The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday 9 January 2014. Below are details of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Vicky Hall (Administrator), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Fiona Thorley (Tournaments Officer), Claire Waldron (Youth & Schools Officer), Mark Munnery (General Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Mark Wigington (Marketing & Communications Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
ESF Slowpitch Umpire Course in Britain
The BSF is waiting for the European Softball Federation to confirm that an ESF Slowpitch Umpire Course, scheduled to be run in Britain from May 7-11, will go ahead.
In order for the course to happen, at least 10 people from three different European countries need to sign up. BASU expects to provide at least half the course entrants.
Farnham Park
BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley confirmed that she has submitted a proposal to BSUK regarding the BSF's requirements for the Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships, which will be held at Farnham Park on 9-10 August 2014 and will involve all grades of play including the Premier Nationals.
Fiona has also submitted a list of the BSF's overall requirements for the use of Farnham Park in 2014, and this list will be the basis for negotiating an all-in cost which will represent a discount over standard rate-card charges.
Single-Sex slowpitch tournaments
The BSF has determined that there is still a demand for single-sex slowpitch competition in Britain apart from the Single-Sex National Championships, but this may include tournaments in locations other than London.
The BSF will carry out more research to decide the best venues and dates for single-sex tournaments in 2014, and will then determine whether these tournaments will be run by the BSF, by BSUK under the Service Level Agreement or by local leagues – or perhaps by a combination of all three.
Safeguarding
The BSF Executive has stressed once again that for tournaments to be sanctioned by the Federation and included on the official calendar in 2014 and beyond, organisers must conform with the regulations regarding players who are 18 or under playing in adult teams, and must include these regulations.
Starting in 2014, all sanctioned tournaments will also be required to submit a complete list of entries to the BSF before the tournament takes place. This is so the BSF can discover whether any unregistered (unaffiliated) teams are playing that are not covered by BSF insurance. In future, the BSF plans to issue numbers to all affiliated teams and tournaments will be able to ask for this number when teams enter.
The Executive was told that BSUK has now appointed two Deputy Welfare Officers who can be contacted when the organisation's Lead Welfare Officer, Joint CEO Jenny Fromer, is unavailable. The Deputy Welfare Officers, who are about to complete the relevant training, are Development Manager (South East) Patrick Knock (patrick.knock@bsuk.com) and Finance and Governance Officer Mark Caress (mark.caress@bsuk.com).
BSF representation at ESF Congress
The joint ESF and CEB Congress will be held on February 14-16 in Prague.
The BSF will be represented by President Stella Ackrell and/or Treasurer Mike Jennings. Mike will also be at the Congress in his capacity as the ESF's Technical Director.
The BSF has submitted one motion to the ESF Congress this year, which asks that seedings for European Championships be based on results from the previous competition, rather than distorting the seedings by determining group places by drawing names out of hats.
Hall of Fame and Annual Awards
Based on nominations from the softball community, the BSF Executive has approved five people to be inducted into the British Softball Federation Hall of Fame at the 2014 AGM in Manchester on 22 February – three as players, one as a coach and one as an administrator. This will bring the total number of Hall of Fame members to 40, of whom 13 are players.
Decisions were also made on the annual awards that the BSF presents each year at the AGM for achievements in the previous year or over time. Awards are only given in categories where nominations have been received, and will be given on this occasions for the President's Club of the Year, Youth and Adult Coaches of the Year and the Tournament of the Year.
Pregnant players
BSF Administrator Vicky Hall has been carrying out research to help the BSF develop a policy on women playing while pregnant. Such a policy would be advisory and would not prevent leagues from adopting tighter regulations.
The BSF will also consult its insurers for their view on the issue, and will put a policy in place before the start of the 2014 season.
BSF budget
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings is currently finalising the budget for the organisation's 2013-14 financial year. The budget will be presented to members in the AGM Pack that will be circulated at the beginning of February and will be discussed and voted on at the AGM.
Mike is projecting an operating deficit of around £7,000 for the year, which will still leave reserves at an appropriate level and will increase the amount the BSF has to spend in discretionary areas such as development, National Championships and support for GB teams.
