All-Schools Touch takes Berkshire by storm

Last week the first ever Berkshire All Schools Touch Tournament took place in Reading.

Six girls teams and five boys teams took part, with the majority of the Year 8 and Year 9 students trying out Touch for the first time. The winners of both the boy’s and girl’s divisions came from Pangbourne College, with the girl’s division final going to a tense 3 v 3 drop off which lasted over 10 minutes. The joy (and relief!) from the girls was obvious when the game was finally won!

The event was supported by coaches and referees from England Touch, Wildcats Touch, Thames Valley Vikings, In2Touch and RFU Berkshire, and O2 Touch Ambassadors were also present. Jose Dias, Wildcats Regional Lead, encouraged participants to get involved with regional trials and sessions run by their local club (Thames Valley Vikings based in Reading) and Lee Thompson, England Mixed U15s coach spoke about the upcoming Junior Touch Championships in Ireland and opportunities to their play Touch at elite level.

All the students we spoke to said they had enjoyed the event, would like to do it again next year and would be interested in playing more, making it a great success for Touch in Berkshire.

Anyone interested in finding out more about opportunities to play in the Reading area should contact TVvikings@hotmail.co.uk and anyone wishing to get involved in Wildcats U18s or U15s squads (England West Region – CLICK HERE for more details) should contact wildcatstouch@gmail.com.