This year’s 2013 X-BLADES & QLD GOVERNMENT NQ JUNIOR REGIONAL TOUCH CHAMPIONSHIPS will be held at Townsville’s Queens Park from October 5 – 7 and will coincide with the inaugural MAD COW TAVERN NQ ALL STARS SUPER CHALLENGE, showcasing some of the region’s best representative players.
The annual NQ JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS is a pillar event on the Touch calendar for the regions junior players and regularly attracts representative teams from across eighteen affiliated Touch Football competitions in North Queensland.
NQTA Executive Officer Billy Grant was pleased with the return to large team numbers and said it was testament to the strength of the region’s Touch Football competitions and their committees.
“Touch has a very strong following here in the north and our junior participation rate here is amongst the best in the country,” Mr Grant said.
Grant said over 400 junior teams, made up of over 4500 children, played in affiliated Touch competitions across the North Queensland region over the previous twelve months, with many more playing Touch through the school system.
Grant also attributed the increase in team nominations to the timing of the Labour Day long weekend.
“We made the decision to move the event to the long weekend last year and it happened to fall in the middle of the school holidays which meant some teams weren’t able to nominate. This year it’s at the end of the school holidays and we’re seeing the result with team nominations back up.”
Townsville’s junior clubs have again made up the bulk of this year’s nominations with local clubs Frogs and Brothers providing twelve and ten teams, respectively, across the eight age divisions.
Grant was also pleased to see areas such as Charters Towers return to the event.
“It’s difficult for areas like Charters Towers as they rely on players from the local boarding schools, which are obviously affected the most by school holidays,” Grant said.
“It’s pleasing to see that the kids out there really wanted to play this year and have organised to come back to school earlier just so they can play this weekend.”
All of the action gets underway from 8:30am on Saturday morning, with Grand Finals concluding at approximately 2pm on Monday afternoon.
For up-to-date news and results, please see the NQ Touch website – www.nqtouch.com.au
CONTACT:
Billy Grant – Executive Officer, NQTA
P: 07 4725 6133; E: execofficer@nqtouch.com.au
MEDIA RELEASE - NUMBERS RETURN TO JUNIOR REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS