The Softball World Series is an 18-team Co-ed Slowpitch tournament that takes place each year near the end of the British season, usually on the second or third weekend in September. In 2016, the tournament will be played on the weekend of September 10-11.
The venue is a well-equipped private sports club run by Imperial College and located near Heathrow Airport on the outskirts of London. It is about ten minutes' drive from Heathrow to the hotel used by teams that need accommodation, and about ten minutes' drive from the hotel to the field. We provide hotel-to-field transport for teams from outside the UK, and there are buses that go from Heathrow to the hotel.
"National Teams"
The World Series is a competition involving "national” or “regional” teams – even though many of the teams are made up of players living in the UK. So we usually have English, Scottish and Welsh teams made up of players who come from or live in those countries. Over the past decade, teams have flown in to represent Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Holland and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey.
Then there are "ex-pat teams", made up of players living in Britain but originally from somewhere else. Britain is a cosmopolitan country and so we often have American, Canadian, African, Latin American, Japanese and a combined Australia/New Zealand team.
The tournament is great fun and very friendly, but also quite competitive. The best teams are very good indeed. There are some teams that aren't quite as strong, but no teams are beginners or purely recreational -- they can all play. After the first round of games on Saturday, the tournament splits into three competitions on Sunday, based on Saturday's results, with a trophy for each competition. So each team will get plenty of meaningful games against teams at its own level. The reason people enjoy the tournament is because it's different – some are playing with a group of people they only play with once a year and often playing against friends from their normal club teams, and most teams are playing against at least some teams and people they've never seen before. There is an eight-game guarantee over the weekend and most teams will play more.
We don't have strict qualification rules or nationality requirements -- we just ask teams to live up to the tournament concept when putting their squads together. If, for example, the Japanese team has nine Japanese players but can't find a tenth, we have no objection to the odd "ringer" because we want the team to play. But not too many ringers please!
Accommodation
The hotel we advise teams to use is the London Heathrow Premier Inn, 15 Bath Road, Harlington, Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 2AB. The phone number for reservations is: (+44) (0) 871-527-8508. Rates are per room rather than per person and rates are cheaper on weekends.
A double room with twin beds will cost somewhere around £60 (70 euros) per night for two people sharing. Breakfast and dinner is available at the hotel and food and drink is available during the day at the ground.
Contact details
The 2016 Softball World Series will fill up very quickly, so teams that want to play should get in contact as soon as possible. We are very keen to have teams from outside the UK, and these teams will receive preference. Teams coming from abroad also get reduced entry fees.
If you think you might want to send a team, email (bob.fromer@bsuk.com) as soon as you can.
Please remember that this is a Co-ed Tournament played under ISF rules, which means five men and five women on the field at all times. We’ll look forward to hearing from you!
Bob Fromer
BaseballSoftballUK
bob.fromer@bsuk.com