The British Softball Federation Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 12 December 2013. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Vicky Hall (Administrator), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Liz Graham and Fiona Thorley (Tournaments Officers), Mark Munnery (General Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing & Communications Officer), Claire Waldron (Youth & Schools Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Matters arising
The meeting opened with points of information on matters arising or action points from previous meetings:
BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Development John Boyd has circulated a Development Pack to the Executive setting out BSUK's development plans and achievements. This will be reviewed with John in the new year.
The joint annual Congress of the European Softball Federation (ESF) and the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) has been confirmed for February 14-16 in Prague. The BSF has yet to decide on a representative, although the President traditionally attends. BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings will be there in his capacity as the ESF's Technical Director.
The 2014 BSF AGM has been confirmed for Saturday 22 February at the Hough End Social Club in Manchester. Details will be published on the BSF website. The Executive is still considering the content of morning workshops and sessions for the AGM day, but one session will be a report from the BSF Nationals Working Group that will meet for the first time on 11 January.
BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley reported that a list of requirements that the BSF needs BSUK to fulfil for the Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships to be held at Farnham Park on 9-10 August 2014 has been submitted to the Agency. For the first time in many years, the event will include all grades of co-ed slowpitch play on the same weekend at the same location.
The BSF and BSUK are working together to develop a new streamlined system for league, team and player registration through the BSF website that will be ready for the 2014 season. The process of registration will also allow those teams that wish to use the team management functionality on the BSF website to do so. In 2013, this system was used to some extent by 189 out of 320 affiliated teams. The BSF will encourage all affiliated teams to not only register but to roster their players on the site, so that the Federation has a means for direct contact with its individual members.
The BSF wants to step up its use of social media as a means of communication with members and others, and will develop a proposal about how much activity they want to maintain and what they want to achieve with social media as part of a wider communications strategy.
The BSF will publish a new and streamlined Incident Report Form on the BSF website early in the new year that teams can use to report any incidents or accidents resulting in injuries and medical treatment.
BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham is developing a Facebook page that will include results and placings from all BSF-sanctioned tournaments in 2013. Apart from informational value, these results will help the BSF determine appropriate gradings for teams for Co-ed National Championships in 2014.
For the past several years, the BSF has been awarding development grants of up to £250 to teams or leagues on a rolling basis for development initiatives. BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings is now creating a database of which leagues, clubs or teams have had such awards in the past, to help the BSF assess future applications.
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings will talk to BSUK National Development Manager Will Lintern, who has responsibility for coaching and coach training, about ways to continue the slowpitch coaching projects carried out this past summer by ASA coaches Cheryl Trapnell and Steve Shortland and in 2011 by coaches from Combat Sports. Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing with BSUK's other National Development Manager, Chris Rawlings, about interaction between slowpitch leagues and universities playing softball with regard to umpire development.
League Heads Forum feedback
BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley reported that the annual League Heads Forum meeting, held on 16 November in Birmingham, had been successful, with ten leagues represented as well as the BSF, BSUK and BASU. There were productive discussions on umpiring, safeguarding, insurance and National Championships.
A proposal to the meeting to have smaller affiliation fees for teams from smaller leagues was discussed, but the consensus was not to bring this forward to the AGM.
Finance
Mike Jennings reported that BSF accounts for the 2012-13 season (to 30 September 2013) are complete and were being looked over by the BSF's auditor. Assuming there are no issues raised by the auditors, the BSF can then proceed to finalise proposed budgets for 2013-14, particularly for discretionary spending items such as development and national team support, based on amounts available to spend.
Budget proposals for 2013-14 will then be discussed and signed off by the Executive prior to presentation and voting at the AGM.
ESF Slowpitch Clinic
The BSF has requested, and the ESF has approved, an ESF Slowpitch Umpire Clinic to be held in Britain from 7-11 May 2014. Qualified umpires from all over Europe – and from Britain – are invited to attend, and a minimum of 10 candidates will be required for the course to be held.
Classroom sessions and outdoor training will be delivered at Richings Park Sports Club on 8-9 May, and the trainee umpires will then be assessed on the weekend of 10-11 May at the first of a three-tournament series to be run at Farnham Park.
The clinician who will deliver the course has yet to be appointed by the ESF.
BSF awards and Hall of Fame nominations
BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley reported that nominations have been received for some but not all of the annual awards that the BSF presents each year at the AGM, and that four nominations have so far been received for induction into the BSF Hall of Fame, which will also take place at the AGM.
The Executive reviewed the nominations, but will not make final decisions on them until January, as nominations are still open until 31 December 2013.
Calendar change
Two major tournaments on the 2014 calendar have switched dates.
The Windsor Invitation Tournament, previously scheduled for the weekend of 12-13 July, has switched dates with the BSF Single-Sex National Championships, previously scheduled for the weekend of 19-20 July.
These changes are now reflected in the Events listing on the BSF website.
Tournament date proposals
The BSF has received two representations from a long-time member about tournament dates.
The first suggestion is that the combined Co-ed National Championships, which will include all grades of play from 2014 on the same weekend at the same location, should in future be held at the end of the season rather than, as currently scheduled, in the first half of August. A major problem is that the grass pitches at Farnham Park (and many other venues) revert to football at the beginning of September. However, the BSF will bring this issue to the AGM for further discussion.
A second suggestion, which has been brought to the BSF before, is that those tournaments that host National Softball League (NSL) play are too tightly bunched, mostly in June and July, and should be spread more evenly throughout the season. This suggestion runs up against the problem that many tournaments have established dates based on arrangements with the venues they use. However, the BSF will bring this issue to the Nationals Working Group that will meet on 11 January 2014 for further discussion.
BSUK Subcommittees
Various members of the BSF Executive attend BSUK Board subcommittees dealing with governance, finance, development and Farnham Park, plus the new Commercial Committee set up as a tripartite group involving the BSF, BBF and BSUK. A report from these subcommittees is now an agenda item at BSF Executive meetings.
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings has previously attended governance subcommittee meetings, but this responsibility will now pass to President Stella Ackrell. The main item under discussion is an ongoing review of the structural arrangements that underpin the relationships between the BSF, the BBF and BSUK.
From the finance subcommittee, Mike Jennings reported that BSUK accounts for 2012-13 have now been signed off. A decision has been made to treat Farnham Park accounts as a separate item within the overall accounts so a clear picture can emerge of the balance between income and operating costs going forward.
Stella Ackrell and Fiona Thorley will represent the BSF at the newly-formed Farnham Park subcommittee, but this group has yet to meet.
There were no new developments to report from the development subcommittee and the Commercial Committee.
Next Meeting
The next BSF Executive meeting will be held on 9 January 2014. If anyone has a matter to raise at the meeting, please contact BSF Administrator Vicky Hall.