ESF
SLOWPITCH
SOFTBALL
BULLETIN
This section of the website will be devoted to
news and opportunities about Slowpitch development in Europe.
News about tournaments, coaching or umpire courses
or anything else to do with Slowpitch development should be sent to ESF
Development Commission member Bob Fromer on: bobfromer@onetel.com.
More and more Co-ed Slowpitch Tournaments are being held in Europe, and they offer the chance for a great weekend of Softball and socialising. Here are three tournaments coming up later this summer, in August and September, that are accepting entries from teams around Europe – plus news of a World Slowpitch Cup the ISF is holding in Florida in October. So why not put a team together and give one of these tournaments a try?
IRISH
OPEN SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
LIMERICK,
IRELAND
The Irish Softball Federation is hold an Open Co-ed Slowpitch Tournament
in the west coast city of Limerick on the weekend of August 20-21.
There will be two or three grades of play, and a typical Irish party on
the Saturday night. Cheap flights fly into Shannon Airport, just a few
kilometres from Limerick.
For more information and entry forms, contact John Concannon on: secretary@softball.ie.
KITTY
KIEMANS TOURNAMENT
LINZ,
AUSTRIA
An International Co-ed Slowpitch Tournament for club teams will be
held over the Bank Holiday weekend, August 27-28 in Linz, Austria, on the site
of last year's European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships.
The tournament is being sponsored by Kitty Kiernans, an Irish Pub
in Linz, and teams will be playing for the 1st Kitty Kiernan Trophy as well as
partying to live music in the pub on Saturday night.
The entry fee is 100 euros, but teams will get 50 euros back when they
arrive, plus a dozen softballs. Teams will need to be prepared to supply umpires
at times when they're not playing.
The tournament organisers can provide a list of reasonably-priced hotels
and hostels in Linz, and the city is a destination for low-cost airlines.
Entry deadline is July 31. For more information, entry form, hotel recommendations and maps, contact Gaby Hardinger on: gabriele.hardinger@liwest.at.
WORLD SERIES SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
LONDON,
ENGLAND
This
unique Co-ed Slowpitch Tournament has been run at the end of the season in
London for the past six years. The idea is that teams represent countries or
regions of the world. So there will be teams made up of players from England,
Scotland and Wales, teams flying in from Ireland and the Channel Islands, and
teams made up of ex-pats living in the UK who come originally from the USA,
Canada, Africa, Australia & New Zealand, Asia etc.
Teams from European countries will be very welcome. There
will be no entry fee – just high-class competition at a very good venue.
For more information or to enter, contact Bob Fromer on: bob.fromer@baseballsoftballuk.com.
ISF WORLD SLOWPITCH CUP
PLANE CITY, FLORIDA, USA
It may still not be too late to enter a team in the 2nd ISF
Slowpitch World Cup, scheduled to be played at ISF World Headquarters in Plant
City, Florida from October 8-10. Teams already entered from Europe include Great
Britain, Ireland Scotland, and there will be teams from around the world as well
as from the United States.
Teams do not need to be made up entirely of passport-holders, as long as
players are resident in the country they are representing.
For more information and entries forms, contact Laurie Gouthro at ISF
Headquarters on: lgouthro@internationalsoftball.com.
The ESF Technical
Commission, headed by Bob Milosavljevic, has recently made changes to the format
of the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships to make the tournament shorter,
and less expensive both to host or to attend.
Instead of being
played over six days, as is the case with ESF Fastpitch tournaments, the next
European Slowpitch Championships in 2006 will be played over three or four days,
with teams playing three or more games per day. This is easily possible with
Slowpitch, where games are shorter and less demanding, especially on pitchers.
Another change
approved by the Technical Commission is the use of 11-inch balls when women are
batting and standard 12-inch balls when men are batting, to give women more
opportunities on offense.
The fifth European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships are scheduled to take
place in 2006. So far, no country or club has put in a bid to host this
competition. But the ESF Development Commission hopes that with a shorter and
cheaper tournament, and with financial help available from the ESF, as detailed
below, hosts will now come forward.
