The 2015 BSF AGM was held on Saturday 28 February at St Thomas' United Reformed Church in Watford. A total of 61 people attended from leagues and independent teams around the country.
Apologies were received from two BSF Executive members: Tournaments Officer Liz Graham and Youth & Schools Officer Claire Waldron.
The number of voting members should have boosted this year by a new requirement that all teams eligible for Co-ed Nationals places at every level must send a representative to the AGM, along with all leagues and all National Softball League teams. However, because the meeting went more quickly than expected and most agenda items were covered before lunch, by the time voting was held in the afternoon to elect members of the BSF Executive, only 36 voting members were still present.
The main discussion topics at the meeting included:
- A new commercial arrangement to supply good-quality softballs to the community at an excellent price.
- A review of changes to BSF governance procedures.
- A review of the current situation in international softball.
- Why teams that affiliate need to register and roster their players on the BSF website.
- Changes to BSF preferences for teams that enter the Softball World Series Tournament.
- Issues arising from the fact that all Co-ed National Championships – including the Premier Nationals – will be played together on the same weekend at the same venue.
- An update on the structural review project examining relationships between the BSF, the BBF and BSUK, which will issue a report and recommendations over the next few months.
In addition, BaseballSoftballUK National Development Manager Will Lintern gave a brief presentation on BSUK's new “Hit the Pitch” programme, designed to grow participation in softball and baseball, and the BSF's annual awards for the 2014 season were presented.
AGM business
Unusually, this year's AGM was not preceded by any morning seminars or workshop sessions, so all topics were covered in the formal AGM, which ran from 11.00 am to 12.45 pm, resumed at 1.30 and ended at 3.00 pm.
There was very little in the way of formal business at the AGM, as no Constitutional changes had been proposed and there were no motions for the AGM to consider either from the BSF Executive or the membership.
Team affiliation fees for the 2015 season will remain unchanged from 2014 – though BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings told the meeting that they will need to rise in 2016 to keep pace with inflation and Sport England requirements.
With healthy reserves in hand, the budget proposed by Mike Jennings and approved by the meeting projected income of £80,500 and expenditure of £86,500, a planned £6,000 operating deficit. Most of this “overspend” will be on development projects, development grants to member teams and leagues, support for GB national teams in a year in which all seven national teams will be participating in European or World Championship competition and enhancement of the combined Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships to ensure that this becomes a premier event and an outstanding experience for those who take part. Even with the projected overspend, the BSF should meet its target of having 75-80% of its normal annual income in reserve.
The detailed budget – along with Stella Ackrell's President's Report, a Tournaments Report and reports from National Teams – can be viewed in the AGM Pack on the BSF website.
Elections
Seven re-standing Officers were elected unanimously to the BSF Executive:
President: Stella Ackrell
Treasurer: Mike Jennings
Tournaments Officer (Scheduling and Statistics): Liz Graham
National Teams Officer: Beth Perkins
Youth & Schools Officer: Claire Waldron
General Officer: Mark Munnery
London Liaison Officer: Alan MacFarlane
However, six positions remain vacant:
Administrator
Tournaments Officer (Logistics)
Marketing Officer
Membership Officer
Communications Officer
Safeguarding Officer
The positions of Administrator and Tournaments Officer (Logistics) are particularly important for the operation of the Executive and for the successful delivery of tournaments run by the BSF. The position of Safeguarding Officer is a necessity to comply with governance and Sport England requirements.
The BSF will try to fill the vacant positions by co-optation, and in the meantime, the existing members of the Executive will share the vacant roles.
Anyone interested in finding out more about any of these positions should contact BSF President Stella Ackrell.
Annual Awards
The BSF can, in theory, present as many as eleven awards at an AGM relating to long-term achievement in softball or achievement during the previous season, but has a policy of making awards only where nominations have been received from the softball community.
As a result, only five awards were presented at this AGM.
The Glover Cup, for outstanding and long-term service to softball, was given to Harry Somers, recently-retired as Head of the Manchester Softball League. Harry brought a remarkable level of organisation and innovation to the league which has made the MSL one of the strongest leagues in the country.
The Youth Coach of the Year award was given to Katherine Golik for her work last season in developing youth and fastpitch softball in Bristol.
The Tournament of the Year award was given to the Sefton Shield Tournament, run for only the second time by the recently-formed Sefton Softball League on Merseyside, and run with a level of organisation and style that shows that this new league is clearly going to be a welcome addition to the softball community.
The Youth Team of the Year award went to the GB Under-19 Women's Team, which achieved a highest-ever fourth place finish at the European Junior Championships in Holland last summer and which pulled off one of the most memorable victories in the history of British softball when they came from 5-0 down in the bottom of the seventh inning to draw level with the defending champion Netherlands, then came back again to win the game 8-7 in the bottom of the eighth.
