If you’ve enquired via our website about playing at Princes Park Touch in our week night social competitions (Wednesdays over Winter and Wednesdays and Thursdays over Summer) you may be wondering how we go about getting you on the field. This is a short summary of how it works and hopefully it answers any questions you may have.
The first thing you might we wondering about are costs. In terms of placement there are none, Princes Park Touch is a non profit and our aim is to maximise participation. Therefore we place players into teams completely free of charge. This is primarily done through our pre season and SWITCH programs which are also completely free.
If you join a team that play in our week night social competition’s you will likely be asked by the captain to contribute to that teams team registration fees or other costs (eg uniforms). The teams in our social competition run autonomously of the PPT committee (although we are friends with most of the captains) and handle costs differently so we cannot advise the exact cost for a season playing one our social teams. But it is generally between $100 to $150 (all inclusive, including insurance) for a 13-14 game season of touch. Shorter season such as our women’s competition will be proportionally less and if placement occurs during the season the amount will likely be less as the captain may reduce the fees due to less games remaining.
Our placement process usually works in two ways
Pre season placement
Before our social competitions start we run a number of events. These include our women’s training program (SWITCH) and evenings for prospective players called pre season nights. Both are completely free, highly enjoyable, social (we usually head to the pub afterwards) and the best way of being placed. This is because you get to learn and play touch through these nights AND most importantly we get to meet you and ascertain what sort of team you like to be on.
We prefer to do things in person at PPT so players that attend these nights get preference in terms of placement and we help out the vast majority of attendees. This is the best and our preferred way of getting people involved
Placement once the season has started
If you have contacted us after our season has started or were unable to attend one or both of our pre season nights we will still try to find you a team. But placement during the season is not always possible as teams are generally full and we also prioritise those who attended our pre season. But if a teams has a vacancy, e.g. due to injury, we will put will arrange an introduction via email and text with that team’s captain.
Once we have introduced you, we expect clear and prompt with the captain. If your circumstances have changed you must let them know (i.e. you must reply one way or another).
How we prioritise placement
Those that attend our pre season program are periodised for placement into teams.
Noting sometimes the supply of single males exceeds the demand for males from mixed teams. In which case we encourage males to play mens or contribute in some way (as we prioritise those that contribute).