The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on Thursday evening, 6 February. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Vicky Hall (Administrator), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing and Communications Officer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Fiona Thorley (Tournaments Officer), Claire Waldron (Youth & Schools Officer), Mark Munnery (General Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
BSF AGM
A good portion of the meeting was taken up with preparations for the BSF AGM on 22 February in Manchester.
In addition to morning workshops on social media and slowpitch coaching initiatives, there will be discussions or presentations during the day on the BSF's youth strategy, guidelines for players playing while pregnant, the National Kickball Day initiative, changes to BSF's articles of incorporation, a new plan for incident reporting, feedback from the BSF's Nationals Working Group and a brief session delivered by BSUK.
In addition to the BSF's annual awards and the biannual Hall of Fame inductions, there will also be presentations for special achievements to youth softball players.
Registration will begin at 11.00 am, and this year, rather than having the election of Officers at the end of the AGM, the BSF will hand out ballots when people register who are eligible to vote, and will collect and count them during the AGM coffee break midway through the afternoon. Those eligible to vote are people representing affiliated BSF teams.
New single-sex tournament
Three senior men's slowpitch teams representing an association called Senior Softball USA will be visiting London this summer to combine softball and tourism, and have asked the BSF if they can take part in a competition while they're here.
During the weekend they will be in the UK (June 21-22), the softball calendar is unusually thin, so the BSF is planning to organise a one-day or two-day single-sex tournament that weekend for men's and women's teams, hopefully at Farnham Park.
More information about the event should be available shortly.
National team staff changes
BSF National Teams Officer Beth Perkins reported to the Executive on a number of staff changes for GB national fastpitch teams.
Russ Snow has stepped down as Head Coach of the GB Men's Fastpitch Team after nine years, and will be replaced by Norman Ames, a highly-experienced coach based in the Netherlands who was on the team's staff as an Assistant Coach in 2008. For a full report on this transition for the GB Men, see this story on the BSF website: http://www.britishsoftball.org/news/view/new-gb-mens-fastpitch-team-head-coach-appointed.
GB Women's Team Assistant Coach Robbie Robison has had to step back for work-related reasons, and Head Coach Hayley Scott is looking for a replacement.
Pat Weightman has stepped down, at least temporarily, as Head Coach of the GB Under-19 Men's Team, who do not have an official competition in 2014.
Finally, Beth Perkins has replaced Caroline Champion as Head Coach of the GB Under-13 programme. Caroline is taking a year off, but hopes to rejoin the programme in 2015. Julie Spittle has joined the programme as part of the management team.
Participation in softball while pregnant
BSF Administrator Vicky Hall has undertaken a significant research project on the issue of participation in softball while pregnant, following requests from two slowpitch leagues for guidance and advice.
Vicky has gathered opinions and advice from a range of medical professionals (including some softball players) about the risks to an expectant mother and the baby, as well as from the ESF and ISF, BSF's insurers and a number of other sports.
The results will be presented in a paper to be distributed for discussion at the upcoming BSF AGM. The BSF plans to formulate an advice statement on the subject, but individual leagues will be free to make their own policies around this more stringent than the BSF guidelines if they choose.
The basic requirement from the BSF will be that any player wanting to continue playing while pregnant can only do so after seeking medical advice, given that every person and pregnancy is different. While the statistical risk of harm to mother and baby from playing softball, especially during the first trimester, is low, this can vary depending on other health issues a woman may have.
Another key issue around this subject is the feeling of players on opposing teams, who may be unwilling to take on the risk of injuring a pregnant woman or who feel that they would have to alter their normal approach to the game to take account of the situation.
The BSF will hope to hear views from members at the AGM.
Finance
BSF's accounts for 2012-13 (a summary was included in the recently-circulated BSF AGM Pack) have been approved by the auditors.
The BSF budget for 2013-14 was approved by the BSF Executive at this meeting and will go forward to the AGM for approval on 22 February.