The Tournament Umpire of the Year award went to Ben March.
The BSF also presented an award to the Solent Softball League, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and will make presentations during the year to the London Advertising Softball League and the London-based Publishers Softball League, both of whom have now been in existence for 30 seasons.
Discussions
There were brief discussions on the following topics:
Softball deal
The Commercial Committee, a tripartite group made up of representatives from the BSF, BBF and BSUK, has brokered a deal with Ransome Sporting Goods to supply exclusive Federation-branded softballs and baseballs to the community at excellent prices. In the case of softballs, the ball will be supplied through The Softball Shop on www.thesoftballshop.co.uk or by phoning 0800-458-2442. The direct contact at The Softball Shop is Mike Ford (m.ford@rsgsport.com).
From 1-31 March, current stocks of GB300 and GB11 softballs can be purchased at £42.00 per dozen using the code BSF-14. From April, BSF-branded 12-inch softballs at the recommended BSF standard of .52 COR and 300 compression, plus branded 11-inch softballs, can be purchased (using the same code) at £43.50.
Not only are these good-quality Baden softballs at an excellent price, but the more that are purchased, the more benefits will accrue to the sport as a whole.
Unlike the BBF, the BSF has not made the use of these balls mandatory. But BSF General Officer Mark Munnery, who represents softball on the Commercial Committee, urged those present at the AGM to take advantage of this opportunity.
BSF governance
Mike Jennings told the meeting that the BSF has adopted a new Memorandum and Articles of Association that will bring some changes to the way the BSF is governed and are designed to make the operations of the Federation more professional.
In future, five officers who are also Company Directors of BSF Limited will be directly elected by the AGM for two-year terms (two in one year, three the next for purposes of continuity), and their election must be based on their CV or a functional qualification. Other positions on the Board, to be filled for operational reasons, can be created or amended by the Directors as required and can be appointed by the Board pro-tem as well as nominated or identified and elected by the AGM. These operational positions will be filled on a one-year basis.
With regard to voting for members of the Board, a majority will be required for election, including in situations where a candidate is unopposed and NOTA (None of the Above) is the alternative.
Procedures for appointing representatives from the BSF to the BSUK Board will also change. While the BSF President will still automatically be appointed to the BSUK Board, other representatives will not have to be members of the BSF Board and will be chosen primarily on a skills basis.
Recently, the three BSF representatives on the BSUK Board have been President Stella Ackrell, Treasurer Mike Jennings and Marketing Officer Mark Wigington. Because Mark Wigington has been forced to resign due to illness, it was announced that his place will be taken by General Officer Mark Munnery.
Finally, Mike Jennings told the meeting that the new governance arrangements described above may be subject to modification depending on the outcome of the ongoing Structural Review of relationships and agreements between BSUK and the two Federations, which is expected to report in the second quarter of 2015.
International developments
Mike Jennings, who serves as the Technical Director for the European Softball Federation (ESF) and who will be a member of a working party set up to revise the Constitution for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), gave a brief report on the international scene.
The ESF runs 10 different competitions each year, and the BSF will be sending teams to six of them in 2015, as well as sending teams to at least two and possibly three ISF World Championships or Cups – a remarkable achievement for a country with our numbers and resources.
Mike had just come back from a meeting held by the International Softball Federation in San Francisco, designed to take a strategic look at the organisation following a number of key developments over the past two years, including the creation of the WBSC and the replacement of long-time ISF President Don Porter. The ISF now needs to work out a role and direction for itself in a changed landscape.
What is beyond doubt is that if softball is to regain a place on the Olympic programme, whether in Tokyo in 2020 or at a later date, it can only be done in conjunction with baseball. That is why the WBSC was created and why the WBSC is the body that has direct relations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But within the WBSC, baseball and softball will retain separate identities and will remain completely responsible for their own sports and competitions, including at the Olympic level. Baseball and softball federations will remain separate in many key countries around the world, including the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, most South American countries and many others.
The IOC, Mike said, is now looking at the Olympics in terms of “events” rather than “sports”. So even if we get back in, how well our events do and are perceived to have done will determine whether softball and baseball – now considered as the female and male disciplines of a single sport – can stay on the programme.
Mike also reported that the ISF Rulebook is being rewritten by a committee of 30 people scattered around the world in order to turn a document that has grown by accretion into a coherent and cohesive manual. The new structure for the new Rulebook will be reviewed at the ISF Congress this October and the revised version published in 2017, with a completely separate Rulebook for slowpitch.
Website registration and rostering
General Officer Mark Munnery told the meeting that only 140 affiliated teams – about 46% of the total – registered and rostered their players in 2014 on the BSF website. “The result is that we have an information and knowledge gap with regard to our members,” Mark said, “and it becomes hard to get information out to the whole community.”
