LAST season the Bathurst Touch Association had a record number of juniors in action at Learmonth Park, but now those young talents could have the chance to showcase their skills on a higher level.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bathurst Touch are looking at forming a junior representative program for the first time.
It will require not just players, but a host of volunteers to make it feasible and as such, the association will stage a meeting on Wednesday night to gauge interest.
"For the first time we've had some expressions of interest from teams wanting to field junior representative sides," Bathurst Touch's Tony Lewis said.
"We feel now is the time to spread our wings and see if it is feasible to field rep sides in all groups, we are certainly opening it up to the general playing population.
"Obviously we also need coaches, we need a junior committee, we need referees - you can't just send your kids along when you're starting from scratch because we don't have an existing junior rep program.
"We really want to set the thing up properly and do it properly. We have the backing of New South Wales Touch Football and the Hunter Hornets, they would be 100 percent behind us, but if we don't have the infrastructure, we are not going to proceed with this.
"We want to set it up correctly rather than halfheartedly ... we are not going to go down this path for one or two years, we want it to be sustainable."
As Lewis indicated, Bathurst Touch falls within the Hunter Western Hornets region. Its huge catchment area extends from the Hunter and Newcastle area to Mudgee, Dubbo and Bathurst.
The Hornets run a number of regional representative tournaments each year which Bathurst could attend.
Lewis said the annual Don Green Western Junior Championships staged in Mudgee is one Bathurst would target if it gets a junior program established.
While it would be a big step up in standard for Bathurst's juniors, it would provide them with experience and a chance to further develop.
- Are you a Western Advocate subscriber? Then why not CLICK HERE and join our new Central West Sports Subscribers Facebook group?
Players who impress also have the potential to go on to represent the Hornets at a higher level.
"The Hornets are a very professional organisation, they do a great job and would certainly want us to be involved, but my thought is that if we do it, we do it 100 percent," Lewis said.
"It would certainly be a real eye-opener for the kids and it would show them that there would be that progression path for them if they wanted to work hard at it. We've got to start somewhere."
The meeting about forming a junior program will be held at 7pm Wednesday at the courtyard room of the Bathurst RSL Club.
Lewis encourages all interested parties to attend as volunteers will be needed.
