SINGLETON Junior Touch Association’s vice-president Julie Tull is still lost for words after being awarded life membership of the organisation at the end of season presentation last Wednesday.
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Julie has been involved with the club since its beginnings in 1999 and still remembers the club’s days at Cook Park before it moved to its home at Civic Park.
She said she’s kept on with the association because it was all about fun and fitness for the kids.
All five of Julie’s children have enjoyed playing touch on Wednesdays and there’s one who is still among the junior playing ranks.
“It’s something that the kids look forward to every week during the summer and it doesn’t fall on the weekend,” she said.
The touch organisation continues to grow with record numbers this year of about 750 children that saw the need to create another time slot (a first for the club) to accommodate the 79 teams between the ages of eight and 16.
Players come from all the schools in town and the football field is a great place for kids to make new friends with others outside of their school.
“If they’re serious about their touch football they can become involved in the representative side of things but, if it’s just a run around, Wednesday is perfect,” Julie said.
The facilities are also on the improve; with the very first committee having to bring down a trailer with equipment for touch football and an esky to sell drinks to keep the club going.
Julie’s roles at the club have changed over time, including the sometimes challenging referees’ coordinator but she is currently enjoying her role as publicity officer and vice-president.
“It’s a small committee and we have to cover for each other, there’s more than one person who makes it successful,” she said.
The club has been effective training up new referees for the association and now has qualified members at the club itself who run their own referees’ course, something they do every second year.
“In the past we’ve had to get people from NSW Touch to run the workshop,” she said.
“We’ve also had a number of former players come back as referees, which is great to see.”
The season runs from October to March and, in recent years, the times have been changed – with winter training and other activities, like dancing, proving a hurdle.
“There are challenges and we can always find ways to improve,” she said.
While she’s excited about the life membership award, Julie is looking forward to the touch football off-season – before it all starts up again.