Members of the BSF Executive elected at the 2016 BSF AGM in Manchester on Saturday 20 February held a meeting that evening to review the outcomes of the AGM and the preceding League Heads Forum meeting and to consider additional items. Below is a journalistic account of the meeting.
Attendance
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Lesley Morisetti (Administrator), Liz Graham (National Competitions Officer), Mike Jennings (Bookkeeping and Reports Officer), Steve Getraer (Farnham Park Liaison Officer), Chris Moon, BASU Representative.
Apologies: Laura Burkhardt (Treasurer), Jana McCaskill (National Teams Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Matters arising from the AGM and League Heads Forum
- It was noted that, following elections at the AGM, all five of BSF’s Executive Officers/Directors, and five of its eight elected Officers, are women, which if nothing else will give the BSF very high marks with Sport England as it attempts to increase the percentage of women in top positions within National Governing Bodies.
- BSF President Stella Ackrell will inform all Annual Award winners and Hall of Fame inductees not at the meeting about their awards or induction and will arrange to deliver or present their trophies at an appropriate place or time.
- Registration forms and documents on the BSF website are to be updated for 2016. The BSF is urging all its member teams to register and roster players, so it can communicate with all its members. The BSF will also be running a campaign on Facebook to get more members to sign up for the BSUK E-Newsletter Hot Corner, which comes out monthly in the close season and twice a month during the season, featuring breaking news stories from softball and baseball.
- The Executive has reiterated that for a tournament to be sanctioned by the BSF and included in the website Events listing, a qualified First Aider must be present at the tournament, and all regulations regarding players under 18 playing in adult teams must be adhered to, including the provision of helmets and, where necessary, catcher’s masks.
- A suggestion was made that for next year’s BSUK Coach Summit, scheduled for 28 January 2017, it might be productive to have an umpire session across all three formats (baseball, fastpitch and slowpitch) dealing with general game management issues from an umpire point of view.
Blitz Tournament
A new all-grade co-ed slowpitch event, the Blitz Tournament, had been proposed for this year, but only after the calendar had largely been set, so a suitable date could not be found. The organisers now plan to bring this tournament forward for 2017.
The BSF has contacted the organisers to offer help and support for 2017.
NSL and National Championships
The BSF will define, publicise and implement an NSL 2 structure for the 2016 season. This will allow NSL 1 to be capped at 12 teams from 2017 onward with a proper structure underneath it, and a promotion and relegation mechanism, so that the NSL concept can develop and grow.
This year’s Single-Sex National Championships at the Moor Lane Sports Ground in Birmingham on 9-10 July will have some issues with line marking and car parking because of other events, but BSF Competitions Officer Liz Graham told the Executive that these will not impact too severely on the tournament.
Webstreaming and event coverage
The BSF and BSUK have agreed to share costs so that the final day of the 2016 Premier Nationals can be webstreamed live from Farnham Park on 14 August.
The BSF has also agreed to provide some financial support to BSUK to help defray the costs of sending a reporter to cover the WBSC Slowpitch World Championships or World Cup in Florida in November. BSUK normally meets all the costs of reporting on softball national teams overseas, but this will be an exceptionally heavy year in terms of the far-flung nature of tournaments to be covered.
Defibrillator at Farnham Park
The BSF is keen to have a defibrillator based at Farnham Park, since however infrequently this equipment may be needed, it can save lives.
The equipment can be stored in the clubhouse building that BSUK has leased and is developing on site, and made available for use by First Aiders and paramedics booked for BSF, BBF or BSUK events.
The BSF has approached BSUK and the BBF to ask if they are prepared to share the cost of purchasing a defibrillator, estimated at around £1500.
Grant possibilities
Applications for BSF Development grants, usually available in amounts up to £250 for teams, leagues or other softball organisations to use for development purposes, fell off in 2015, perhaps because they were not well publicised.
The BSF is currently promoting these grants, which are awarded on a rolling basis until the money runs out, on the BSF website. Application forms are available from BSF Administrator Lesley Morisetti.
The BSF is also inviting applications from teams or leagues that want to take advantage of the B/C-grade coaching scheme that the BSF runs in conjunction with the GB Slowpitch Team programme. Teams can have a one-day clinic with a coach from the GB Slowpitch Team, and can later be mentored by the coach during a subsequent competition opportunity, with the BSF covering all the costs. Anyone interested in applying for this scheme should contact Mike Jennings.
Next meeting
The BSF Executive will hold its next conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 10 March.
Anyone with a topic or issue to raise at the meeting should contact Bob Fromer no later than Monday 7 March.