The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on Thursday evening, 8 November. Below are the highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Vicky Hall (Administrator),
Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing & Communications Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Guidance on young players
Following queries from a number of leagues and teams during the past season on the topic of young players under the age of 18 playing with adult slowpitch or fastpitch teams, the BSF Executive is currently preparing a one-page set of guidelines on this issue.
This document will be posted on the BSF website and circulated to teams before the end of the year.
The Guidelines will cover the safety and child protection issues that need to be considered when young players are competing at an adult level.
At the same time, BSF General Officer Rory Lynch is taking a more comprehensive look at the considerations involved when under-age players or vulnerable adults take part in adult softball.
Feedback from ISF Special Congress
BSF Administrator Vicky Hall and Treasurer Mike Jennings reported to the Executive on the International Softball Federation (ISF) Special Congress they attended in Houston, Texas on October 30.
The Congress was called to decide on a proposal to create a new joint International Federation for baseball and softball, as supposedly required by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in order for baseball and softball to apply for Olympic reinstatement as male and female versions of the same sport for the 2020 Games.
The Congress decided by a vote of 71% to 26% to bring the new body – the International Confederation of Softball and Baseball (ICSB) – into being. But it was made clear at the Congress that the ICSB would be a vehicle designed to achieve and administer Olympic reinstatement, and that the ISF and the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) will continue to run their sports as normal, as will existing national federations.
A bid for Olympic reinstatement will be presented by the ICSB to the IOC in December, and the IOC will announce in May whether an Olympic place for 2020 is in fact available. If so, baseball and softball will be competing with seven other sports for that place, with a decision to be made in September 2013.
While the general mood of the Congress was to support the creation of the ICSB and a joint approach to Olympic reinstatement, there were dissenting voices. One issue for many countries, particularly in South America, was that this development could marginalise men's fastpitch.
Another concern was that the ICSB was coming into being before commitments had been obtained from Major League Baseball on funding support for the new organisation and on the availability of Major League players to take part in the Olympics, which is widely viewed as essential if the sports are to have a chance of regaining Olympic status.
League Heads Forum
The BSF's Annual League Heads Forum, where slowpitch League Heads meet with members of the BSF Executive to discuss current softball issues and ideas, is normally held in November. But the BSF has scheduled the 2012 League Heads Forum for Saturday, January 19 in Birmingham.
The meeting will be held in the Pavilion at the Birmingham City University Sports Ground, Moor Lane, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham B6 7AA, beginning at 11.00 am on January 19. As usual, the BSF will provide a travel subsidy for one representative from each league to attend.
The Executive will be contacting League Heads shortly with an invitation to the meeting -- and an invitation to submit ideas and topics for discussion. Time will be set aside during the meeting for leagues to share information on successful initiatives or events that they have held during 2012.
BSF AGM
The Executive considered dates for the 2013 BSF AGM, and has chosen Sunday, February 24 as its preferred date, with Sunday, March 3 as an alternative.
In accordance with the principle of alternating the AGM between North and South, the 2013 meeting will be held in the South, probably in or near London. A confirmation of the date and venue will be announced shortly.
Consultation on Co-ed Nationals
The BSF is to consult with all teams that took part in Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships in 2012, and all slowpitch League Heads, to ask for comments on a plan to play all five Co-ed Nationals – including the Premier Nationals – on the same weekend at Farnham Park in 2013, with a maximum of eight places available for each grade of play.
One of the main reasons that the BSF is keen to play all five Co-ed National Championships together, especially with new dedicated facilities at Farnham Park becoming available next season, is so that time and resources can be concentrated on the event to give it an infrastructure and atmosphere that will make it the top co-ed slowpitch tournament of the season, as befitting National Championship competition.
But the BSF is conscious that running the Premier Nationals – a competition for weekend tournament teams that play in the NSL – alongside the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze competitions, which are essentially for league teams, means that some players will have to choose between playing for their NSL team or their league team, with repercussions for those teams.
So the Executive wants to establish the scale of the issue that this might cause for teams, and what the softball community thinks about the proposal, before making a final decision.
Teams and League Heads will be asked to respond on this issue by November 30, and the Executive will hope to make a decision at its next meeting on December 6.
Should the BSF receive a favourable response to the proposal of playing all five Co-ed Nationals together, then there will be just two National Championship events run by the BSF next year: the Single-Sex Slowpitch Nationals on July 20-21 and the Co-ed Slowpitch Nationals on August 10-11, with both events to be played at softball's new national home at Farnham Park.
The BSF does not plan to continue the League All-Star Nationals in 2013, though it might be prepared to revive this competition in future should there be a demand from leagues, and if leagues are prepared to put mechanisms in place to ensure that their teams are represented by their best players.
BSF budget
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings expects to have draft accounts completed over the next week or so for the BSF's financial year 2011-12, which ended on September 30, 2012.
Both income and expenditure were lower than anticipated, with some leagues still to pay affiliation fees for their teams, in part because of a website issue that led them to expect invoices that weren't sent.
The bottom line, according to Mike, is that while the BSF budgeted for a loss in 2011-12 in order to take on new development initiatives, the actual loss will be less than budgeted and reserves remain healthy.
The Executive will consider the accounts and a budget for 2012-13 at its next meeting on December 6. The finalised accounts and budget will be included in the AGM Pack that will be circulated early next year.
Slowpitch in the world
An Austrian player and slowpitch tournament organiser named Marc Stein has been working with ESF Slowpitch Development Officer John Austin on a project to discover how many countries around the world play slowpitch on an organised basis. Through diligent Internet searches, Marc has determined the number so far to be 68 countries and counting.
This information will be passed on to the ISF so that they can target their promotion for the next Softball World Cup, scheduled for January 2014 in Plant City, Florida.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the BSF is supportive of efforts made by the Birmingham Bobcats Softball Club to promote slowpitch play among recreational fastpitch clubs in Europe, and believes that this could be a model worth exploring further, and perhaps taking to the ESF Congress in February.
With regard to the Slowpitch World Cup, BSF BASU Representative Chris Moon will contact the ISF and ESF to discuss possibilities for getting more British and European slowpitch umpires ISF-qualified so they can officiate at the event.
Coaching project
The BSF is moving ahead with the project, first discussed at the 2012 AGM, to provide coaching support for a number of interested B-grade and C-grade teams who want to up their game.
GB Slowpitch Team Manager Sara Vertigan is lining up potential coaches from the GB staff and players, and will develop a format for the initiative. Meanwhile, the BSF will contact the teams that signed up for coaching support earlier this year and will perhaps extend the offer more widely.
All costs will be supported by the BSF, and the GB Slowpitch Team will benefit from this funding.
The project is likely to involve a one-day clinic for each of the participating teams, and then a second day where the coach will support the team with game management in a competition situation.
National Softball League
The BSF plans to get the National Softball League back onto a stronger footing in 2013, after a 2012 season that was virtually non-existent due to weather and other issues.
The idea is that NSL play will again take place at a number of tournaments across the 2013 season, including at Diamond Series tournaments, but with a balanced schedule in which all NSL teams will play each other the same number of times across the summer. This will provide a level playing field for qualification for the Premier Nationals.
The BSF will be contacting NSL teams shortly to see how many are interested in playing in the league next year.
Next meeting
The next BSF Executive conference call meeting will be on Thursday, December 6, when the main topics will be the 2011-12 accounts, the 2012-13 budget, a decision on Co-ed Nationals for 2013 and finalising role descriptions and skill specifications for officers on the Executive.
Anyone with topics to raise at the meeting should contact BSF Administrator Vicky Hall.