Orange Thunder touch football club is one step from being named the best community club in Australia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Thunder were the NSW state winners of the Red Rooster Community Club of the Year Award run by Touch Football Australia.
- READ MORE: Junior footy extravaganza comes to Wade Park
They now enter the National Community Club of the Year Awards with the winners being announced live on television on September 26.
Thunder coaching director Wayne Hill said the club had come a long way since their foundation 25 years ago.
"It's pretty amazing really," he said.
"It is nice to get recognition. It's been a continual growth really since Orange Thunder rep started in 1998.
"It's not just based on our rep programs obviously. The success from that is really based off how well we are doing at a community level with our junior and senior competition."
Hill pointed to a growing interest in touch as a sport as well as the involvement of schools in Orange as a key factors in the club's transformation.
"It's been an exponential growth really over the last five to seven years," he said.
"Our numbers are always strong but we've gone from about 60 junior teams to well in advance of 150.
"Some of that growth has been through schools like Kinross and Orange Anglican Grammar actually having teams in Wednesday afternoon junior competitions.
"Kids just want to play touch footy. In 1998 we had one or two representative teams to now having 10 teams in ever competition from under 10s right through to under 18s."
Hill said Thunder has a particular focus on developing players and giving their juniors an opportunity to earn higher honours.
In August, seven Thunder players represented NSW at the national championships while in March Caitlin and Hailey Prestwidge, Jessica Wardrobe and Joel Begnell (assistant coach) all represented Australia.
"We're doing the right things and the kids are getting the opportunity to excel," he said.
"The achievements at the higher level of NSW and Australia teams is the bonus for kids in the Orange Thunder system. We offer a vast range of competitions to attend."
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
