Junior 2025/2026 Season

Our Junior Representative Touch Program is about to begin, and Orange Touch warmly welcomes all junior players to consider nominating and trialling for these teams. Junior Rep is a fantastic way to develop your skills, meet    like-minded people, make friends for life as well as offer other representative opportunities.

Please ensure you read through all information listed below, then to nominate and express your interest in our junior representative teams, simply complete the online form – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScT_udRZU19AocBLeDxQo8Z_YN3sh2FtwY9quJdi96JbJrVfw/viewform?usp=sharing

Age Divisions:

Please see below age divisions for our junior representative teams:

All players must trial within the age group their YOB falls within. Younger players will only be considered for inclusion in older age divisions, where the younger player has not been selected in their own age division and where the older age division is in need of players.

Eligibility:

In order to be considered for selection in our junior representative touch teams, all players need to:

• be registered in any touch team in our social touch competitions, meaning any competition our club run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, at Waratahs Sports Ground.
• satisfy one of the two options below;
  • attend one of the junior representative selection trials for their division, or
  • submit an ‘Inability to Trial’ email to our club prior to the start time of the last selection trial for your division (information on how to do this is listed below).

• Be able to commit to ALL COMPULSORY carnivals as nominated by the Club. Should players be unable to commit to the 3 main carnivals, players are still welcome to trial for Representative Teams however they will be selected as a SHADOW player as per OTA Representative Team Selection Policy.

Please note that any player who DOES NOT either attend one of the selection trials or DO NOT submit an ‘Inability to Trial’ email, WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR SELECTION in our junior representative teams.

Please note that all players must attend one of the above selection trials for their division to be considered for selection (unless an ‘Inability to Trial’ email is sent). All players are asked to wear a numbered singlet/shirt and to arrive 15-20 minutes prior to the above trial times. Upon signing on please ensure your shirt colour and playing numbered are entered to assist with identification purposes.

Following selection trials, final team’s will be named. Please note that some teams may wish to name shadow players, who can be used for events where final team players are not available. For any shadow players named, coaching staff will contact these players and their parents with all information relating to their shadow status with the team.

Players who miss out upon selection may request feedback upon their performance. Requests for feedback may be sent to orangethundertouch@yahoo.com the Club will endeavour to reply within 10 business days.

Orange Thunder Selection Policy 2025

Inability to Trial:

Any player who is unable to attend at least one selection trial for their division, must complete the Inability to Trial Form – prior to the start time of the last selection trial for your division.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0ElYkbpiXt3PKRnAJV-Y6KJRqFz4UTojT-sxvbP3Qqc5Duw/viewform?usp=sharing

Junior Representative Calendar of Events:

Our club has a combination of gala days and touch championships planned for our junior representative teams this year, which will give all our teams the opportunity to play touch against some of the best teams in NSW, in preparation for our pinnacle event – the NSW Touch Junior State Cup.

Please see below our confirmed calendar of events for our junior representative teams:

These events are considered ‘COMPULSORY’.

• WSW Suns Junior Championships (SJC) – 19 January 2025 at Waratahs Sports Ground, Orange
• Peter Wilson Memorial Championships (PWMC) – 1 and 2 February 2025 at Tomaree Sports Complex, Nelson Bay
• NSW Touch Junior State Cup (JSC) – 14 to 16 February 2025 at Jubilee Park, Wagga Wagga

In addition to the above confirmed calendar of events, teams may attend an ‘optional’ event which they can participate in. The nominated event for this is:

• Penrith Junior Gala Day – 15 December 2024 (TBC) at Kingsway Playing Fields, St Marys
• Don Green Western Junior Championships- TBC, Mudgee

Confirmation regarding these optional events will be made after teams are selected and once consultation between the club, coaching staff and families has taken place. The cost of attending this event will be the responsibility of the team to cover.

In relation to the above calendar of events, we are happy for parents to begin making accommodation arrangements, if they choose to do so. However, our club strongly encourages all parents to make any accommodation bookings will free cancellation and full refund options. Our club takes no responsibility for covering costs for any accommodations which are lost or not required.

