Touch Football is set to light up the local sporting landscape as the Central Coast Academy of Sport introduces one of the strongest regional sports to the CCAS offerings.
The driver for the establishment of the CCAS Touch Football program is Mark Tipple. Tipple who joined the organisation as the Programs and Communications Coordinator in January has an extensive background in the sport, his knowledge and passion for touch football has seen the new program take shape as an important high performance pathway for the region. There are four feeder clubs on the Central Coast and each of the clubs has athletes registered for the first intake.
The program will be known as the Central Coast Granite Touch Football Program and our thanks to Central Coast Granite for their support in helping to bring this sports program to the market. The program is designed for athletes in the U14 – U17 age range and supports the athlete development model known as FTEM. Foundation, Talent, Elite and Mastery, as identified by Touch Football Australia’s high performance pathway.
Mark Tipple said of the introduction of Touch Football to the sport offerings of the Academy: “I’m excited to help develop an integrated pathway in a sport that I’m really passionate about. I’ve had extensive discussions with NSW Touch Football and they are fully supportive of both the aims of the program and the training environment we can guarantee. It’s great to be working in sport, but specifically with a sport I have a strong affiliation with. The coaches we have invited to join the program will ensure this program will have plenty of success and prove to be a vital step in the touch football pathway. It’s also important to thank Central Coast Granite who have helped bring this program to the market, without them the program’s entry to the market would have been long delayed.”
The Central Coast Granite Touch Football squad had their orientation and first training session on Sunday, May 14 with these 34 athletes taking part in the inaugural season;
| Kaya | Ardita | Rachael | Mortell |
| Jeremy | Belcher | Clare | Norris |
| Bianca | Blackhall | Dylan | Pardey |
| Lucy | Chapman | Jackson | Quinell |
| Kane | Coghlan | Jarrod | Rayner-Badior |
| Eddie | Dillon | Lachlan | Rayner-Badior |
| Grace | Farmilo | Jack | Riches |
| Cody | Frost | Matt | Reynolds |
| Tarlay | Gemmell | Nicola | Roberts |
| Brooke | Goodhand | Nicholas | Rodrigues |
| Harry | Hayes | Samara | Ross |
| Zac | Healey | Tom | Sawyer |
| Tasmin | Hill | Jess | Sawyer |
| Emily | Kirby | Samantha | Smith |
| Hemi | Knebel | Whitney | Tipple |
| Joshua | Moffitt | Riley | Weatherall |
| Luke | Moffitt | Joshua | Woutersz |
The Central Coast Academy of Sport would like to thank and acknowledge the support from the following Business Partners: NSW Government, Mingara Recreation Club, The University of Newcastle, NBN Television, Southern Cross Austereo (101.3 Sea FM and 107.7 2GO), Oddball Marketing, Central Coast Council and The Greater Bank.
