Orange Thunder Touch Football is going through the most unprecedented preparation process in the club's history.
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A stack of rules and regulations changes have been forced ahead of the summer and despite the spanners that keep being thrown into the works, the club has still seen healthy registration numbers for the looming season.
Matches are set to kick-off on Tuesday October 13 and social competition administrator Tracee Livingston says it's been a challenging process for all committee members involved.
"It's been really tough," she said. "We've had to put restrictions onto the amount of teams we could take into the competition and we've also had to lower the match time for men's from 30 minutes to 25 minutes.
"Other than that, the men's and women's numbers are looking really good. We've got a lot of new people on our committee and a lot of young members. So far, we are doing really well on that front."
The numbers reported by the club are that 55 mixed teams, 77 junior teams (11 and up), 53 minis sides and 52 opens sides will compete in the coming months under COVIDsafe protocols.
And while Livingstone's just as excited as all the competitors are, she urges the players to be mindful of their obligations pertaining to the pandemic.
"We can't risk getting into trouble," she said.
"If people don't follow the rules, we may have to cancel touch. If everyone follows the rules, everyone gets to play."
Regular play will kick-off on Tuesday but the club is set to hold a unique event three weeks later as the Struddys Super Season bracket will launch for the first time.
The format will see six men's teams and four women's teams duke it out for supremacy, each wearing a jersey dedicated to a Marvel character.
What makes that competition different to normal is that the teams were drafted by squad captains, allowing the skippers to choose who they play with.
"That competition has seen the men's grade drop down slightly," she said. Tuesday night will feature mixed action, minis will play on Wednesday, and adults will take centre stage on Thursday.
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