Junior Representative Player Expectations:

All players selected in our junior representative teams are to be aware of the simple expectations upon players, which includes:

• Requirement to attend team training sessions, or when unable to train, player/parent must inform coaching staff (teams will usually train 1-2 times per week).
• Requirement to attend representative events, or when unable to attend, player/parent must inform coaching staff (all events listed above in ‘Calendar of Events’).
• Requirement to pay the invoiced player levy, or if under financial hardship, to contact our club to discuss payment plan options (information about costs listed below in ‘Player Levy & Costs’).

• Players/Parents are expected to abide by the
• OTA Code of Conduct https://orangetouch.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Junior-Rep-Parent-Guardian-CoC.pdf,
• NSWTA Representative Player Parents Policy https://nswtouch.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Representative-Player-Parent-Policy-2020.pdf and tournament conditions of entry. It is the responsibility of the players/parents to ensure that they are familiar with these.

Our club believes these are simple expectations for players to follow, and in return, all players will be given the best opportunity to develop and thrive in a representative touch environment in one of the best clubs in NSW, which will give players access to progress along a Representative Sporting Pathway onto regional, state or national honours.

Junior Representative Player Levy & Costs:

Please see below information in relation to the player levy, which will be invoiced to all players who make our junior representative teams. This levy is to cover operational costs our club has to run our Junior Representative Program. To accept positions within Representative Teams players will be required to pay a $150 deposit.

2025-2026 Junior Representative Player Levy – est $400.00 per player

Please note: This cost estimate is based upon Orange Thunder fielding teams within ALL Age Divisions, should there be less teams than anticipated levies will be higher.

The above player levy DOES NOT cover the following costs:

• Player registration fee –  PWMC & JSC – these registrations are completed by player/parent online via MySideline (we will provide you details to complete these regos)
• Travel and accommodation for events – these are to be arranged by the individual
• On-field and off-field apparel – these are additional optional items, based on what the individual needs

Once all junior representative teams are selected, if you’re a parent who believes you may have difficulty in paying the first instalment of $150.00 player levy, please ensure you contact our club by email orangethundertouch@yahoo.com to discuss with us the options available to have you pay your child’s levy off via a payment plan. Our club fully understands the possible financial hardships in relation to the cost of child participation in sport, so our club is happy to help make this requirement easier for player/parents where possible.

Scholarship Program:

The aim of the Orange Thunder Touch football Scholarship Program is to provide one-off, short-term relief to families who are experiencing financial hardship to enable children selected in an Orange Thunder representative team to be able participate regardless of financial status.  

Orange Thunder Junior Representative Scholarship Program Guideline – 2025_26

Fundraising and Sponsorship:

This season the Club has designed various SPONSORSHIP Packages for interested parties/businesses to come on board and support our programs. We have managed to secure a few sponsors but are still actively seeking others. Should any families run their own business, or are involved in a business that may wish to become involved with the Club in the form as a sponsor and would like to explore these packages, please contact our club by email orangethundertouch@yahoo.com to request a package to be sent to you. Our club would warmly welcome product/services donations, in exchange for corporate partnership (sponsorship) with our club as well.

Many thanks to our Sponsors so far:

• Longtrack Pantry
• Viatek
• Kooler Ice
• Major Civil
• Sullivans Mining & Industrial
• Rogerias Transport
• Occupational Therapy Plus
• The Clarke Family

Volunteer Incentive Scheme: This season the Club will continue our VIS (Volunteer Incentive Scheme) designed to provide a dollar value for the time our volunteers donate to our Club. The Club is a small committee who struggle to effectively conduct all the roles necessary to coordinate weekly programs and are always grateful for the assistance of volunteers. Hours volunteered accumulate and then can be utilised to reduce player costs during the season.

It is hoped that through these measures accompanied by reducing operational costs as well as limiting carnival attendance, will reduce the costs of playing representative touch for Orange Thunder. Our club is fully committed to making representative touch as inclusive and affordable as possible for all our players and their families.

Orange Thunder Volunteer Incentive Scheme

Questions:

All questions about our Junior Representative Program can be directed to our club by email orangethundertouch@yahoo.com.