Touch UM at Sale

Okay, the honest reason I joined was the name of the club: “Touch UM.” It doesn’t get much better than that. [UM stands for University of Melbourne, but its convenient placement at the end of the team name allows for way more jokes.] But wait, it does get better. Here are just a few phrases common to the Touch field:

"Pick up the dump."

"Go deeper."

"Wanna ruck?"

In my four practices prior to this comp, I went from “What do you call that round thing you throw around?” to “Sorry, Australia National Touch team, I’m only here for a few more months, I can’t play on your team.”

Saturday's Touch UM boys v. Touch UM boys. At least they look like they know what they're doing.

Fine, maybe I’m not that good yet. But we played in our first competition over the weekend in a tiny town called Sale (road trip!), and I definitely learned a lot about the game:

1. “Touch” is short for “touch rugby.”
2. You’re only allowed to throw the ball backwards.
3. Crashing into a large male moving towards you at high speed doesn’t hurt as bad as it sounds. Hitting the ground post-crash, on the other hand, can induce severe body soreness.
4. Catch the ball and run fast.
5. Catch the ball.

It’s been a long time since I’ve started something so foreign to me. Being completely clueless on the field, let alone not being the best (I’m trying hard to avoid sounding cocky here..), is uncharted territory for me. I’ll admit I can get a little competitive. Surprisingly though, even our 0-8 overall record didn’t crush my spirits.

Sunday's team - we scored three tries! (A try is a touchdown.)

What really kept me going was the people. My teams were awesome and even the refs seemed to enjoy laughing at us rookies. I’ll leave you with a quote from a fellow teammate:

“I rucked all weekend long but I didn’t score once.” -D