ESF Technical Commissioners (TCs) and Umpire-in-Chiefs (UICs) held their biennial convention at the Olympic Center in Rome on March 16-17, 2013.
Almost all ESF technical staff – eight TCs and eight UICs – were present. The main goal of the meeting was to simplify work and procedures at ESF tournaments, and the motto was: “We want to do the right thing, and then do the thing right.”
Saturday sessions
The convention was separated into three parts. The Saturday morning session, with both TCs and UICs together, was headed by ESF Vice President for Competitions Gabriel Waage. The agenda included an introduction to the ESF's structure, the specific role of all officials at tournaments and a module on working together.
Key issues were discussed in the second session on Saturday afternoon, where the groups were split.
The TC group, headed by Technical Director Mike Jennings, went through documentation such as the Handbook for TCs, memorandums, licence forms and tournament report forms. Some documents were upgraded; others, were like substitution cards, were cancelled.
The UIC group, headed by Director of Umpires Andrea Marcon, discussed procedures for the selection of umpires to tournaments, the UIC Manual, bat control procedure, evaluation of umpires and possible rule changes for the upcoming ISF Congress.
Both groups brought some of these points to a plenary session on Sunday.
Sunday session
TCs and UICs were together for the Sunday morning session, with the intention to discuss conclusions reached by the separate meetings on Saturday and to make final decisions about these topics.
The meeting agreed procedures for ejections and bat control and also reached agreement on rules designed to speed up the game, such as the batter's box rule and the rule concerning use of the base coach's box. Both rules were adopted into an ESF Memorandum 2013 with intention of bringing them to the ISF Congress in October.
Productive and friendly
Gabriel Waage said: “The meeting was very productive and atmosphere was very co-operative. I really hope that this work will help to improve the technical aspects of ESF tournaments.
“We intend to organise the next convention for umpires at the same venue – the Olympic Center in Rome – prior to the 2014 season,” Gabriel added. “This convention will be particularly useful for ESF umpires following rule changes at the 2013 ISF Congress.”