Touch UM

Touch UM recently took three teams to compete at the Australian University Games on behalf of the University of Melbourne.  The tournament ran across five days during the September break.  The TouchUM contingent of the Melbourne Uni team consisted of a mixed team, a women’s and a men’s team, all of which competed in division one of their respective competitions.

The first three days of the tournament consisted of round-robin games.  The finals began on Wednesday afternoon and continued through until Friday.  The mixed team finished the week with a bronze medal, which was a fantastic achievement following a hard-fought semi-final in which the team lost 4 - 9 to the University of Queensland.  The bronze medal match was against the University of Wollongong, in which TouchUM came out on top 12 - 5.

The men’s and women’s teams were unable to win a match all week however they approached their games with enormous enthusiasm and improved both as individuals and a team by the end of the week.  Many of the players at AUG this year were first-year touch footballers and TouchUM is incredibly proud of the progress they have made with each tournament they play.  The women’s team provided much entertainment with their on-field antics in games against Griffith University and UTS and the men’s team showed great spirit in their final game against Monash.

A number of individuals stood out in each of the teams and TouchUM would first and foremost like to congratulate Timmy Glazebrook on his ‘Green and Gold’ medal.  Other players who performed outstandingly over the course of the week were Heidi Keller, Joe Dowling and Matthew Hordern.  The social events were met with great enthusiasm and TouchUM turned heads in various outfits across the course of the week.  A number of players have already expressed great enthusiasm for AUG 2010 and TouchUM is in preparation for an even stronger team next year.