Registration and rostering, Mark pointed out, has the benefit of full data protection, and he urged those present at the AGM – especially League Heads – to ensure that their teams register in 2015.
“As the National Governing Body,” Mike Jennings said, “if we don't know the names and email addresses of our members, it puts us in a rather strange position.”
There has always been an unwillingness on the part of some leagues to register their teams and players, and one former League Head at the meeting said, “People are reluctant because they don't see the benefit and don't want to be spammed.” But there are benefits to the sport as a whole in having a database of members, as well as benefits for individual members who, if nothing else, can learn more about opportunities within their chosen sport.
There is currently a big, new highly-visible “Register” button on the BSF website, and registration information and systems for 2015 are in place. Mark Munnery told the AGM that teams can register now and should do so as soon as possible – but affiliation fees from leagues or independent teams will not be due, as usual, until the end of May.
World Series preferences
The Softball World Series Tournament, which will be played for the 17th straight year in September 2015, provides benefit to the British softball community by providing a unique playing experience for BSF members but also by promoting slowpitch in Europe, a key BSF aim.
In 2015, the BSF will be assuming full financial responsibility for the tournament for the second time, though much of the pre-tournament organisation is still done by BSUK, and Mike Jennings told the meeting that the BSF now has a number of preferences regarding GB-based teams that take part:
- People who play on GB-based World Series teams should, as far as possible, be BSF members.
- Again as far as possible, there should be a genuine connection between all players on the team and the country or world region that team represents.
- The GB Slowpitch Development Squad will be guaranteed a place, as the World Series is one of their main competition opportunities.
- GB-based teams should try to bring in some new players each year and should explore the possibility of getting players from the regions as well as from London and the South East. In 2015, the BSF would like to see at least two World Series “rookies” on GB-based teams such as England, Scotland, USA, Africa, Australia/New Zealand, Wales, Japan/Asia etc.
With regard to teams coming from outside the UK to compete in the World Series, the BSF will try to ensure that the players represent the country they are coming from and that they are playing with the knowledge and approval of their home Federation.
Finally, Mike reminded the meeting that when any BSF-affiliated teams travel abroad to invitational or non-official tournaments, they must let the BSF know before they travel.
Co-ed Nationals issues
This year, all grades of Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships – including the Premier Nationals for National Softball League (NSL) teams – will be played together on the same weekend, 22-23 August, at Farnham Park. Among other things, this will mean that some players who play on both midweek league teams that have qualified for Nationals and on weekend tournament teams – particularly NSL teams – will need to choose which team to play for.
One issue raised by a club with multiple teams was that their first team might qualify for Nationals, then lose some players who play in the NSL. How could they ensure that players from their second team could play for the first team on enough dates to achieve player qualification for Nationals without weakening the first team to the point where the team's qualification might be threatened? There was no immediate answer to this except to say that the team should bring the problem formally to the BSF and/or ask for player dispensations.
Another question from the floor was whether, with the NSL or A-grade teams taking part in a combined Nationals, they would get the bulk of time on the dedicated pitches, lessening opportunities for teams from lower grades. Outgoing Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley told the meeting that the BSF had not yet looked at this issue in detail, but that they would be as fair as possible in allocating pitches and that all finals would definitely be played on the “show pitches”.
There was a request from the floor that, following the Co-ed Nationals, the BSF should poll members, and especially those taking part, to get their views on whether playing all the grades together was a good idea.
Structural Review
During 2014, a Structural Review to examine relationships between the BSF, the BBF and BSUK has been carried out, headed by Alistair Gray from the sports consultancy firm Renaissance. This has involved in-depth discussions with many individuals in all three organisations and, more recently, a mass survey of members.
A meeting was held in January for representatives from the three organisations to begin to look at outputs from the project, and another meeting will be held later in March. A report and recommendations should be published during the second quarter of the year, and then conclusions and recommendations will need to be put to BSF and BBF members at AGMs or EGMs.
Meanwhile, many people still seem to be confused about the difference between the BSF and BSUK and what each organisation does. However, since the middle of last year, there has been a paper on the BSF website that provides a full explanation. You can view or download the paper here.
“Hit the Pitch” presentation
After lunch, at the start of the second AGM session, BSUK National Development Manager Will Lintern gave a presentation on BSUK's major new development programme, “Hit the Pitch”, which will have a formal public launch on 1 April.
“Hit the Pitch” is focused on growing participation in softball and baseball, and Will's presentation to the AGM was titled “Growing Our Clubs and Leagues”.
