The BSF Executive held a face-to-face weekend meeting on November 12-13 in Slough. Following extensive discussions, decisions were made on a number of key issues.
Present: Stella Ackrell (President), Mike Jennings (Treasurer), Lesley Morisetti (Tournaments Officer), Mark Wigington (Marketing Officer), Julie Calver (Website Officer), Chris Moon (BASU Representative), Vicky Hall (General Officer), Debbie Moores (General Officer).
Apologies: Liz Graham (Tournaments Officer), James Reilly (Coaching & Development Officer), Richard Hanby (Youth & Schools Officer).
Guests: Bob Fromer, Jason Greenberg and Jenny Fromer (BSUK).
Finances
BSF Treasurer Mike Jennings noted that the Executive had budgeted to make a small operating loss against strong reserves in the financial year 2010-2011, which ended on September 30, but instead made a significant operating profit due to underspends in some areas and one league playing two years' fees at the same time to make up for arrears.
Details of income and expenditure for 2010-2011 will be included in the AGM Pack to be sent out early in the new year.
The Executive agreed with Mike that one important use for this unexpected surplus should be to help boost slowpitch development in Europe on the back of increased interest in slowpitch at the recent ISF Congress. The GB Slowpitch Team has been invited to travel to the Netherlands at the end of May 2012 to take part in a series of high-level exhibition games at two or three locations around the country, and bringing the Dutch into the European slowpitch fold would be a major step forward for the format in Europe. So the BSF will look at how it can support the GB Slowpitch Team in taking up this invitation.
Other uses for the surplus at the BSF's disposal will be considered as the Executive puts together a budget for 2011-2012, with support for coaching within slowpitch softball likely to be an area of concentration. Partly as a result of the surplus, affiliation fees are likely to stay the same for the 2012 season.
Development Strategy Committee
Marketing Officer Mark Wigington attends the BSUK Development Strategy Committee (DSC) on behalf of the BSF, and reported to the Executive on some of the main issues that have arisen at three recent meetings he has attended.
BSUK's drive is to fulfil its Sport England targets in terms of increased participation and player satisfaction, and the main participation growth has come in the form of new slowpitch teams and leagues that BSUK has created or supported. But a key issue is how these new teams and leagues can be sustained long-term and persuaded to affiliate to the BSF. The Executive began the process of creating a list of benefits that come with affiliation that can be offered to new participants when it makes sense for them to consider this step.
Mark also reported on BSUK's Club Health Check system, whereby baseball, fastpitch and slowpitch clubs (where clubs exist) and slowpitch leagues are given a green, amber or red status with regard to functionality and sustainability, derived from the contacts these clubs and leagues have with BSUK regional coaches and development managers. A club or league's "health status" is determined by scores in a wide range of categories.
At this point, all softball clubs and leagues have either a green or amber status; there are no scores in the red.
The BSF would like to link more directly into this system, in part to be able to judge when new teams and leagues should be targeted for affiliation, and also to ensure that affiliated clubs and leagues know where they stand in terms of their Health Check status.
The BSF would also like to communicate more directly with the burgeoning Wickes Softball Leagues to establish a presence and consider whether at least some Wickes teams in areas with local softball leagues would be interested in joining those leagues.
BSF Website
BSUK Marketing, Communications and Events Manager Jason Greenberg attended the BSF meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss the BSF website that was launched last spring.
The BSF Executive has requested a number of small changes to functionality and to the way information is presented on the website, all of which should be achieved before the 2012 season. BSUK will also establish registration and payment systems on the site for the BSF's use.
Jason told the Executive that BSUK is planning its own changes to the BSF website, including an upgrade in what individual leagues and teams can do with their pages. BSUK is also recommending that there be more use of the site by tournaments, though there is a cost involved. The BSF should widen information on the site about what it does for the sport, Jason suggested, and make more use of Twitter to drive interest in website articles and information.
Reports from Google Analytics suggest that the site is currently being significantly underused by teams and leagues in terms of the functionality available -- some of which Jason demonstrated to the Executive -- though this should improve over time.
The Executive agrees with BSUK that, as a bottom line, it should be mandatory for all affiliated teams to register and roster their players on the site, a far easier process now than with the old website. This will be necessary in future with regard to player insurance, but it will also allow the BSF -- and, when necessary, BSUK -- to communicate directly to everyone involved in softball or to targeted groups of members.