The ESF Technical Commission has approved proposals to change the way
the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships are played.
Because Slowpitch games can be played more quickly, and in some ways are
less physically demanding, teams can play more games in a day. So
European Slowpitch Championships will now be played over three days, or four
days at the most, rather than six days.
The biggest effect of this change will be that the tournament will be
cheaper to host. And it will also be cheaper for teams to attend, as well as
taking up less time.
The ESF Development Commission is very keen to see the European Co-ed
Slowpitch Championships continue to be hosted somewhere near the centre
of Europe, as in 2002, when the Czech Republic was the host, and 2004,
when the tournament was held in Austria.
The Commission believes that if the tournament is on the European
continent, it is likely to attract more entries, since travel will be shorter
and costs may not be as great as if the tournament was hosted in Britain or
Ireland. So the Commission is hoping that a host country can be found on the
Continent.
Funding
Help for Hosts
Any European Championship, even a short one, costs money to host, and
Slowpitch is not necessarily the main spending priority for many countries in
Europe. So the ESF Development Commission, thanks to a grant from Great Britain,
will be able to make some money available to the country that hosts the 2006
European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships. The exact amount has yet to be
determined, but it should be enough to make a real difference.
Over
To You….
Any country or club interested in hosting the 2006 European Co-ed
Slowpitch Championships should contact:
Questions about requirements to host the tournament should be addressed
to ESF Technical Commissioner Bob Milosavljevic (technical@europeansoftball.org).
If your club or country is interested in bidding to host next year's
European Slowpitch Championships, let’s hear from you
And
-- Don't Forget the European Slowpitch Cup!
At the ESF Congress in February, the membership voted to bring a new European
Slowpitch Cup Tournament for club teams into existence, to be started
in 2006 (preferably held in May or June).
This will also be a short tournament, probably played over three days.
As far as entries go, club teams can be created for this tournament, and the
number of non-nationals that can be included in the team has been increased for
the first three years that the tournament is held.
If any country is interested in hosting this tournament in 2006, or in
sending a club team to the competition -- or if you want more information --
please contact Bob Fromer on: (bobfromer@onetel.com).
Apart from Great Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands (Guernsey and
Jersey), very little Slowpitch is currently played in Europe. But there are many
reasons for European Federations to look more closely at developing this format.
Here are some of the main ones:
Participation
Slowpitch Softball is easier to play at entry level than Fastpitch
Softball or Baseball, and is less intimidating for people of average athletic
ability because anyone can hit the ball. The result is that far more adults (and
children) can be encouraged to take up Softball. In addition, Slowpitch can be
played longer than other formats: many successful players continue into their
50s and beyond. All this can lead to a
dramatic growth in the overall number of people playing the sport, and can
give clubs that incorporate Slowpitch along with other formats a larger
membership base and more long-term stability. The best and most athletic
Slowpitch players (especially children) will often make the move to Fastpitch,
thus enhancing the Fastpitch game as well.
It may be worth citing UK statistics. Great Britain has over 500
Softball teams playing in competitive league structures and affiliated to the
British Softball Federation. Over 95% of these teams play Slowpitch, and
approximately 90% of those are Co-ed teams. How do these numbers compare with
affiliated teams in most other ESF countries? While the imbalance between
Slowpitch and Fastpitch in Great Britain is not desirable, it seems clear that
the introduction of organised Slowpitch, and especially Co-ed Slowpitch, could
mean more players overall in countries where Fastpitch is already established.
Action
Although some of the skills and subtleties of Fastpitch Softball are
missing from Slowpitch, there is often more action and more players are involved
more of the time. Because of this, Slowpitch provides ideal training in defense
and teamwork. It also provides fast and exciting games, with fielding skills of the
highest calibre demanded at competitive levels of play.
