England Touch Association - Annual Report 2014 England Touch Association - Annual Report 2014 | Page 37
ETA Annual Report
2015 – Touch World Cup and Mixed 18s
The focus for the High Performance team for 2015 will undoubtedly be the Touch World Cup to be hosted in
Coffs Harbour, Australia over the period April 29 – May 3. This tournament is the pinnacle of international Touch
competition and will be a significant moment to test England’s elite performance against the best Touch-playing
nations from around the world. Planning for Touch World Cup has now been in progress for 12 months. In
addition to Touch World Cup, a Mixed 18s tournament is also being planning by Touch Europe to ensure this
division has international competition continuity in 2015.
Therefore England Touch’s ambitions for 2015 include:
Take as many England divisional teams to TWC’15 as the number of willing, financially able and suitable
elite-level players allows;
Make a semi-final at TWC’15 in one or more divisions;
Have 3 further divisional teams placed within the top eight;
In the overall points category place 6th or higher (England Touch placed 4th at TWC’11 in Edinburgh);
Match or better England’s 2014 performance in the Mixed 18s European tournament in 2015.
To achieve our goals: we are concentrating increasing the level of sports-specific fitness with the Medical Team
with support from Chester University; we are providing opportunities and support to our national coaching staff
to develop this skills through formal coursework and mentorship (by ETA and FIT representatives); we are
focusing on Touch Nationals each year as the primary pathway to national-side selection; and we are focusing on
training our national players to ensure they have the ability to execute skills at speed, under pressure and under
fatigue.
Beyond 2015
Following Touch World Cup, the High Performance team will need to refocus on European-level competition for
the 2016 and 2018 European Touch Championships and 2017 Home Nations prior to the next Touch World Cup
in 2019 in Malaysia.
Timothy Osborne
Head of Elite Coaching
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England Touch Association