The BSF Executive held its latest monthly conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 12 November. Below is a journalistic account of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer), Claire Waldron (Youth & Schools Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
National Softball League
The BSF has made a series of decisions which mean that when and where National Softball League games are played in 2016 will be somewhat different than in previous years.
In the past, a number of tournaments – generally four, five or even six – were identified as hosting NSL competition, and NSL teams had to play in a minimum number of those tournaments to amass points for the NSL standings and qualify their players for the Premier Nationals. There was a theoretical NSL schedule in which all NSL teams played each other twice over the season – “home and away” – but game schedules at tournaments hosting NSL play were set by tournament organisers, with round-robin games that matched the NSL schedule counted in the NSL standings.
Because not all NSL teams played all tournaments, and because tournament schedules were random with regard to NSL requirements, not all NSL fixtures would actually be played, and complex and sometimes controversial systems had to be deployed by the BSF to assign winners to unplayed games and work out the final standings.
In 2016, this will change. All NSL fixtures will be played in the course of just three events – Diamond 1 on 14-15 May, Diamond 2 on 11-12 June and then at a standalone NSL competition day run by the BSF at Farnham Park on 23-24 July.
It will be mandatory for all NSL teams to play in those three events.
To ensure that all NSL fixtures are played, the schedule of round-robin games at Diamond 1 and 2 will be set by the BSF, not by Diamond Softball – though there will still be semi-finals and a final on Sunday afternoon to determine Diamond winners and placings.
There will also be other opportunities for A-grade play over the summer -- at the British Airways Tournament, Diamond 3 and perhaps elsewhere. But games between NSL teams at these tournaments will not count towards NSL standings.
The BSF also intends to introduce a form of promotion and relegation for the NSL going forward.
For 2017, the two teams that finish bottom of the NSL in 2016, plus any new teams looking to join the NSL, will be required to play off for the two places (though if no new teams come forward, there will be no relegation and no playoff).
Anyone who has questions about the way the NSL will work in 2016 and beyond should contact BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham. Liz is currently developing a dedicated website for the NSL, which will include historical as well as current results, and which should go live in the new year, with a link to it from the BSF website.
Nationals qualification for other teams
NSL teams – and there will only be 12 in 2016 – will qualify for the Premier Nationals through NSL play, with the top eight teams making it to the Nationals.
For most league teams, qualification is through league placing in the previous season, and near the start of the 2016 season, the BSF will offer places in the B-grade (Platinum/Gold) and C-grade (Silver/Bronze) Nationals to the winners of leagues and league divisions in 2015. Places can be extended downward to league and divisional runners-up where winners decline their places.
However, there are independent B-grade and C-grade tournament teams, and some league teams, that prefer tournaments as a route to qualify for Nationals and to qualify players. Following the BSF AGM on 20 February 2016 in Manchester (see below), the BSF will announce which tournaments can be used for qualification by these teams, and it will be up to teams that want to play in Nationals to make sure that they get their entries in to enough of those tournaments. There should be between eight and 10 tournaments to choose from.
2016 BSF AGM
BSF AGMs alternate between North and South, and in 2016 it’s the turn of the North. So, as noted above, the 2016 BSF AGM will be held on Saturday 20 February 2016 at the Hough End Police Social Club, Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Manchester M21 7SX.
A number of previous BSF AGMs have been held at this venue.
The AGM, which will run from 2.00-4.30 pm, will be the second of two meetings on the day. The first, beginning at around 11.00 am, will be the annual BSF League Heads Forum, which was originally scheduled for 14 November 2015 but was postponed due to difficulties in securing a venue.
A full announcement about the AGM and League Heads Forum meetings will appear on the BSF website shortly, with opportunities for members to submit motions to the AGM and agenda items for the League Heads Forum, nominate candidates for positions on the BSF Executive and submit nominations for the 2016 intake to the BSF Hall of Fame.
New coaches for the GB Under-19 Women
GB Under-19 Head Coach Rachael Watkeys, Assistant Coach Liz Knight and Team Manager Simon Mortimer have run the GB Under-19 Women’s Fastpitch Team for the past three years, taking the team to two World Championships and to a highest-ever fourth place finish at the most recent European Championships.
However, Rachael, Liz and Simon have now moved up to take over the Senior Women’s Team after long-time Head Coach Hayley Scott stepped down earlier this autumn, and the GB Management Committee (GBMC) has advertised for new coaches for the Under-19 Women.
Three new coaches have now been appointed by the GBMC, and approved by the BSF Executive, to run the Under-19 Women’s Team programme: Natalie Leyland, Amanda Murphy and Sarah Pike. For the time being, the coaches will work as a collegiate group, with no one yet appointed to the Head Coach role.
Natalie Leyland, a British citizen who was born here but grew up in the United States, is a former GB Women’s Team player who played high level college softball in America and returned to the UK about 18 months ago. Based in the North West, Natalie works in a special needs school and has been delivering coaching sessions for BSUK in the region.
Amanda Murphy is an American who grew up playing softball and moved to the UK in 2013 to work for a large international travel company. Soon after coming here, she got involved with Tonbridge Baseball Club as a player, coach and manager, and this year helped lead the team to the BBF Single-A National Championship.
Sarah Pike is also American, and has played softball since she was a child on travel ball, high school and college fastpitch teams. She came to the UK in 2012 to work on a PhD at the University of Swansea, has been playing slowpitch in the Cardiff Softball League and helped to coach the Welsh National Slowpitch Team at the Softball World Series.
Finances
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings told the Executive that accounts for the BSF’s financial year that ended on 30 September 2015 are almost ready to go to the auditor.
Because of a number of items not spent during the year, a planned deficit of around £6000 has turned into a surplus of £10,000 for 2014-15, though some of those items will need to be spent in the current year.
Webstreaming
The BSF is keen to work in partnership with BSUK to webstream at least one major softball event each season from Farnham Park, and has decided that webstreamed events should alternate between fastpitch and slowpitch.
In 2014, the final of the Co-ed Slowpitch Premier Nationals was available as an on-demand broadcast after the event, and in 2015, there was a live broadcast of the final two games from the London Cup, an international women’s fastpitch tournament supported by the BSF and BSUK. In both cases, the broadcasts were provided by a Loughborough-based firm, JP Productions, and costs were met wholly by BSUK. Going forward, however, the agency is seeking to share the costs with the BSF.
In 2016, the BSF would like to webstream the deciding game or games from the Premier Nationals, which will be played on the weekend of 13-14 August, and will be talking to BSUK about costs and production methods over the coming months.
Next meeting
The next BSF Executive conference call meeting will be held on the evening of Thursday 10 December.
Anyone wishing to raise a question or issue at the meeting should contact BSF President Stella Ackrell.