England Touch Association - Annual Report 2014 England Touch Association - Annual Report 2014 | Page 26

ETA Annual Report 2015 and beyond… Following the FIT Touch World Cup in Australia the domestic Touch season will be a little condensed to allow the appropriate level of competition for clubs and the ETA Performance team requirements. There will likely be 3 NTS events – hosted by clubs in the North / South / Midlands areas with a final hosted again in a neutral venue by the ETA. The NTS format will remain as is and will undertake a full review and possible restructure for the following season. A 12 team competition at the same venue based on the top 12 in the CTS in 2014 will also be delivered. A further series will be created and delivered in a similar way to the CTS in 2013 with different venues and will allow more clubs to host tournaments and also to allow the development of new, and up and coming clubs, players & refs. This will assist the integration of aspiring clubs, and provide an easier spread of events for these teams to access. The structure will be constantly reviewed throughout 2015 to get to the stage where we have 3 strong divisions going into 2016. Our hope is to have series and nationals dates for 2015 set by November 2014, as to give more time to plan and support other tournaments. A new online form will be produced for hosts to submit their tournaments to be added to the ETA website and calendar. Work will continue to get O2 clubs involved, including encouraging them to pool in their local area. Getting to the point where there is a Touch club engaged in every county in England has to be an aim of these tournaments and therefore looking into the future, local divisions run to gain entry into the National tournaments has to be an aspiration of the Tournaments Director. Further development in the exciting area of University Touch could quickly produce many more players and teams and is therefore another target for the Tournaments team at ETA. With contacts at several Universities already looking to 2015 with a view to hosting events the future will only continue to grow. Kevin Hill Events Director 26 England Touch Association