The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday, April 11. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Vicky Hall (Administrator), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing & Communications Officer).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer), Fiona Thorley (Tournaments Officer), Claire Waldron (Youth & Schools Officer), Mark Munnery (General Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Action points from previous meetings
National Championships Working Group. The BSF has invited a range of people to sit on a National Championships Working Group, intended to review National Championship structures and qualification routes. But the group, chaired by BSF President Stella Ackrell, has yet to meet.
Welfare Officer. The one post on the BSF Executive that remains unfilled – a position that the BSF regards as important – is that of Welfare Officer. The BSF will re-advertise the position and will seek individual recommendations.
Training for GB coaches in the US. As part of reciprocal arrangements between the European Softball Federation (ESF) and the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), two GB fastpitch coaches will be invited to spend time with a top university softball programme in the United States, probably this autumn. The GB Management Committee will look at which coaches might benefit most from this opportunity.
ISF Slowpitch Umpiring Course. Arrangements are in place for the BSF to host an International Softball Federation (ISF) Slowpitch Umpiring Course in the UK during May. The lead instructor will be ISF Umpire-in-Chief Bob Stanton, and the course will run from May 8-10 at Richings Park, with assessment to be carried out at Diamond Series 1 at Farnham Park on May 11-12. Six umpires are signed up – two each from Britain and Ireland and one each from Germany and France. More places are available, but only umpires that already hold ESF slowpitch certification can gain ISF certification through the course.
BSF coaching initiative. The first session in the BSF initiative to provide coaching support for aspirational B-grade and C-grade teams took place in Oxford on April 6 when two Oxford teams attended a player clinic delivered by GB Slowpitch Team Manager and Assistant Coach Sara Vertigan. The report from Oxford was that the players “really enjoyed the clinic, and got a lot out of it.” The initiative will continue in April and May, with five more teams scheduled for clinics, and in some cases follow-up support at an early-season competition.
Team registration. 2013 online registration forms for league and independent teams have been finalised but have yet to be posted on the BSF website so that teams can register for the season. This should happen shortly.
ASA slowpitch coaches in the UK. The ASA is still looking for suitable slowpitch coach-trainers who can come to the UK later this summer to upskill coaches at slowpitch leagues around the country and work with GB Slowpitch Team staff. The dates suggested by the BSF were not possible for a pair of coaches that the ASA had suggested initially, and so the search goes on.
Links with BSUK development programmes. BSUK now has University Softball Officers in place at a number of universities around the country, and it is important that links are created to nearby BSF leagues. BSUK National Development Manager Chris Rawlings will be invited to present information on this programme at the next BSF Executive meeting so that the BSF can become involved. The BSF may also want to undertake development initiatives for children below the age of 14, since Sport England does not fund BSUK to do much work below this age level.
GB Management Committee
BSF Administrator Vicky Hall reported to the Executive on a meeting of the GB Management Committee (GBMC), held on April 6 in Slough, where a number of new volunteers joined the Committee to carry out specific support roles for national team programmes in relation to finance, administration, communications, fund-raising and strength and conditioning.
“It was a very positive meeting,” Vicky said. “All of the volunteers seem to have a lot to offer.”
BSF Marketing and Communications Officer Mark Wigington, who also sits on the GBMC, said, “It was good to get a different perspective on some of the things that the GBMC is doing.”
For more information on the new GBMC members, click here.
Finance
A BSF deficit budget for 2012-13 was approved at the AGM in February, pending some cuts to projected expenditure that will leave the BSF with a planned level of reserves at the end of the year. The BSF Executive approved a budget including those cuts at its March meeting.
However, BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings reported that additional expenditure requests have been made since then, which will have to be carefully managed as the season progresses.
International men's slowpitch tournament
The BSF will host an international men's slowpitch tournament in London on Saturday 28 September, featuring teams from Austria and Ireland as well as a GB Slowpitch men's team and a fourth team to be confirmed.
The tournament will be played at Finsbury Park and BSF Tournaments Officer Fiona Thorley will be the main organiser. The idea for the tournament came from Austrian slowpitch enthusiast Marc Stein, who has hosted slowpitch tournaments in Austria and recently researched and compiled a list of countries around the world where slowpitch is played in an organised fashion.
As well as the men's tournament, which will involve a round-robin plus a final, additional games will be played so that a women's squad from the GB Slowpitch Team can be involved as well.
Fastpitch talent development
BSUK has been awarded £100,000 of Whole Sport Plan funding for baseball and softball talent development in the 2013-17 period. The money is not for national team support, but for developing talented young athletes to the point where they can be selected for national teams and have an impact in international competition.
BSUK National Development Manager Will Lintern is overseeing the process whereby both sports are creating plans and targets for talent development work, which in softball will be primarily fastpitch-related.
Members of the GB Management Committee, including BSF Executive members Vicky Hall, Beth Perkins and Mark Wigington, plus Bob Fromer and Softball Programmes Director Stan Doney will meet shortly with Will to finalise plans for softball talent development.
ISF Slowpitch World Cup
An ISF Slowpitch World Cup is planned for January 2014 in Plant City, Florida, and the GB Slowpitch Team is committed to taking part provided that there is a sufficient level of entries and competition. But the GB Team will need to know that this is the by the end of the summer, and the BSF had not yet seen any evidence that the ISF was publicising and promoting the competition.
The ASA has already pledged to send an American team, and Softball Canada is considering entry. Were there to be US and Canadian representative teams, plus a few other countries, then the BSF and GB Slowpitch would consider the competition worthwhile.
On behalf of the BSF, Mike Jennings volunteered to ascertain what the ISF has done so far to attract entries, and to offer help from the BSF to do so. It now appears that the ISF will be promoting the Slowpitch World Cup to key countries around the world this month.
Pregnant players
BSF advice on women playing softball while pregnant, circulated a couple of years ago, suggested that pregnant women, on the whole, should be discouraged from playing, but that the decision, in the end, should depend on whether the opposing team was willing to play.
However, some leagues have come up with different advice, and there have been queries about whether pregnant women can legally be prevented from playing.
BSF Administrator Vicky Hall will do some research into what other sports with comparable levels of contact do, and will also consult with sports advisory bodies, and the BSF may (or may not) issue new guidelines as a result.~
Containers at Farnham Park
It is still uncertain when play can begin on the new purpose-built pitches at Farnham Park, and the recent cold weather has not helped the grass on the pitches to grow and bed in. Sport England, as the principal funder, is concerned that play does not begin too early, which could lead to the need for expensive rehabilitation work.
However, there is still an expectation that play will begin on the new pitches during July, and when play begins, there will be a need for containers on site to house equipment. The current plan is to start with two containers on site – one, supported by BSUK, to house maintenance and field equipment, and the other to house playing and field equipment belonging to the Federations and/or user groups.
BSUK is asking the BSF and BBF to share the cost of that container, and the BSF has agreed in principle, while stressing its desire that a low-cost solution be found (such as a used rather than a new container, or perhaps bringing in an existing container from Riverside Lands).
Next meeting
The next BSF Executive conference call meeting will be on Thursday evening, May 9. Anyone with agenda items for the meeting should contact BSF Administrator .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).