The 2012 slowpitch season got off to an early start in Europe with two slowpitch development clinics organised in April.
A two-day full-on clinic in Linz, Austria on the weekend 
of April 14-15 was followed on the next weekend by a series of development workshops in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria.
Linz Clinic
A total of 26 players of differing standards and ages braved the early spring weather in Linz, Austria for the first ESF slowpitch development clinic of the 2012 season.
The clinic, run over two full days by John Austin and ESF Umpire Committee member James O’Farrell, focused on a combination of skills coaching, rules, strategy and game play.
The objective of the clinic was to show that the slowpitch format is more than just a recreational form of the game and can be played at a high strategic and competitive level.
According to the local event organiser, Marc Stein,“The ESF Clinic was an huge step for developing slowpitch in Austria because players of all ages and genders were able to learn the important aspects of the game. With this clinic, everybody realised the potential and the excitement of slowpitch. It is more than only hitting the ball, it is a game full of strategy, competition and fun.”
Dupnitsa Clinic
On the weekend of April 21-22, an ambitious plan set out by Bulgarian Softball Federation President Youri Alkali came to fruition.
The plan was to host two slowpitch tournaments and run a four-day ESF Slowpitch Umpire Accreditation Course (using the two tournaments for umpire assessment), as well as hosting a series of one-hour slowpitch development workshops during the tournaments.
The first of the two tournaments was an international affair, with teams from Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey competing in the first Balkan Championships on the Saturday.
The ESF slowpitch development team of Britain's Mike Jennings and Pat Reddy from Ireland gave a series of workshops to each team in turn during breaks in their schedules and covered a range of slowpitch topics including rules, pitching, batting and game play.
Because of the short duration of each workshop, they were very much player-driven and this format seemed to be well-received by the players.
The second tournament of the weekend, the Bulgarian Open, was held on Sunday with eight participating teams, and Mike Jennings and Pat Reddy were busy providing another series of one-hour workshops to all the teams throughout the day.
The format proved to be a great success, and gave an understanding of the skills, strategy and competitiveness of the slowpitch game to eight teams from three ESF Federations.
John Austin said: “This is definitely a format to be repeated.”