President Matt Gray has just produced the 2004 Annual Report which will be tabled at the Adelaide University Sports Association AGM.
Winter Season 2003
In the first season of the drive for a greater student percentage of membership, AUTCâ's O-Week was successful with many new faces turning out to play. The new members and the returning old hands allowed us to field 10 teams in the winter of 2003.
With two mens teams and two womens teams on Monday night (the A-Grade womens team actually played in the mens B-grade, above one of the AUTC mens teams), three mixed teams on Thursday night and three mixed teams on Sunday morning, all club members were accommodated with the skill level they wanted to play at and the time they wanted to play. And with Brendon King leading training on Wednesday nights the season became very successful.
On Monday night both mens teams won their divisions (A and C grade). The women were competitive and pressed hard for contention all season, with the A grade side competing strongly, making the Men’s B grade finals.
Thursday night saw the Mixed A/B team dominate all season culminating with an 11-0 win in the grand final. The Mohawks (Mixed E) were the surprise of the season. Showing mixed form through the season, they ended just losing the grand final.
Sunday saw the improvement of the Mixed A team. After losing one of the teams playmakers, Paul “Gonzo� Harold, to a freak accident (not on the touch field) in the middle of the year, the team showed much perseverance to make it to the grand final, losing only to the form team all season.
The winter season was very successful and finished with AUTC being crowned Club Champion within the City Touch competition, beating out 4 other clubs. We gave out some awards of our own, with the following awards being awarded by the club coaches:
Jo Mitchell Award (Most Promising Female): Larua Teakle
Gary Williamson Award (Most Promising Male): Cameron Milne
Best Team: Combovers (Mens A-Grade)
Most Enthusiastic Team: Blue Rinse (Mixed F-Grade)
Best Coach: Matt Gray
Best Club Person: Sandii Brimble
Summer season 2003-2004
AUTC once again ran its own Thursday night mixed competition during summer. With an air to making the feeling very relaxed, and with the support of the rugby club, AUTC ran a barbeque every week to encourage people to spend some time after their games watching other people and having fun. The social atmosphere created helped to make this a very successful season.
With 34 teams (the maximum possible due to lighting), the competition was a sell out two weeks before the first game. With 5 divisions and 5 AUTC teams, AUTC was strongly involved. Running from mid November through until the start of March, the competition was well organized and well received.
Although there was no AUTC team in the top division the team that won the competition was made up of 90% AUTC members who had decided to play in a social team for a year. (Most of these members played for AUTC in other competitions through the year.) Although none of the AUTC teams was runner up or won their division, all teams improved over the season and most players have decided to return for winter season (2004).
Barbara Morgan from the AUTC Kites (E-Grade) received the best female player for that grade, and Seth Debolt from the AUTC Condors (D-Grade) received best male player for his grade.
AUTC also entered teams into the Tuesday night competition run by City Touch. AUTC entered two mens teams, one in A-Grade and another in B-Grade, and one womens team, entered in B-Grade. No team made it to the grand final but Darren Jones was awarded the Best and Fairest award for the A-Grade.
Beach Touch
After a year off in 2002, AUTC ran a beach touch competition in 2003. Held at Glenelg on the 7th of December, it had a mens and a womens competition with $100 prize money for the winning teams. There were nine teams in the Mens competition and eight teams in the Womens competition. Due to the social nature of the competition, most of the AUTC members who participated did so in social teams. Both teams who won the competitions were made up of mainly AUTC members.
The day ran well and no problems were encounted and AUTC is hoping to make it a regular part of its calendar once again.
Social Activities
AUTC is a club trying to increase its social output in an effort to keep people interested in more than just the sport of touch. With the losing of one social coordinator (Sandii Brimble) to work at the start of the summer season and with the position only recently being filled, 2003-2004 summer season was a bit hap hazard on the social scene.
However the year started well with the traditional Presidents Keg, followed up by a pub-crawl and a movie night. The End Of Season Dinner was once again a highlight of the year. With awards handed out and the traditional movie causing a stir, the night went well.
Throughout summer the teams were encouraged to stay after matches and have drinks at the barbeque and with sponsorship for Touch SA giving free entry to the Arkaba's "Time Warp", some memorable times were had. The summer season was capped with a lazy Sunday spent playing touch and enjoying another BBQ.
With the new social coordinators putting together this year's itinerary and the starting of a monthly club newsletter, AUTC looks to become even more active.
Representation
AUTC is a large contributor of talent to the sport of touch in SA and as such has many people to recognize for their involvement.
State Representatives
2003: Carrie Atkinson, Darren Ball (Coach M), Katie Emmel (Development), Ingo Ernst (30s), Megan Field (30s), Sharon Gray (30s), Darren Jones, Robin "Doc" Kildare (W 30s Coach), Christine Lai (Dev), Jo Mitchell (30s), Sarah O''Dwyer (Dev), Rob Page (30s), Jeremy Smith, Leila Wyatt
National Touch League Representatives
2004 - Carrie Atkinson (Mxd), Darren Ball (M 30s), Megan Field, Sharon Gray (W 30s) Darren Jones (MO, 30s), Mark Jones (M 30s Manager), Robin "Doc" Kildare (W 30s Coach), Christine Lai (Mxd), Lisa Mahoney (W 30s), Libby Mapletoft (W 30s), Jo Mitchell (W 30s), Jeremy Smith (Mens (player), M 30s Ass. Coach), Leila Wyatt
2003 - Darren Ball (30s), Darren Jones, Lisa Mahoney (30s) Rob Page, Leila Wyatt
Australian Representatives
2004 - Lisa Mahoney (W 30s),
2003 - Rob "Doc" Kildare (M 35s)
Life Members
Congratulations to Darren Ball, Ninh Duong, Brendan Hennessy and Darren Jones who were awarded Life Membership at the 2003 Winter End of Season Dinner.
With the new season set to start in the near future and training already under way, AUTC is happy to have Paul "Gonzo" Harold back as the beginners coach, and with the number of new recruits out at training it looks to be another exciting season ahead. With the ever-adapting coaching talent and new training drills, AUTC looks to be headed into a very prosperous time.
With ideas about sponsoring members to do both refereeing and coaching courses, and the prospect of gaining government grants to help with training tools, the future is certainly bright for the sport and the club.
AUTC is a club with a great base of members who put in year after year with little or no reward, and it is these people who keep the club running. A large thank you must be said to Darren Jones, who after the nearly total exodus of the committee has gently guided the new committee and given up plenty of his time and effort to see that AUTC did not fall on it's face.
With the new touch season we hope to start becoming a more visible sport on campus.
Matt Gray
President