People of TFWA: Tessa Lee

This month we chatted to President of Alkimos Touch Football Association, Tessa Lee.

Tessa hadn't heard of Touch Football until 2019 when her son and daughter started playing in their off season from Rugby League and Soccer. From this point on her love for Touch Football grew. This was not only because she saw how much it benefited her children's other sports, but also because of how inclusive and welcoming the Touch Football community are.

Her husband Jeff and her could see there was a growing need for a local Touch Football club to be established in their area, so when the opportunity arose for them to make it happen in 2021 with the support of TFWA and equally passionate committee members, they jumped at it with both hands!

Through their seniors program in 2022, Tessa started playing our sport and has loved every minute of it! 

She commented how Touch Football is a true family sport and how she loves that she can play and learn alongside her children whilst gaining knowledge and skills along with the benefits of increased fitness, improved wellbeing and making great friends for life.

Tessa is a FIFO wife and mum of 3 children, one of which is neurodiverse, Tessa said it can be definitely challenging to find a balance between work, family and running a Touch Football club. However, seeing the smiles on all of those children each week, their continued development and growing love of our sport makes it all worthwhile. She also commented on how the friends they make every year through the parents, their social competition and the incredible group of people that she is very lucky to have working alongside her and sharing the same vision for the club, is the reason that she keeps coming back each year.

As Alkimos Touch Football Association is a young club, there are many milestones that Tessa is proud of being a part of achieving. Some of these achievements are listed below:

• Total of 19 junior teams in 2023.
• Introduction of a very successful Seniors program in 2023.
• Entry of a Men's Open and Mixed Open team into the 2023 TFWA LiveLighter Super League Series.
• Entry of teams into the TFWA Junior State Championships presented by Fuel to Go and Play every year since the club was established.

Tessa also said she was grateful to have Scott Price represent their club at the 2023 TFWA State Championships presented by LiveLighter and celebrate their 30's Men's team crowned as Champions.

Tessa was also proud to see her daughter Cailyn became a qualified Level 1 referee at 13 years old and make her debut at the 2023 TFWA Junior State Championships presented by Fuel to Go and Play.

The biggest milestone for her and the club to date was to become a successfully Incorporated Assoication this year (2023). It was a big step for her and the committee. Tessa commented that there was definitely a lot of learning that has come from it, but she was proud to have played a key role in making this happen.