BSF Nationals Review
The meeting looked back at National Championships held in 2011 and forward to 2012, when a new venue at Burleigh Community College in Loughborough will be used for the League All-Star and Single-Sex Nationals.
Tournaments Officer Lesley Morisetti reported that interest in the League All-Star Nationals was sluggish in 2011 until the last minute -- and when it did take place, the tournament suffered through a weekend of rain. In 2012, the tournament will be held in July rather than June, which should give leagues more time to select and train genuine All-Star teams consisting of the best players from that league.
By contrast, demand was high, as usual, for the Single-Sex Slowpitch Nationals in 2011, and the tournament was very successful. Like the League All-Star Nationals, the Single-Sex Nationals will be held at the new venue in Loughborough in 2012.
The Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze (PGSB) Nationals has suffered over the past two years from a shrinking number of teams competing at B-grade level. This is partly due to the fact that some former B-grade teams now compete in the NSL, but also from the fact that some of the top C-grade teams are reluctant to move up to the next level. The exact shape of the PGSB Nationals in 2012 will depend on the outcome of potential changes to the NSL structure (see below), but the tournament will be held at Cantley Park in Wokingham rather than in Bristol. The BSF will supply outfield fencing for the tournament which can then remain with local teams.
The BSF is aware that the Premier Nationals, despite a high standard of play and excellent organisation, suffers from a lack of atmosphere and a sense of occasion. Since it is difficult to create a grand occasion with only eight teams competing, the BSF is considering the idea of staging the Premier Nationals together with the National Baseball Championships once the dedicated facilities planned for both sports at Farnham Park are complete. For 2012, however, the BSF has asked BSUK to explore the idea of combining the Premier Nationals with the Wickes Softball League finals, giving the Wickes development teams a chance to see softball at the highest level and perhaps inspire them to wider participation and BSF affiliation.
Other improvements planned for the Premier Nationals will include better catering, the use of line-up cards, a printed event programme, BSF bannering and signage, scoreboards or posted scoresheets and possibly better fencing.
The BSF would like to encourage better scoring of games in British softball generally, and may have official scorers for next year's Premier Nationals.
The BSF will also look at the possibility of streaming live play-by-play from the Premier Nationals, or even webcam streaming.
2012 Calendar
The calendar of domestic and international softball events for 2012 is nearly complete, and confirmed tournaments, Academy Softball and GB training sessions, international competitions and umpire courses are already posted under "Events" on the BSF website. Coaching courses can be found under "Events" on the BSUK website.
The one issue that still needs to be resolved is the fact that the Pioneers Tournament and the Bristol Main Tournament are currently scheduled for the same weekend (June 30-July 1) because the Pioneers Tournament was not able to get permission from the University of Kent to run on its traditional date a week earlier.
The BSF will be talking to the Bristol Softball Association about whether they are prepared to flip the dates for the Bristol Main and WrecK Tournaments, as they did in 2008 to avoid a clash with the European Slowpitch Championships held at Southampton. If not, then there are implications for the NSL, since both Pioneers and Bristol host NSL competition -- and of course the BSF always strives to avoid clashes between major tournaments on the same dates.
To see if this sort of problem can be avoided in future, Bob Fromer will shortly be writing to all tournament organisers to ask how much flexibility they have with regard to their tournament dates. If some tournaments do have flexibility, putting a complex and crowded calendar together each year will become easier.
There is also a possibility for tournaments to use banner ads on the BSF website to push tournament registration, which the BSF will explore further.
National Softball League
The BSF Executive spent time on both Saturday and Sunday discussing the future of the National Softball League (NSL) and the possibility of extending the structure to B-grade through the creation of an NSL2 competition.
This possibility was first discussed at the 2010 League Heads Forum and then at the 2011 BSF AGM last February, and proposals have since been made but no final decisions taken.
During the course of lengthy discussions, various suggestions and courses of action were put forward. The online survey about the NSL and tournament experience designed by Website Officer Julie Calver had received 30 replies in the first two days and some trends emerged from those replies -- but the number of responses was considered too small to lead to firm conclusions.
The BSF sees a clear need to look at various aspects of the current NSL structure, including differing schedules and regulations from one tournament to another and the fact that not all teams get to play every other team, which means that the NSL is technically not a league and the playing field is not necessarily level in terms of determining final places and Nationals qualification. The BSF also recognises the need for a second tier of NSL competition designed for B-grade and high-level C-grade teams, with the likelihood of promotion and relegation in the medium term after this second tier is established.
