SIX months ago Scottish couple Rowan Chillingworth and Frankie Alcock set their sights on playing at this year’s touch football senior State Cup.
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And in two week’s time, the duo will run around for Port Macquarie at one of touch football’s premier events.
Their resume reads impressively.
They have already represented their country, with Alcock claiming a gold medal in the mixed open’s division at a European tournament in 2012.
Her team backed it up with a bronze medal in the women’s open division at their “home nations” competition.
Despite proudly representing the Scottish on an international stage, they’re just happy to fit in.
“We certainly don’t see ourselves as stars,” Alcock said.
“We just love playing; the type of player I am I’m not a star, so I don’t expect to be one.”
Alcock’s work visa runs out in May 2017, but they want to stay in Port Macquarie for a lot longer than that.
Chillingworth said they headed north from Victoria at the start of the year in search of warmer conditions and somewhere to play touch football.
“Frankie played touch in Melbourne and one of our coaches recommended for winter touch to come and play up here,” he said.
“We were hoping to play State Cup and we’ve carried on from that.”
His background in the game isn’t quite as extensive as Alcock’s.
“When I came over here for the World Cup in 2015 it was my first representation for Scotland,” he said.
“I had played for a couple of seasons before I was selected and didn’t know it was a sport to be honest.
“Then I went with Frankie and went from state to national level. I don’t have much of a history in the game whereas Frankie’s is a bit more in depth.”
The duo admitted the level of skill in the local competition was something they hadn’t witnessed before.
“That was another reason why we came out here,” Chillingworth said.
“We want to learn from Australian touch because it is so far beyond Scottish touch and pretty much the rest of the world.
“It will be really good to see the state level which will be pretty high in comparison to back home.”