Because BSF finances in 2012-13 were considerably better than forecast, the budget for 2013-14 projects an operating deficit of £7,300, but this will still leave the BSF with its preferred level of reserves.
The deficit will allow additional spending on key discretionary areas such as development, National Championships and national teams.
Team registration in 2014 will include a requirement for adult teams to indicate if they have players under 18 on their roster. If so, these teams will need to purchase protective equipment such as batting helmets and catcher's face masks according to BSF regulations on under-18 players, and BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings is working on a scheme to obtain discounts for such equipment and perhaps to provide teams required to purchase it with some kind of equipment credit.
Reports from BSUK Committees
Members of the BSF Executive are also members of BSUK Committees, including Governance, Finance, Development Strategy, Commercial and a new committee set up to support the management of Farnham Park. At each BSF Executive meeting, those attending BSUK Committees report on the highlights of most recent meetings that have taken place.
BSF General Officer Mark Munnery stood in for President Stella Ackrell at the most recent Governance Committee meeting, but a work commitment prevented Mark from being present at the BSF Executive meeting to give feedback.
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings reported that the next meeting of the Finance Committee, on 10 February, will review BSUK accounts to the end of 2013, representing three quarters of BSUK's financial year. The reserves policy for BSUK will be discussed, but reserves seem to be currently in good shape.
BSF Marketing and Communications Officer Mark Wigington reported from the last meeting of the Development Strategy Committee that BSUK is planning to prepare a far-reaching report on long-term strategy for the organisation and for the sports. This led to a BSF Executive decision that a long-term strategy paper on the future of softball should be developed by the BSF, in part to feed into the work that BSUK is undertaking. Work on a long-term strategy for the development of fastpitch is currently underway through collaboration between the GB Management Committee and members of the Executive.
Mark Wigington also reported from the last meeting of the recently-formed Commercial Committee, which, unlike the others, is a tripartite BSUK/BBF/BSF Committee rather than a Committee of BSUK. Mark told the Executive that there are still issues to be ironed out regarding the three organisations working together for commercial purposes, but that progress was being made. One issue under discussion was merchandising and specifically the setting up of an online shop. As the BSF is a long way down this road in partnership with a company based in Wales, BSUK and the BBF may piggyback on this BSF initiative.
BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley attended the inaugural meeting of BSUK's Farnham Park Committee on 3 February, but wasn't at the Executive meeting to report. However, Bob Fromer, who attends BSF Executive meetings and is the Secretary for the Farnham Park Committee, was able to give an update. The new Committee, which consists of representatives from BSUK, the BBF and BSF, independent members from the BSUK Board and people involved in the construction of the facility, started by establishing its terms of reference.
The Committee will oversee housekeeping and maintenance at the facility, development and enhancements at Farnham Park, finance, usage, commercial opportunities and relationships with a range of stakeholders.
One of the key issues going forward will be the balance of usage between BSUK development initiatives to meet targets set by Sport England and other funders and usage by the existing playing community.
The main items considered at the meeting were the Farnham Park budget for 2014, the 2014 Rate Card and the developing calendar of usage at the facility So far, following usage requests from the BSF and BSF, potential conflicts appear to be minimal.
Bats, balls and jewellery
BSF Technical Officer Chris Moon submitted a short paper to the meeting on bat regulations and on the characteristics of the new .52 COR/300 compression softball introduced by the ASA in America last year. This ball has been adopted as the preferred ball by the BSF, though all balls are legal for play if they meet ISF or ASA standards.
Chris's paper can be found on the BSF website here.
Chris noted that new ISF rules allow some jewellery to be worn while playing unless it is “distracting” to other players, but the BSF will continue its own regulations, which forbid the wearing of any jewellery at all while playing.
Next Meeting
The BSF Executive will hold its next meeting immediately following the AGM in Manchester on 22 February. Anyone with items to submit for consideration should email BSF Administrator Vicky Hall.