the Year – Hounds Touch Football

Large Affiliate of the Year - BMTA

Volunteer of the Year – Melissa Lonergan, Hounds Touch Football

Moving to the playing field we acknowledge and commend BMTA on their successful application to host the Opens trans-Tasman Test Series in April and the Pacific Youth Touch Cup in May. BMTA also launched their brand-new clubhouse in October of last year. Congratulations!

We extend a very warm welcome to our newest affiliate, Wynnum. Establishing their junior and senior competitions late last year, WMTA have experienced exponential growth and continued to foster the love of touch in the eastern suburbs. Well done!

Further, with the naming of Rockhampton as the venue for the 2023 JSC we are aware that many of our affiliates are in the throes of planning their respective campaigns the success of which is largely dependent upon the input of significant volunteer hours. We thank all our volunteer coaches and administrators for their support and efforts in growing and developing our youth players.

We now change our focus towards the Inferno National Touch League. We acknowledge the significant resources that coaches, managers, players and referees contributed. A particular mention to members of the coaching panel and our regional administrator for their tireless energy in supporting our teams.

List of Champions

Womens 27’s – Champions – Player of the Final – Emily Hennessey

Womens 40’s – Champions – Player of the Final – Renee Woodrick

Womens 45’s – Champions – Player of the Final – Melissa Lonergan

All Abilities Tier 1 – Champions – Player of the Final – Jackson Ketley

Referee Grand Final Appointments

Womens Open – Zac Genrich, Lachlan Freshwater, Zoe Genrich

Mixed Open – Jordan Randle, Campbell Muir

Womens 20’s – Darren Couper

Mens 20’s – John Hamstra

Mens 30’s – Brett Freshwater

Womens 40’s – Michael Genrich

Masters (40s) Mixed – Doug Mackie

Mens 45's - Michael Landsberg

Referee Upgrades

Level 5 Upgrades – Zoe Cornish, Jacob Gregg, Sam Priestly, Alec Williams, Ben Horner, Rebecca Buzacott

Level 6 Upgrades – James Roe, Riley Wotton, Shobna Moore

Leading Female Referee – Zoe Genrich

Referee of the Tournament – Jordan Randle

Golden Boot – 2nd Overall

You may also have recently received our statement of intent in relation to the proposed revision to the National Touch League format and survey. In case you missed it, here it is enclosed. We thank you in advance for your time and consideration and look forward to your feedback.