Kia ora, Talofa lava!
Crazy to think that around the time of the Touch World Cup in July, 7th Touch will have been around for 5 years! So for those that don't know, here's a face to the profile: I'm Tivoli Guthrie, the one behind 7th Touch. A former Touch Black, Auckland Touch rep, and avid Touchie, from little old Auckland, New Zealand.
I started 7th Touch originally as a way to help bring our sport into the modern age, the digital age. I wanted to try and play a role in giving Touch an online presence as it was an area I felt we as a community in New Zealand lacked in. I was hopeful that I could help Touch reach a wider audience and hopefully play a small part in growing the sport. Ultimately, it was a way I could give back to something that gave me so much. Little did I know it would be a strong online presence not just in New Zealand, but around the globe.
In the early stages, I had originally planned to start the (at the time) first-ever podcast dedicated solely to Touch Football. After not being quick enough to get up and running (got beaten to the punch by the Touch IQ podcast and then the Touch Project Podcast - thanks Pat!), I pivoted to drive Touch through social media instead. We as a Touch community didn't really have a strong presence in the social media world, despite it quickly becoming a space where a lot of people would spend their precious time. Previously I had enjoyed making a few highlights clips of my club touch team, Playin Up, plus I had a treasure trove of vintage Touch footage that I had collected over the years. So bringing those two elements together, I put together some highlights clips and once I uploaded the first one of Touch icon Remus Gentles, the page was officially up and running.
That was over four years ago, and some 40k followers later across a range of different platforms, 7th Touch is still going relatively strong (albeit with a lengthy hiatus or two!). But what is 7th Touch? How did the name come about? What does it mean? What is the end game?
There were a few reasons behind choosing the name '7th Touch'. Firstly, I wanted something catchy. Something non-existent on the Touch field, and even in the Touch world, but still somewhat seemingly tangible - kind of similar to golf's 19th hole.
Secondly, and admittedly a bit cheekily, it was a bit of an ode to an historic campaign I was a part of that I hold close to my heart: the 2013 Super Trans Tasman series. I played in the NZ Men's Open and we won our first-ever three-match test series against old foes Australia. It was our first Trans Tasman victory since 1993 - twenty long years. In the series-clinching Game Two win, we were mistakenly awarded an additional touch in a set of six twice in one half of Touch football - once in the penultimate set of the game and again midway through the second half resulting in an NZ try to level the score set up by yours truly - we scored on the 7th touch.
Thirdly, but probably most importantly, after some more reflection on the name '7th Touch', the why began to carry more weight. It became more about what we all do collectively outside of the Touch field to help lift our sport - we get six touches on the field, but then what do we do off it on the '7th Touch'? A lot of us receive so much through the sport, but for some reason only a portion of us are actually keen to give back to it.
So 7th Touch can also be a bit of a challenge to us all. How willing are we to give back? How many of us are putting our hands up to coach a junior team, to manage a rep side, to administer from the board room, to champion our sport, to make those important decisions that benefit the long-term health of Touch? How many of us are invested to help develop Touch in order to raise the profile of it to a place where it can be successful on a global scale?
7th Touch was one way I could give back. And that's just what I can do by myself. Imagine how much we can do together.
So what do I want for 7th Touch? Well you know 7th Touch in its current iteration as mainly a social media platform - but the hope is that it turns into more than that. I'd love for 7th Touch to become a multimedia platform, giving you multiple ways to watch, listen to, read, view, or otherwise consume Touch Football content. I'd love for 7th Touch to be somewhere you can default to if you wanted to develop your own personal Touch Football game, no matter where you live in the world; we've already got a 6-week Training Programme but that's just the beginning. I'd love to be a means to help make the game less expensive for our elite athletes, being popular and recognisable enough to forge relationships or grab the attention of corporate sponsors and funders - finding brands and businesses that believe in our game as much as we do.
Those are just some goals. The ultimate aim of 7th Touch? To basically help grow and develop the game worldwide. I just want what is best for the sport, and I want to see it thrive on a global scale. I want to see it shine like it deserves to. And this is the perfect platform in this day and age to help launch Touch on its way to achieving that.
Catch you on the 7,
Tiv
