The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on Thursday evening, February 7. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Vicky Hall (Administrator), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Liz Graham and Lesley Morisetti (Tournaments Officers), Mark Wigington (Marketing Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Beth Perkins (National Teams Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
AGM preparations
Mike Jennings confirmed preparations for the 2013 BSF AGM on Saturday, February 23 at St Thomas United Reformed Church in Watford. Registration will open at 11.00 am, and workshop sessions will begin at 11.30, with the formal AGM from 2.00 to 4.00 pm. A meeting of the newly-elected BSF Executive will follow the AGM.
The morning workshops, which will be led by BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Operations Jenny Fromer along with BSF Administrator Vicky Hall, will cover a number of related topics, including Child Protection, the BSF's new Guidelines for Players 18-and-Under (a motion to put these Guidelines in place will be voted on at the AGM), risk assessment strategies for clubs and leagues and the new system that will replace CRB checks later this year.
With the deadline for motions and nominations having passed, the BSF has received one motion to the AGM from the membership (see below under “Co-ed Nationals motion”) and one nomination for a position on the Executive. Further motions can be presented at the AGM subject to a vote of acceptance from the floor, and nominations can be accepted only for positions for which there is no one standing.
The BSF Executive has submitted motions on the 18-and-Under Player Guidelines and on fees for the coming season.
A representative from The Baseball and Softball Shop will be present at the AGM to demonstrate a new range of uniforms and equipment that will be available from the company this season.
AGM Packs have been sent to all League Heads (and hopefully passed on to teams), and the Packs can be downloaded from the BSF website.
Coaching initiative for B and C-grade teams
The BSF has now received applications from eight teams that want to take part in this programme, which will involve a coach or coaches from the GB Slowpitch Team delivering a one-day clinic to each team before the season begins and then mentoring the team at an early-season league game or tournament.
Discussions are now under way between these teams and GB Slowpitch Team Manager Sara Vertigan to establish dates and assign coaches.
All costs involved in the initiative – primarily session fees and travel costs – will be covered by the BSF. As well as benefiting the teams involved, the project will provide some funding for the GB Slowpitch Team, who will be competing in European Championships this summer.
National Softball League
With assurances that National Softball League play will take place at all three Diamond Tournaments this summer, the BSF will now be talking to other tournaments that could potentially host NSL play, with the goal of establishing no fewer than five and ideally six opportunities for NSL play through which eight teams can qualify for the 2013 Premier Nationals.
NSL play will be scheduled so that each team plays every other team twice over the course of the season, on a “home and away” basis. These games will be played during the round-robin phase of all tournaments that host NSL play. Each tournament will then have its own playoff structure, and these games will produce tournament placings but will not count towards NSL standings.
Tournaments Officer Liz Graham will also be contacting all previous NSL teams to establish which teams want to enter the league this year.
Co-ed Nationals motion
Late last year, the BSF had announced its plan to play all of the 2013 Co-ed Slowpitch National Championships together on one weekend at Farnham Park, including use of the new dedicated pitches constructed by BSUK.
Then, in January, because of problems over the proposed date of August 10-11, the BSF decided that the Premier Nationals would remain separate from the Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Nationals for one more year and a Combined Nationals would be introduced in 2014.
However, the BSF has now received a motion that the Combined Co-ed Nationals be played this year after all, on August 10-11, based on the premise that almost all NSL teams will be able to play on that weekend, even if some of their players are missing.
The BSF would now like this question to be decided once and for all by a vote at the AGM.
Finance
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings reported that a budget proposal for the 2012-13 financial year, to be presented to the AGM on February 23, can only be finalised following the European Softball Federation Congress on February 14-16, because some decisions at Congress, particularly around fines for failing to supply umpires at ESF competitions, could have a significant effect on BSF finances.
There have already between discussions within the Executive, and between the Executive and the GB Management Committee, over budget cuts that may be necessary to allow the BSF to maintain its reserves at the desired level in 2013.
With regard to the purchase of Civil and Public Liability Insurance in 2013, the Executive decided to retain an Employer Liability component to the insurance because of the new joint role of Development Officer and Softball Programmes Director that is funded jointly by the BSF and BSUK.
ESF Congress
President Stella Ackrell and Treasurer Mike Jennings will be the BSF's representatives at the ESF Congress, which will be held in a beautiful setting on Lake Bled in Slovenia from February 14-16. The ESF Congress will be held together with the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) Congress for the first time in many years.
While Stella and Mike will cover all of the different Commission sessions at the Congress – Finance, Development, Competitions and Marketing – much of their work will be carried out around these sessions, primarily to promote further slowpitch development in Europe and to encourage European countries to enter the ISF Slowpitch World Cup planned for January 2014.
Mike will also make a brief presentation to the Development Commission on the work done by the Birmingham Tourcats to promote informal co-ed slowpitch competition in Europe involving recreational fastpitch and baseball clubs. Birmingham Softball League President and TourCats founder Kate Page-Smith has been receiving enthusiastic responses to this idea from a number of European countries and plans to form an international steering group to take the idea forward.
Another encouraging development, noted by the Executive, was a recent meeting of a number of Dutch baseball and softball clubs designed to get a pilot slowpitch league under way in the Netherlands this season.
ISF Slowpitch Umpiring Course in the UK
BASU Training Officer Chris Moon confirmed, following further talks with International Softball Federation Umpire-in-Chief Bob Stanton, that an ISF Slowpitch Umpire Course will be held in the UK this season, open to qualified umpires from the whole of Europe. Bob Stanton will be the lead clinician on the course.
Those who pass the course will become certified ISF Slowpitch Umpires, and the aim is to have European umpires at next year's ISF Slowpitch World Cup.
The course will be discussed further with ISF and ESF officials at the ESF Congress. The likely dates for the course are May 8-12, with the trainee umpires getting their assessments when umpiring games at the first Diamond Series tournament.
Twinning arrangements with Massachusetts ASA
Mike Jennings reported that discussions are continuing with the BSF's “twin” organisation, the American Amateur Softball Association in Massachusetts.
The immediate subject is a request from the BSF for two high-level slowpitch coaches to be sent from Massachusetts this year to do a tour of British leagues, but working mainly with coaches rather than players, including members of the GB Slowpitch Team coaching staff.
Governance project
BSUK has applied for and received some additional funding from Sport England (over and above the recent Whole Sport Plan award) for external support in looking at how BSUK, the BSF and the BBF intersect around governance arrangements, and how to tackle issues around the appointment of Federation Directors to the BSUK Board on a skills basis and with term limits.
The project needs to be completed by 31 March 2013 and a company called Wharton Consulting has been awarded the contract. Simon Le Fevre from Wharton Consulting will attend the BSUK Board Meeting on 18 February to introduce the work.
Because of the very short time-frame for completing the project, urgent engagement from all three organisations is required, and BSUK has asked both the BSF and BBF to put forward individuals who can work on the project on behalf of their Federation.
Mike Jennings has agreed to accept this role on behalf of the BSF.
As part of this work, BSUK, BSF and BBF representatives will also review and amend the Memorandums & Articles of Association and the Joint Agreement between the three organisations.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the BSF Executive will be a face-to-face meeting immediately after the 2013 AGM on February 23 in Watford.
Anyone with items or issues to raise with the BSF should contact BSF Administrator Vicky Hall.