The BSF Executive held a conference call meeting on the evening of Thursday, May 3, 2012. Below are highlights of discussions and decisions.
Attendance
Present: Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Vicky Hall (Administrative Officer), Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative).
Apologies: Stella Ackrell (President), Lesley Morisetti (Tournaments Officer), Julie Calver (Website Officer), Beth Perkins (Co-opted General Officer).
Guest: Bob Fromer (BSUK).
Regents Park
Even though the London Softball Federation will cease to exist after this season, Treasurer Mike Jennings reported that BSUK (which has been carrying out LSF's work for the past few years) will continue to negotiate pitch bookings with Regents Park on behalf of London leagues.
This seems the best course of action, not just because BSUK has an established relationship with Regents Park, but because payment for bookings is must be made upfront, and BSUK is in a position to pay the £30,000-£40,000 required and then get the money back from leagues.
However, Mike Jennings noted that the BSF will need to take more of an interest in this matter, if only to ensure that the London leagues repay BSUK as promptly as possible.
Action points from previous meetings
The Executive considered a number of matters that have been discussed at previous meetings:
A member of the Executive will be appointed as a point of contact for any teams from the UK playing abroad, whether this be national teams, club teams going to ESF competitions or teams travelling to events such as the Ad League World Series in the United States or invitational tournaments in Europe. Both ESF and ISF regulations make the BSF responsible for any British teams playing abroad, and the BSF simply wants to be aware of teams that are travelling, in part so help can be offered if required.
The BSF will shortly determine a registration fee for its own national teams, primarily to cover the cost of civil and public liability insurance and personal accident and injury insurance for their training or competition activities in the UK.
The BSF has agreed that it will cover the cost of softballs to be used in the challenge series between the GB Slowpitch Team and a representative Dutch team in the Netherlands at the end of May – unless the ESF offers to supply the balls instead. The BSF regards this tour as an important event for the future of slowpitch in Europe. BASU umpire and Training Officer Chris Moon will umpire at the event.
It appears that the American Amateur Softball Association (ASA) is moving towards a standard pitching height of 7-10 feet in all its slowpitch competitions, and is thinking of extending base distances from 65 to 70 feet. Whether this will have any effect on slowpitch in Europe and the UK will depend on whether the ISF also adopts these standards.
The BSF has come to an arrangement with The Baseball and Softball Shop to recommend its softballs as an “official supplier” on the basis of quality. The BSF is also exploring possibilities of creating a range of branded merchandise for sale online and at tournaments.
BSF banners, created at the end of last season, will be displayed more widely this year at a range of tournaments across the country to give the Federation more of a presence at major events.
Seven B-grade and C-grade teams have applied for a package of coaching support from GB Slowpitch Team coaches and players, paid for by the BSF in an effort to raise playing standards among aspirational teams. Dates and arrangements for these sessions now need to sorted between BSF Coaching and Development Officer James Reilly and GB Slowpitch Team Manager Sara Vertigan.
The BSF is working on a proposal for a Slowpitch Clinic Weekend in 2013, where coaching, umpiring and scoring courses will be offered by high-quality trainers. BSUK has offered to support the project and BASU Representative Chris Moon will draft a proposal.
National Softball League
Tournaments Officer Liz Graham reported that, so far, only 10 teams have signed up for the National Softball League this year.
The Marvels, Dragons and Mariners, all of whom played in the NSL in 2011, have declined for this year, and the Knights have yet to make a final decision.
Financial matters
Treasurer Mike Jennings reported that the BSF's 2010-11 accounts have now been completed and signed off by the Federation's auditors. There is no tax to pay, and the BSF has healthy reserves in the bank at the point when fees are starting to come in for 2012.
Affiliation payment through the BSF website generates automatic notification to the BSF when teams sign up, but the BSF has asked BSUK if they can add functionality that will generate invoices as well.
Service Level Agreement
Both the BSF and the BBF pay for and receive a range of non-development services from BSUK under a Service Level Agreement which is re-negotiated each year (all development services, the bulk of BSUK's work, are funded by Sport England and provided to the Federations without charge).
Both Federations receive a high proportion of SLA services at no cost – or, to put it another way, BSUK substantially over-delivers for the amounts paid. But BSUK needs a limit to be established on over-delivery, and recent talks between BSUK and the BSF were held to establish which services are most important to the BSF.
The BSF is keen that BSUK continues to provide services to do with website and IT support, website content, safeguarding, CRB checks, public enquiries and events – though more responsibility for events currently run by BSUK may move to the BSF in future.
Areas that will have less SLA input from BSUK this year will include meeting support, database maintenance, international representation and national teams support.
Whole Sport Plan
BSUK staff members are in the final stages of preparing the Whole Sport Plan funding submission to Sport England for 2013-17, which has to be delivered by May 14.
Draft copies were sent to the BSF and BBF Boards towards the end of April for comments, and a public WebEx conference on the Plan was held on April 24, attended by BSF Administrative Officer Vicky Hall.
BSUK has now asked the Federations for formal approval to submit the Plan. BBF approval was given on April 30, and the BSF has now also given its approval, but with the caveat that it is keen to see specific targets and costings that are still to be added to the Plan.
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings described the Plan as “an extremely well-written document well designed to get as much funding as possible from Sport England,” but stressed that the BSF is concerned, in particular, with targets around growing the number of softball teams over the next four years and the costs involved in doing so.
BSF Officer roles
The BSF wants to expand the number of active Officer roles on the Executive, and will consider the appointment of a National Teams Officer, Welfare Officer, Schools Officer and possibly other Officers after further discussion.
Softball “Heroines”
A new website has recently been created by the Women's Sports Network to raise the profile of women's sport, and softball is one of the sports featured on the site (http://women2012.co.uk).
Each sport on the site has been invited to put forward four “heroines” that exemplify the best qualities of the sport, and the BSF considered possible nominations for women who are players, coaches, umpires and administrators.
In the end, three “softball heroines” were chosen: GB Women's Team player Laura Thompson, GB Slowpitch Team Manager and Coach Sara Vertigan, and former GB Slowpitch player, umpire and BSF Tournaments Officer Lesley Morisetti. A fourth choice from among current female slowpitch players will be made shortly.
Laura Thompson is already featured on the Women's Sports Network site on: http://women2012.co.uk/featured-athletes/laura-thompson.php.
Fastpitch Umpire Course
Chris Moon reported on the Fastpitch Umpire Course held on April 21-22 at Milton Keynes, supported by a development grant from the BSF. Originally scheduled for February but postponed by snow, the course was delivered to 11 trainees by former ESF Umpire-in-Chief Marlies Struyve from the Netherlands.
“Marlies was an excellent trainer,” Chris reported, “and the drills she ran outdoors were very good.”
The course was attended by a mix of people, some with umpiring experience and others with none. The aim is to train more umpires who can work in the Great Britain Fastpitch League, but particularly to find umpires who can go on to an ESF qualification and help Britain to fulfil its umpire quotas at ESF competitions in future.
This year's ESF Fastpitch Course has been cancelled, and the Executive discussed the possibility of running another fastpitch umpire course, or a generic course, before the next ESF course in 2013.
Next Meeting
The next BSF conference call meeting will be on Thursday, June 7.
Anyone with items to bring to the meeting should contact BSF Administrative Officer .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).