Touch Football

Hey Athletes!

In today's post, I'll be talking about Touch Football. Touch Football is a modified version of rugby league, in which touching is used instead of tackling. It follows a similar format to oz tag and rugby league as the rules and structure of the game is similar. The game is played on a grass field around the size of half a football field. In competitive competitions, each team generally consists of 12 players maximum on each team and 6 on the field. The aim of the game is to score tries by placing the ball over the try line without being touched.

I think touch footy is a very hard sport to enjoy and that's what I like about it. While there are not a whole heap of rules, there are a lot of terms and plays that the best players learn, practice and execute their plays to score tries. The game is also super quick and is very cardio endurance based, therefore, those who play on a competitive level must have a high level of fitness.

Other important skill attributes that will benefit your experience are:
- Speed: This helps you get around players, run past players, run from dummy half quickly.
- Stepping/agility: This helps you wrong foot or unbalance your opponents or weave and dodge their touches.
- Passing: Passing is important as it is the main action used in the sport, having a long torpedo pass allows you to throw long cut-out passes to the wingers to score when they are unmarked.
- Hand eye coordination: This is important for catching balls because some passes can be difficult to catch when you are running at top speeds and attempting to catch the ball as well.
- Reaction speed: This is needed when you are under pressure in certain situations. When you are rushed to by the opposition, reaction speed can assist you in quickly catching and passing.
- Diving: Diving is a hard skill to master. However it is critical if you want to score tries against tough defensive teams. Diving allows you to slide under your opponents hands and slide the ball over the line before they touch you.

Diving

I do not recommend this sport beginners who are trying a new sport that can improve their fitness levels. I believe this sport is a highly competitive hard sport to learn. When beginners play with experienced players, it can ruin the dynamics of the team and therefore it is very difficult to integrate both types of players into the same team. An alternate similar sport that may be more enjoyable for amateurs would be oz tag.

If you want to learn the terminology and rules of the game click here.

Here is a video of some touch footy highlights from Dylan Hennessy.






(Written by Nathan Lam)