Communications strategy
The BSF is currently reviewing its communications strategy, particularly with regard to the use of social media, and the Executive has received a series of recommendations drawn up by James Clarke from the Solent League.
These will be reviewed and actioned following the AGM, but meanwhile the Executive would like to thank James for his work on their behalf.
American Masters Teams in the UK
Three or four senior men's slowpitch teams may be coming to London this summer, and are interested in competing against British teams (and perhaps some European teams as well) over the weekend of 21-22 June.
The only slowpitch tournament on the calendar that weekend is the small Cotswold Spring Tournament in Stroud, and so the BSF is considering creating a men's slowpitch tournament based around the visiting American teams, possibly at Farnham Park. One possibility would be for men's slowpitch teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Guernsey to be formed for the occasion, and the tournament could also be open to existing men's club teams such as Godzillas and others.
More information should be available shortly.
BSF AGM
The BSF Executive is putting arrangements in hand for the 2014 BSF AGM, to be held on Saturday 22 February at the Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Manchester M21 7SX.
The AGM Pack will go out to members at the beginning of February, and will contain the AGM agenda, details of morning workshops, Officer and National Team reports, accounts and budget information, Constitutional and other motions to the AGM, nominations for positions on the BSF Executive and the fee proposal for 2014.
The BSF plans to present a notice of intent at the AGM to increase terms and establish term limits for Officers on the BSF Executive, in line with good governance recommendations, and these will be voted on as a Constitutional motion at the 2015 AGM.
The BSF, through the tripartite Commercial Committee established by BSUK and the two Federations, is planning to set up an online shop, and Marketing Officer Mark Wigington will introduce the range of merchandise that the BSF is developing with a British-based supplier at the AGM.
A special presentation on plans for youth and schools development will be made at the meeting, as well as a presentation on the BSF's proposal for a National Kickball Day on 4 May to raise money for softball leagues and GB teams.
GB teams in Europe in 2014
The meeting reviewed the national and club teams that will be competing in official tournaments overseas in 2014.
The GB Co-ed Slowpitch Team will be competing later this month in the ISF Slowpitch World Cup in Plant City, Florida.
The GB Men's Team and the GB Under-19 Women's Team will compete in European Championships this summer in (respectively) Havlickuv Brod in the Czech Republic and Rosmalen in the Netherlands.
The GB Women's Team is waiting to hear if it will receive a wild card place to compete in the ISF Women's World Championships in the Netherlands. If not, the team plans to play in the Elite Division at the Canadian Open Championships to keep momentum going for European Championships in 2015 and Women's World Championships (which will be an open tournament) in 2016.
The GB U-13 Girls Team and its Development Squad, the London Cubs, have entered the ESF's annual Massimo Romeo Youth Cup in Collechio, Italy, but may choose to compete instead in an invitational tournament in Europe more suited to their current state of development.
National Softball League teams Chromies and H2O will both compete in the expanded European Slowpitch Super Cup, probably to be played in Mlade Buky in the Czech Republic.
However, because ESF women's fastpitch cup competitions have been moved to early September for this year only to accommodate the ISF Women's World Championships in the Netherlands in the second half of August, no British teams will be able take part this year.
Youth Strategy
BSF Youth & Schools Officer Claire Waldron has submitted an outline to the Executive and the GB Management Committee for a strategy to develop fastpitch softball for girls under the age of 14 and get more young girls into the sport.
The age level has been selected because BSUK development funding from Sport England is mostly directed at the 14-25 age range.
The strategy will be developed further, and then hopefully implemented, in conjunction with BSUK.
Softball World Series
The Softball World Series tournament will be organised and run this year as a joint project between BSUK and the BSF.
BSUK will promote the tournament and organise entries and suppliers, but the BSF will recruit volunteers to run the event on the weekend of 13-14 September at the usual venue, the British Airways Concorde Club near Heathrow Airport. The BSF will also underwrite the event financially.
Next meeting
The next BSF conference call meeting will be held on Thursday 13 February. Anyone with items to bring to the meeting should contact BSF Administrator Vicky Hall.