To encourage teams to join the second tier, the BSF may offer support from qualified coaches free of charge to teams that agree to do so.
The BSF is also considering assistance to tournaments that host the NSL. This could include supplying Tournament Controllers to run the NSL portion of the tournament in cooperation with tournament organisers.
One of the main obstacles to making final decisions about re-shaping the NSL is that it is not yet clear which tournaments are willing and able to host the NSL in 2012. BSF Tournaments Officers Liz Graham and Lesley Morisetti have begun discussions with relevant tournament organisers.
Coaching and Umpiring
The BSF is keen to extend coaching -- and a culture that values coaching -- deeper into slowpitch softball. To this end, the BSF wants to encourage more people to take BSUK coaching courses. But it also looking at using GB Slowpitch Team coaches and others with Level 2 qualifications to evaluate and mentor C-grade and D-grade teams at tournaments, using their expertise to help with game management and individual fault correction.
The BSF also plans to work with the ESF and ASA to bring more high-level slowpitch coaches to the country in 2012, following in the footsteps of the Combat coaches' tour earlier this year.
Chris Moon told the meeting that in addition to the usual range of umpire courses next year, BASU plans to run a course for experienced umpires covering advanced rules and situations, three-man mechanics and game management in order to point people towards ESF courses and umpiring in Europe.
BSF Awards and Hall of Fame
The BSF will shortly be advertising on the website for nominations for its annual awards given out each year at the AGM as well as nominations to the BSF Hall of Fame, motions to the AGM and nominations for members of the BSF Executive.
The deadline for all nominations and motions will be December 31, 2011.
The annual awards are:
-- The Glover Cup for outstanding and/or long-time service to softball.
-- The League Glover Cup for the league demonstrating the highest development or competition achievements in the past year.
-- The President's Award for the softball club or team demonstrating the highest development or competition achievements in the past year.
-- Youth Coach of the Year.
-- Adult Coach of the Year.
-- Tournament Umpire of the Year.
-- Tournament of the Year.
With regard to the Hall of Fame, an inaugural group of 12 members was inducted in 2007 and a further nine members in 2010. All were nominated and voted on according to regulations that said that an individual had to have been "retired" from the activity for which they were being nominated for at least a year before they could be considered.
But the BSF has now changed those regulations as follows:
-- Anyone can be nominated in any Hall of Fame category following retirement as an active participant in that category, without regard to length of service.
-- People still active in the sport can be nominated in any category after 10 years as an active participant in that category, even if they are still active now.
The categories for which people can be nominated are:
-- Player.
-- Umpire.
-- Coach (of adult or youth players).
-- Manager (of a club or national team).
-- Organiser/Administrator (of leagues, the BSF, BASU etc).
-- Development worker.
-- Media worker.
BSF AGM and Executive Officers
The BSF AGM will be held on either Saturday, February 18 or Saturday, February 25, 2012 -- the final choice will be determined by venue availability.
The AGM alternates each year between North and South, and is due to be held in the North in 2012. At present, the BSF is considering locations in Manchester and Loughborough.
The BSF is also looking at its current Executive Officer roles to see whether any new positions are needed or whether any current positions have become redundant. Once this work is completed, a list of posts available for nomination will be published.
London Softball Federation
BSUK Joint CEO and Head of Operations Jenny Fromer attended the meeting on Sunday to cover a number of topics, one of which is plans by BSUK to phase out the London Softball Federation (LSF) as a regional administrative body.
The LSF was founded before the BSF and at one time, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was the de facto national governing body for softball. As the BSF grew into that role, the LSF became a regional governing body for London, with a full Executive Committee. But in recent years, the LSF Executive has shrunk and BSUK has carried out most of its functions, including booking pitches for London leagues in Regents Park and running London-based tournaments such as single-sex events and the London Regionals.
Jenny told the BSF Executive that BSUK will still book Regents Park pitches for local leagues, but that the Greater London Mixed Softball League (GLSML) is expected to become the main provider of London tournaments with BSUK support.
In addition, Jenny said that there seemed to be no further need for a London Regional Championship, since the qualification route to Premier Nationals -- and maybe Platinum Nationals in future -- is through the NSL. So for National Championships from Gold downwards, the BSF will need to assign places where required to London leagues on an individual basis, as it does with regional leagues.
