The British Softball Federation Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday, March 8. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Vicky Hall (Administrative Officer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Lesley Morisetti (Tournaments Officer), Julie Calver (Website Officer), James Reilly (Coaching and Development Officer), Beth Perkins (Co-opted General Officer).
Guests: Bob Fromer and John Boyd (BSUK).
Approval for Farnham Park project
BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Development John Boyd attended the start of the meeting to get formal approval from the BSF for BSUK to sign a 21-year contract with South Bucks District Council in order to construct new facilities at Farnham Park and to spend money as required to develop the site, subject to overview by the BSUK Board.
The Agreement that govern relations between BSUK and the Federations require BSUK to seek Federation approval for contracts over a year in length and/or single expenditures of more than £10,000.
Those present at the meeting gave their approval, but asked John Boyd to email Executive members not in attendance to gain their approval as well.
BSF Executive members and roles
Following the BSF AGM in Manchester on February 18, several people came forward to offer to join the Executive. For the moment, the Executive has co-opted Beth Perkins as a General Officer and may add others.
Before that occurs, the Executive will review all current Officer roles. This follows the passage of a motion at the AGM that allows the Executive to change Officer roles between AGMs as necessary to reflect needs and circumstances, provided there is always a President, Treasurer and General Secretary and that the total number of Officers does not exceed 11.
Major clinic proposal
BSF BASU Representative Chris Moon and Tournaments Officer Liz Graham have come up with a proposal for the BSF and BSUK to work together to stage a major softball clinic event in 2013 that will encompass umpiring, coaching, scorekeeping and player development, possibly over a three-day period before the start of the 2013 season.
The proposal will be developed further over the coming months.
Criteria for grant applications to support umpire courses
The BSF gives out a number of grants each year, generally limited to £250, to leagues, teams and occasionally individuals to support development projects. The application form can be found on the BSF website at: http://www.britishsoftball.org/document/bsf-development-grant-awards-application.
Many of the applications each year are to help leagues or teams run BASU umpire courses. But the Executive would like to see criteria developed for such grants based on numbers attending and the potential for the course to generate umpires who can officiate nationally at tournaments as well as in their home leagues.
BSF BASU Representative Chris Moon will bring a set of draft criteria to the Executive's next conference call meeting in April.
Meanwhile, the Executive approved a grant of £200 to help the British Airways Softball Club host a two-day BASU Qualifying Course on April 14-15, which will be attended by trainees from the Windsor & Maidenhead League and London as well as BA club members.
National Softball League
BSF Tournaments Officer Liz Graham told the meeting that NSL1 this year would be played at just two events – the British Airways Tournament on June 16-17 and at a dedicated NSL tournament in Loughborough on July 7-8, with every team playing all other teams once.
This will create seedings for the Premier Nationals, which are likely to be played in Manchester on September 1-2, with all NSL teams involved.
This structure for NSL1 is for 2012 only, and has come about largely because of a decision by the Diamond Softball Series to reduce the number of pitches available for A-grade competition this year while construction of new diamonds is ongoing at Farnham Park.
In 2013, the NSL is expected to revert to more events, with only the top eight teams qualifying for Premier Nationals.
Meanwhile, Liz said that there has been no further response from teams interested in playing under an NSL2 structure and so no progress has been made in setting this up.
However, at least five teams have expressed interest in the offer, made at the AGM, for the BSF to provide coaching support for potential NSL2 teams, and Coaching and Development Officer James Reilly is coordinating further requests.
BSF endorsement of teams travelling abroad
Every year, a number of national and club teams travel to Europe and sometimes further afield to take part in official ESF or ISF competition under the auspices of the BSF.
But a number of trips abroad are also made each year by club teams or scratch teams to play in invitational tournaments, such as the Advertising World Series in the United States or slowpitch tournaments in Europe. The latest example is the TourCats, the travelling team from the Birmingham Bobcats Softball Club, who will play in a three-country slowpitch tournament in Cologne, Germany at the end of May.
The BSF needs to be officially notified of any such trips abroad by club or scratch teams (as the Bobcats have done), so that the governing body is aware of which teams are representing British softball abroad and where they're going, and can give its endorsement to these trips.
Welfare Policy
BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Operations Jenny Fromer, who is responsible for overseeing the safeguarding policies developed and maintained by BSUK for the British Baseball and Softball Federations, will be asking the BSF Executive (and BBF Board) to formally agree to adhere to policy decisions made by BSUK relating to child welfare (as BSUK is the body that holds responsibility for this area).
There is also a need for safeguarding policies to be more widely known and implemented throughout British softball.
Jenny will attend the BSF's next conference call meeting on April 12 for this purpose and will circulate relevant documents to Executive members beforehand.
The issue was sparked in part by discussions the Executive has had recently about the age at which young players can participate in adult softball. But Jenny has advised the BSF that this is a matter on which the BSF should set its own rules, as long as they do not undermine BSUK advice, rather than incorporating age strictures within the Welfare Policy.
Volunteer opportunities
BSUK has been developing a framework known as “Pitch In” to increase and improve volunteering in baseball and softball, and the Executive gave its approval for a letter outlining the scheme to be sent to BSF leagues, clubs and teams.
Behind the letter is a new volunteering section on the BSUK website, where volunteering opportunities for clubs and leagues, in universities and workplaces or at softball events can be listed and logged. These opportunities will also be posted on the national volunteering website “Do-It” (www.do-it.org.uk) to attract people from outside the softball community to volunteer to help our sport.
Sportivate application
Administrative Officer Vicky Hall has written a letter of support on behalf of the BSF for a grant application submitted by BSUK's South East Regional Coach and Club Development Officer Stan Doney for funding through Sport England's “Sportivate” programme to develop softball with boys aged 14-16 in Berkshire.
Such grants can allow the BSF to supplement BSUK development work, especially with young people.
League Heads contact list
One feature of the old BSF website that has not transferred to the new site is a contact list for softball League Heads.
BSF Tournaments Officer Lesley Morisetti is compiling an updated list for 2012, and this will be posted on the website under the “Leagues” button when ready.
Advanced Umpire Course
BSF BASU Representative Chris Moon told the meeting that BASU plans to run a one-day Advanced Course for qualified slowpitch umpires, probably at the beginning of May, in a location to be determined once it's known where most of the trainees are coming from.
The course will cover player and coach management issues and look at a wide variety of game scenarios that umpires need to be ready for, drawing on ASA and ISF umpire casebooks.
One reason for holding the course, apart from raising standards among experienced umpires, is to make BASU umpires better prepared to attend European Softball Federation qualification courses.
Anyone interested in this course should contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
GB Slowpitch tour to Holland
With the Dutch making preparations to entertain the GB Slowpitch Team at the end of May for a three-day exhibition game tour against a hand-picked Dutch team, the Executive reiterated the need for a strong GB Team to make the tour to ensure that slowpitch is properly represented and displayed in the Netherlands.
This tour, arranged under the auspices of the ESF, is the best chance so far to plant the seeds of active slowpitch participation in Europe's leading softball country.
The Executive has asked the GB Management Committee to talk to GB Slowpitch Team staff about preparations for the tour.
Next Meeting
The next BSF Executive conference call meeting will be held on Thursday evening, April 12.
Anyone who would like to bring an item to the meeting should email Administrative Officer .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).