By Maj Michelle Breen

ADF touch players can look forward to an exciting remainder of the year as planning has commenced for the 2002 ADFTA Defcredit National Championships to be held in December.

All participants must note the changed format from a three-day to a four-day carnival. With the increased teams and numbers experienced over the last couple of years, the organising committee was forced to extend the period over which the tournament is conducted.

Although formal approval to use the facilities at Randwick Barracks in Sydney for the second year running is still to be confirmed, things are looking positive. This is the 11th consecutive year that the championships have been conducted and the ADFTA is thankful to the ongoing sponsorship from Defcredit.

The primary aim of the tournament is to determine the champion Constituent Body (CB) between the six member CBs of ADFTA: South Queensland; North Queensland; NT; NSW (Sydney Metro), ACT and NSW Country; and Southern States (including WA, SA, Victoria and Tasmania)

The tournament will also be used to select ADF representative teams for 2003. All senior representative teams will compete at the National Touch League (NTL) for seniors.

This tournament is to be conducted at Coffs Harbour in March 2003. It has not yet been determined which NSW or Qld-based state tournament the ADF opens teams will compete in next year.

An NTL training camp is planned for December 11 and 12, immediately following the National Championships. Players selected in NTL squads for 2003 will be expected to remain accommodated at Randwick Barracks and participate in two days of training in preparation for next year.

• For more information about recent ADFTA decisions and ongoing Board of Management (BOM) discussions go to http://defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/adfta/

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