In 2008, shortly after BSUK began to focus almost completely on development, there were about 10,000 people playing softball and baseball in the UK. During 2014, that number had risen to 20,000. BSUK's target for 2017 is 30,000 and then 50,000 participants by 2021 – at which point, weight of numbers alone will give our sports more public profile and awareness, making it easier to access resources, facility opportunities etc.
“Hit the Pitch” brings many of BSUK's development initiatives under one umbrella and concentrates them into three basic formats – day events, team formation and league formation – all supported by a wide range of resources, including a dedicated and interactive website and coaching provision.
In some ways, “Hit the Pitch” is primarily aimed at bringing new participants into the sports through schools, colleges, universities, companies and community organisations rather than through existing and affiliated teams and leagues, some of whom already have established and successful recruiting procedures in place. But Will told the meeting that the programme is flexible and can be adapted to the needs of BSF teams and leagues, so that they would only need to use and pay for elements that would be of value to them.
The presentation clearly aroused interest, as a number of questions followed from the floor.
Much more information about “Hit the Pitch” will be available leading up to and after the programme launch.
Other topics
B/C-grade coaching programme. Mike Jennings told the meeting that the BSF and the GB Slowpitch Team plan to continue the programme whereby B-grade and C-grade teams can apply to receive a coaching session and then game management support at a subsequent competition from a GB Slowpitch Team player or coach, with the BSF meeting the costs. An announcement about how to apply will be posted soon on the BSF website.
Fastpitch umpiring course. BASU Training Officer Chris Moon announced that BASU is currently putting together its first fastpitch umpire training programme. Anyone interested should contact Chris or BASU Fastpitch Officer David Hurley.
Bring a Bat, Give a Glove. The BSF also plans to continue its “Bring a Bat, Give a Glove” programme to collect used equipment that can be distributed to new teams to help them get started. Donations of bats and gloves that are no longer wanted can be made at various tournaments over the course of the summer, and the BSF will refurbish equipment as required to make it usable and safe.
Regents Park. London Liaison Officer Alan MacFarlane gave the meeting a brief update on issues with Regents Park, where the London Advertising Softball League and other London leagues play. Apart from the fact that pitches are now becoming very expensive, another issue has been that because of the sandy soil at the Park, batter's boxes very soon become dug out and batters are virtually standing in a hole to hit the ball. This year, there will be an experiment with special matting designed to stabilise the soil in the area they cover to see if the problem can be mitigated.
Additional insurance cover. At the League Heads Forum in November 2014, a question was raised about whether teams could purchase a higher level of accident and injury cover than was provided in the standard policy that is available through BSF insurers Perkins Slade at a cost of £18 per team (£1 per player) -- as long as the whole league signs up (with the exception of the National Softball League, where individual teams can purchase the basic medical cover). The aim of extending this insurance is to get cover that could include items such as physiotherapy for players recovering from injury. The BSF has put this question to Perkins Slade, and Mike Jennings told the meeting that an answer should be available shortly.
BSF Executive Meeting
Following the AGM, the re-elected BSF Executive met to review matters arising from the meeting and to consider other business.
Filling Executive positions
One of the key concerns following the AGM is to how to fill the six vacant positions on the Executive, but particularly how to organise and deliver a large Co-ed Slowpitch Nationals tournament for which much has been promised.
A new Tournaments Officer (Logistics) is needed to replace Fiona Thorley, who has stepped down from the role, but in the meantime the Executive will set up a Tournaments Committee of four or five people for the Co-ed Nationals, including Liz Graham, who will still be handling entries, schedules and statistics. One of the youth national teams may be recruited to carry out a number of manual jobs during the event.
BSF Development Grant applications
The BSF has had a steady stream of applications for its £250 (maximum) development grants over the past few months, and five more had been submitted before the AGM. While the BSF has maintained a rolling programme for these grants over the past couple of years, with applications accepted at any time, it is likely that for 2016, the Executive will go back to an applications window, probably from 1 January to the AGM at the end of February.
Decisions on the five applications submitted were as follows:
- Coyotes and Chargers Softball Clubs were awarded £250 to develop playing their home ground at Boston Gardens in West London.
- Two applications from teams in the new Sefton Softball League for grants to pay for venue hire and to buy equipment for taster sessions were referred back to the league to be combined into a single application.
- An application from a new insurance-industry based team in Manchester for funding for equipment and indoor league fees was declined on the grounds that this team is not yet a BSF member. There are hopes, however, that the team will join the MSL for the outdoor season, in which case it could reapply for funding if necessary.
- Funding to purchase helmets through the BSF discount from The Baseball & Softball Shop was awarded to a new team in the East Midlands Softball League that wants to run open training sessions and youth sessions.
Next meeting
The BSF Executive will hold its next conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 12 March.
Anyone with items to bring to the meeting should contact BSF President Stella Ackrell.