North Taranaki touch module gets funding boost thanks to 2023 Home Ground Heroes

Stephanie Phipps, pictured here coaching a touch rugby team, is one of the recipients of the 2023 Home Ground Heroes initiative. Photo / Supplied

North Taranaki’s touch rugby module has received a helping hand thanks to the 2023 Home Ground Heroes initiative.

Organiser Stephanie Phipps, from Inglewood, was announced as a winner of the 2023 Home Ground Heroes initiative, which recognises and celebrates pivotal people in the touch community.

She is one of five winners who will receive $5000 to reinvest back into the North Taranaki touch module. This year 168 nominations were submitted from around Aotearoa, surpassing last year’s 120 nominations, demonstrating the huge number of unsung heroes throughout the touch community.

Stephanie organises games for over 450 touch players and coordinates referees, kai, uniforms, and merchandising. She also coaches a number of teams.

Stephanie says she was overwhelmed when she received the news.

“It’s a huge thing to be picked from all the touch modules in New Zealand.”

She says she will use the $5000 to benefit the whole module.

“I’m thinking of purchasing some numbered flags and other bits and pieces that will benefit everyone.”

The module caters for primary-school-aged children right up to teenagers.

“We have a lot of kids who played touch together at school and they may have ended up going to different high schools or changing schools. Touch is a way they can stay connected and have some fun on a Tuesday night.”

Stephanie says while she is one of the main organisers, there are plenty of people working behind the scenes to make the touch module successful.

“Mainfreight give us a trailer barbecue each week to use at our games so we can fundraise for the module. We have referees that donate their time as well.”

This year the touch sessions ran in term one, and Stephanie says going forward she’d like to continue doing this.

“We usually only run in term four but this year we decided to try running in term one. It was quite successful so we’d like to do this in the future as well.”

She says the game is inclusive.

“I love that girls can dominate the game. They can take the lead and it’s great to see them getting out there and dominating the field. I also like seeing kids who are new to the game come out of their shells and to see their growth over the season.”

Registrations are sent out to schools in term three and are needed back as soon as possible so Stephanie can organise the rugby draw.

“I’m looking forward to touch rugby at the end of the year.”