SMK St Joseph to stage inter-house touch tourney on Oct 26

KUCHING (Oct 2): SMK St Joseph, in collaboration with Bay Cats Touch Club (BCTC), will hold its 2nd inter-house tournament on Oct 26.

The tournament will feature eight teams with 96 students from Form 1 to Upper 6. The one-day affair will be officiated by Level 1 FIT referees assisted by the club’s in-house trained referees.

The sports houses in SMK St Joseph are Adrian, Albinus, Columba, Henry, Hillary, Hycinth, Mark and Patrick.

STA president Hafisz Rachman Drahman has commended BCTC for helping to develop Touch in the school.

“I’m  hoping that St Joseph will become a centre of excellence for youth in Touch. We have sanctioned this tourney and I hope it will be annually held,” he said.

BCTC president Geryl Ogilvy Ruekeith said the club started its collaboration with SMK St Joseph in 2022 as part of its objective to promote touch at the school and youth levels.

“Students, regardless of their physical or sporting ability, are invited to participate in the tourney and learn touch sports. Anyone could be a hidden gem, waiting to be unearthed.

“It has always been the club’s principle to be inclusive of everyone. It doesn’t matter whether the individual aimed to be an elite athlete, or simply playing the sport for social gathering or health, we seek to provide a supportive environment for players to grow,” he said in a statement.

Established on Oct 4, 2021, BCTC was the first officially registered touch club in Sarawak. Its collaboration with SMK St Joseph led to the school sending a team to compete in the inaugural STA Invitational Touch League in September 2022 under the club’s banner. The school, under Bay Cats development initiative, fielded a team which finished second in this year’s Kuching Fours Touch Invitational tourney.