The hope is that more of London's corporate leagues will be encouraged to take part in National Championships, but one impediment is that many of these leagues do not play with a 5:5 male-female ratio.
BSUK will facilitate these changes by talking to the various London leagues and helping the BSF establish a presence with them.
The LSF fee that London teams pay in addition to their BSF affiliation fee will charged in 2012 but not thereafter.
Whole Sport Plan
Jenny Fromer told the meeting that BSUK is in the process of developing the next Whole Sport Plan to be submitted to Sport England in May 2012. The Plan will form the basis on which Sport England funds softball and baseball for the period 2013-2017.
Part of the Plan preparation involves consultation with Executive Boards and participants from both sports, and Jenny began the process by involving the BSF Executive in a 10-minute exercise in which they were asked to brainstorm on what they would like BSUK to continue doing, start doing and stop doing in the next Whole Sport Plan period.
Another consultation exercise with softball League Heads and others will be carried out at the League Heads Forum on November 26, and further consultations will take place into the new year.
Service Level Agreement
A final discussion topic to do with BSUK was about the Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiated each year between BSUK and the BSF regarding non-developmental services that BSUK provides to the Federation in return for payment. A similar Agreement exists between BSUK and the BBF.
Jenny Fromer explained to the meeting that when BSUK restructured in 2007 to become a Development Agency rather than (as previously) a Management Agency, BSUK's focus became almost exclusively on development work, which is what Sport England was funding the organisation to do.
But at the same time, BSUK has continued to provide the BSF and the BBF with services that the governing body Boards, made up of volunteers, would have found difficult to carry out or carry out as effectively, and payments are made for these services.
The services have generally been carried out as required, without much relationship to the amounts paid by the Federations, and the result has been that BSUK has always delivered well in excess of hours paid for. In 2010, it was agreed that BSUK would provide hours of service amounting to 165% of hours paid for, but even this has been exceeded, putting a strain on BSUK staff in relation to development work.
So negotiations for the 2012-2013 SLA, which will be conducted for the BSF by President Stella Ackrell and Treasurer Mike Jennings, will look at whether the services currently provided are the right ones and what the BSF most urgently needs BSUK to do. The aim will be to reduce the excess number of hours spent by BSUK staff and perhaps hand some tasks back to the Federation.
Mike Jennings noted that services provided by BSUK to the two Federations under Service Level Agreements are somewhat different for each Federation, and suggested that the most vital services provided to the BSF include:
-- Availability to deal professionally with queries from inside and outside the sport on a timely basis.
-- Carrying out relationships with sporting agencies such as Sport England and, in the past, the British Olympic Association, which has resulted in more funding for the sports than the BSF could have achieved on its own.
-- Coordination and production of the Whole Sport Plan.
-- Provision and coordination of insurance.
-- Provision and maintenance of the BSF website and website content, and communications functions in general.
BSF branding and marketing
Marketing Officer Mark Wigington led a discussion on how the BSF can achieve more effective branding and what marketing efforts might be successful in generating additional income streams.
The BSF has already created attractive banners that will be seen at events next year and plans to create more branded signage as well.
There are plans to add the BSF logo on the sleeve of clothing worn by softball national teams, in addition to the GB lion logo that most national teams feature.
There will be further exploration of BSF-branded merchandise that can be offered for sale to the softball community.
Baseball and Softball Shop
The BSF is considering an arrangement with The Baseball and Softball Shop UK whereby the Federation gives "BSF Approval" to particular brands of softballs.
The Baseball and Softball Shop has been supportive of a number of softball initiatives, most recently donating prizes for the Men v Women exhibition game staged at the 2011 Softball World Series to raise money for the GB Slowpitch Team.
Bat-testing machine
The BSF is considering purchasing a compact but effective bat-testing machine that was on display at the recent ISF Congress in the United States.
The machine will "measure" bats according to the latest ASA standards, including re-testing done by the ASA to identify bats that are safe at the time of manufacture but become more potent with age, as many carbon-fibre bats tend to do.
If the purchase is approved, BASU will have a more effective means of testing bats at BSF Nationals and other tournaments and ensuring that bats that pose a risk are eliminated from play.
Next Meeting
The next BSF Executive meeting will be a conference call on Thursday, December 1.
Anyone with an item to submit for consideration should contact BSF General Officer .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).