The idea of a BSF Nationals Working Group was first mooted at the 2013 BSF AGM, and volunteers representing a cross-section of softball were invited to take part. The group, or most of it, finally met on Saturday 11 January 2014 in London, and began to set out a vision for softball's National Championships, but particularly for the Co-ed Slowpitch Nationals.
In 2014, all grades of co-ed play will hold their National Championships simultaneously on the weekend of 9-10 August at Farnham Park.
The agenda for the meeting was simple: 1) Requirements for venues and facilities for Nationals and tournament play; 2) qualification routes to Co-ed Nationals; and 3) how the first two topics could tie in to a BSF vision for their National Championships.
National Championship minimum standards
The BSF is aware that currently National Championships do not live up to the notion of these being the pinnacle events of the season and is keen to address what the minimum standards should be and to look at aspirations for the future. In terms of facilities, the group touched on everything from catering to camping before moving on to fields and equipment.
There was clear support for marked-out, fully-fenced fields and backstops for all pitches at National Championships. It was recognised that field preparation provides an ideal opportunity to direct funds to national teams and local clubs by outsourcing this work.
It was also agreed that there should be uniformity around the use of softballs. The BSF should publish its recognised ball and use only this ball for National Championships. The ball should be yellow to aid visibility, and 11” and 12” balls should be used across all grades in Co-ed Nationals for consistency.
There was much discussion around game-play, schedules and tournament formats. The group agreed that National Championships should result in placings from top to bottom. It was felt that a two-person umpiring system should be in place for all finals and that the best umpires based on BASU evaluation should be used for finals. Any BSF rules, such as playing final innings to a natural conclusion, should be published and adhered to. Scorers should be used for finals and MVP trophies should be awarded based on statistics rather than impressions.
There was strong support for finals not being played at the same time as other placing games as well as for a formal Closing Ceremony. It was recognised, however, that these aims, as well the decision to achieve full placings, may make scheduling problematic if treated as requirements.
The group also discussed a number of additional enhancements and aspirations for National Championships. These ranged from game feeds on social media to video footage from finals. The net result is that the BSF now feels able to publish its position on minimum standards for National Championships as well as to plan to bring in additional enhancements over time.
Qualification routes to Nationals
The second half of the meeting was devoted to the polarising question of routes for qualification to Nationals.
Starting with the premise that the Premier Nationals for A-grade or NSL teams is working, the discussion was directed at B and C levels. However, it was felt that NSL qualification requirements should be reviewed and that in order for a player to record an NSL qualification day, he or she must play for that team exclusively on that date.
At the heart of the discussion is the issue of qualification routes via league placings as opposed to tournament play and how these stack up side by side – though many of the issues that have previously been raised around this were removed by the BSF decision to play all co-ed National Championships on the same date in 2014.
The group had received a proposal for the 2015 season and beyond that was based on five or six Nationals qualification tournaments spread evenly across the calendar that provided qualification routes for NSL, B-grade and C-grade teams, all based on exactly the same criteria. These would not need to be stand-alone events and could include additional teams not competing for National spots, and so could be run as part of existing tournaments.
The key to this proposal was that there would be fewer Nationals places than teams competing and that there would be promotion and relegation between the grades. However, this system would not preclude there being a separate qualification route for league teams to the same National Championships.
A number of the tenets from this proposal were supported by the group and the BSF felt that this could be partially rolled out for 2014 by nominating qualifying tournaments for all three grades (likely to mirror NSL tournaments), clarifying the criteria and inviting ‘entries’ to this route. The BSF intends to approach League Heads to confirm how many Nationals places they are seeking and will then make a decision about the number of places that will be available to league and tournament teams respectively.
It was felt that where leagues request places that are not taken up, their allocation would be reduced the following year.
Vision for Nationals
While the BSF's over-arching vision for National Championships wasn’t discussed directly, a number of principles were affirmed that will be relevant to it.
These included reviewing the entire tournament calendar for 2015, setting minimum standards for BSF-sanctioned events, ensuring that BSF competition needs are met by providers and putting time-limited agreements in place with tournament organisers.
The group will meet again at the BSF AGM in Manchester on 22 February and the BSF will provide information about these discussions and any decisions to the AGM.