England Touch committed to developing Touch in schools in 2018

England Touch is re-committing its focus on growing age group Touch in 2018, including running a national schools tournament.

Over the past few years England Touch and some of its member clubs have been actively developing work in schools in their local areas, with projects across the country.

As a result the number of youngsters taking up the sport has increased exponentially, and in 2017 around twice as many players put themselves forward for consideration for the England national representative teams.

England is one of a handful of countries to enter teams into every category in the annual Junior Touch Championships – Boy’s 18s, Girl’s 18s, Mixed 18s and Mixed 15s – and in 2017 there were enough regional teams to warrant a dedicated day for a Ryvita Touch Nationals tournament in September.

This national schools competition is based on England Touch’s successful club and university Series, with three regional tournaments in spring/summer 2018 followed by a potential finals day to be held as part of the European Touch Championships in Nottingham in July.

Touch is an ideal sport for all schools to include as part of their physical education programme. It is one of just a handful of sports where male and female players compete as equals, and because it is minimal contact all ages can take part on the same pitch at the same time, too.

To register your interest in this 2018 competition head to www.tinyurl.com/ETA-SchoolsTournament-2018 and email Tom Humphreys via schools@englandtouch.org.uk for more details!