Playing
Standards
The argument that Slowpitch is a game with low playing standards is
wrong. Like any sport, Co-ed
Slowpitch can be played at all levels from social and recreational to elite, and
when played at the highest level the game demands skill and tactical depth
beyond the average club player. In other words, competitive play in Slowpitch is
as demanding and meaningful as in any other sport. And even though Slowpitch is
generally seen as a “hitter’s game”, it is often better balanced between
offence and defence than Fastpitch.
The level of skill and knowledge required for Slowpitch makes it a much
easier game for schoolteachers and youth leaders to cope with in countries where
a Baseball/Softball culture has had to be imported. Moving from T-Ball to
Slowpitch and then to Fastpitch (or Baseball) makes an ideal progression for
children.
Social Development
The Co-ed format tends to break down the Baseball/Fastpitch gender
barrier, encouraging men and women (and boys and girls) to play together within
team and club structures. This social and family aspect to Slowpitch Softball is
yet another incentive that encourages people to take up the sport.
This
is a simple equation. If promoting Slowpitch can bring more players and teams to
Softball, this means more revenue for clubs and Federations. In addition,
promoting the creation of corporate Slowpitch teams creates more opportunities
for sponsorship.
The ESF Development
Commission can send a small team of Slowpitch experts to your country to run a
weekend clinic for players, coaches and umpires who want to learn about the
rules, umpire mechanics, techniques and strategies unique to Slowpitch.
No charge would be
made for the clinic, but the host country would need to provide accommodation,
food and transport for the clinicians while in the country, and organise a venue
and participants.
Anyone interested
in find out more should contact ESF Development Commission member Bob Fromer on:
bobfromer@onetel.com.
The ESF Development Commission would like to get more information from
member countries about the amount of Slowpitch played in each country and how
much interest exists in growing this format of Softball.
It would be very helpful if each Federation could complete and return
the Questionnaire by September 1, 2005, so that the Development
Commission can plan according to its members’ needs and wishes.
ESF SLOWPITCH QUESTIONNAIRE
1.
Is any Slowpitch played in your country:
2.
If your answer to Question 1 was Yes, what format of Slowpitch is played
in
your country ?
3.
How many teams do you have in each of those formats?
4.
Do you have any Slowpitch leagues?
5.
Are there any Slowpitch tournaments held in your country:
6.
If there are currently no Slowpitch tournaments held in your country,
would you be interested in organising one with help from the ESF, either
for teams from your country or as a regional event?
7.
If there is already some Slowpitch played in your country, are you
interested
in seeing this format grow?
8.
If there is currently no Slowpitch played in your country, are you
interested
in starting up this format?
9.
In either case, what
resources and help would you want or need from the
ESF to make Slowpitch growth or start-up possible?
10.
Do you feel that Slowpitch and Fastpitch in your country would compete
against each other – or reinforce each other in widening participation
in the
sport?
11.
Co-ed Slowpitch Softball, in many countries, is based on company teams
and leagues, because of the social and team-building aspects of the sport
and
because it is easy for most people to play. Do you see any scope in your
country, especially in major cities, for Corporate Slowpitch Leagues?
12.
Would your Federation be interested in trying to develop Corporate
Slowpitch Leagues with ESF support?
13.
Would you be interested in hosting an ESF Coaching & Umpiring Clinic
in your country that concentrated on teaching the particular skills and
tactics unique to Slowpitch, and aspects of Slowpitch umpiring?
14.
If you do not already do so, would your country be interested in sending
teams to the European Slowpitch Championships and/or the new European
Slowpitch Cup in the future? Both are tournaments that will be played
over
three or four days only and will cost less to attend – and to host.
15.
Would your country be interested in hosting one of these competitions if
assistance was available from the ESF?
16.
Who is the person in your Federation that will act as a contact for matters to
do with Slowpitch? Please provide contact details.
Thank
you very much for your help and co-operation. Please send your completed
questionnaire to ESF Development Commission member Bob Fromer on: bobfromer@onetel.com
by September 1, 2005.