As a school with only 15 students, Eumungerie Public School in New South Wales is defying the odds when it comes to team sport.

The small school, located about 40km from Dubbo, has formed a touch football team with 11 of the school’s 15 students participating.

The inspiration for the team came from students playing touch football as part of the Australian Government’s Active After-school Communities (AASC) program under the guidance of AASC community coach and Dubbo touch football player, Tim Quayle.

Australian Touch Football players Jason Stanton, Sarah Peatie have also visited the school to encourage and coach the children, and the team competed against other schools in the recent Dubbo ‘Kids in Touch School Gala Day’.
Eumungerie Public School Principal, Shelley Darcy, said the children’s progression was remarkable.

‘When I first mentioned putting a touch team together, they were surprisingly not very interested because they had always been doing individual-based sports,’ she said.

‘After a few training sessions and after participating in the AASC program, the children’s attitudes changed and they are more eager to play than ever.’

The AASC program creates opportunities for Australian children to discover the benefits of a happy, healthy and active lifestyle through sport, offering a fun, safe and inclusive introduction to sport in the after-school timeslot of 3.00pm to 5.30pm. Through a positive and fun experience, participants are encouraged to join a local sporting club.