The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday, September 6. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Mike Jennings (Treasurer),
Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Julie Calver (Website Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Vicky Hall (Administrative Officer), Lesley Morisetti (Tournaments Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing Officer), Beth Perkins (General Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Tournaments
The Executive discussed a draft Softball Calendar for 2013 that has recently been prepared and has now been sent to tournament organisers for verification and negotiation. The BSF will hold its annual weekend face-to-face meeting on October 20-21, and hopes to be able to finalise the Calendar at that time.
Between now and its weekend meeting in October, the Executive will take soundings on a proposal to play all of its Co-ed National Championships, including the Premier Nationals, on the same weekend in 2013.
With the retirement of long-time BSF Tournaments Officer Lesley Morisetti, and with Liz Graham's role next year uncertain with regard to Nationals organisation, the BSF will be looking for new ways to deliver these tournaments. However, the Executive has received a proposal from a member of the community who wants to help enhance National Championships next year, and this person will be invited to submit his proposal in writing and to talk it through at the BSF's weekend meeting in October.
Another topic for that meeting will be how and when the National Softball League will be run in 2013.
Use of BSF Website
BSF Website Officer Julie Calver, with the help of usage information requested from BSUK, will be looking into how many teams have made use of facilities on the new BSF website during its first full year of operation, and any issues arising from this will be discussed at the weekend meeting in October.
The BSF is committed to achieving full registration and rostering by affiliated teams as soon as possible, in part to provide evidence for participation figures that BSUK supplies to Sport England. These figures affect targets set by Sport England and this in turn affects funding to the sport.
Coaching for aspirational B-grade and C-grade teams
At the 2012 BSF AGM, the Executive announced a plan to provide coaching support, with the help of the GB Slowpitch Team, to a number of B-grade and C-grade teams with aspirations to improve their standard of play.
The coaching support could be in the form of sessions provided by GB Slowpitch Team coaches and players, and/or coaches working with teams on game management during league or tournament competition.
Although a number of teams expressed interest at the time, and the GB Slowpitch Team provided a list of potential coaches, the scheme did not come to fruition in 2012.
However, the BSF regards this as an important initiative, and spurred by a recent request from the Greater London Softball Mixed League Team Werewolves for just this sort of help, the Executive is determined to make this happen in 2013. Those teams that expressed interest earlier this year will be contacted, and the offer may be thrown open to additional teams for 2013.
ISF Special Congress
The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) have agreed in principle to submit a joint bid for reinstatement of the sports to the Olympic programme for 2020. But the International Olympic Committee has reportedly required two conditions to be met before this can happen: that the two International Federations merge into a single body, and that Major League Baseball players will be available to play for their countries in future Olympic baseball competitions.
A meeting involving the IBAF, ISF and Major League Baseball to determine whether the second condition can be met should take place soon.
Once this has happened, the ISF is planning to call a Special Congress in order that member federations can ratify (or not) the significant changes involved, and the BSF has been invited to send a delegate or delegates to this Congress.
The BSF Executive will now attempt to clarify whether, when and where such a Congress will be held, and then make plans to attend if necessary. However, because of the costs involved, the BSF will also ask about the possibility of the ISF holding the Congress, in effect, through tele-conferencing and email voting. IBAF is looking at plans to hold their conference in a similar fashion.
The next regularly-scheduled ISF Congress will be held in the autumn of 2013.
Visit from Ghana Softball Federation
The BSF has received a request from Annie Yayra Hiamey, President of the Ghana Softball Federation, to bring a government-funded delegation to the UK for about ten days to see how softball is played and administered here.
The Ghana request was originally for the delegation to come in October this year, but after consultation between the BSF and BSUK, it has been suggested to the Ghanaians that they come during the period May 30-June 10, 2013, so they can observe both fastpitch league play and a major slowpitch tournament (Diamond 2).
Between those weekends, the delegation will meet with BSF Executive and BSUK staff members and watch midweek league softball in action.
Governance issues
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings confirmed to the Executive that one of the topics that will need to be on the agenda for the weekend meeting on October 20-21 will be various aspects of BSF governance. BSUK is required to meet stringent standards with regard to many aspects of “corporate governance” by Sport England, and Sport England is now extending some of these requirements to the BBF and the BSF as well – especially as the BSF is now an incorporated organisation.
BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Operations Jenny Fromer will attend the weekend meeting during this discussion.
Another topic for the meeting will be a proposal from BSUK for a new staff position to be funded jointly by BSUK and the BSF, designed to accomplish particular objectives for both organisations.
Team results and rankings
With the 2012 season now almost over, BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham will be attempting to put together a table of league and tournament results and placings for all BSF-affiliated teams.
The aim is to establish overall rankings within different grades of play and to give the BSF a sense of which teams should be encouraged to move between grades.
Youth coach request
Liz Graham reported that she has had a request for a youth softball coach to come to Scotland to work with young people from a youth project in a deprived area of Edinburgh who are interested in taking up the game.
The BSF will consider how this request can best be met.
Commonwealth Games
BSF President Stella Ackrell has been invited and will be attending the 2012 Commonwealth Games AGM on October 10 in London.
Development grant
The Executive approved the award of a BSF Development Grant of £250 to help teachers at Monmouth School in Wales bring players to one or more Academy Softball sessions during the 2012-13 off-season.
The school has recently been developing softball in a major way, and took a staff-and-student team to the Edinburgh Festiball. The team also plays in the bottom division of the Bristol Softball League.
BSF President Stella Ackrell, who saw the team play at the Festiball, said that there were some clearly talented young players who might be able to trial for GB youth fastpitch team programmes.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the BSF Executive will be a conference call on the evening of Thursday, October 4, followed by the weekend face-to-face meeting on October 20-21.
Anyone with items to bring to the agenda of either meeting should contact BSF Administrative Officer .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).