Getting British baseball right

This post was prompted by a series of constructive comments left in response to the latest British Baseball Beat. Its purpose is two-fold: first, to allow me to add to the initial thoughts I left as one of those comments; and, secondly, to prompt other readers to add their views. Please note that there is no place here for anything that is purely a moan, or worse. We want constructive ideas.

Here’s my own fairly simplistic view of the current state of play. The British Baseball Federation (BBF) Board represent the gatekeepers for change. In theory, they are there for the following purposes: to aid, but not lead on, improvements within clubs; to make the best use of BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK, the sport’s development agency);  to harness the power of volunteers outside of the Board; and, ultimately, to drive participation in the sport, in terms of both quality and quantity.

From the remit outlined above come the following observations:

1. TIME TO SPEAK UP: While I am not in a position to comment on all aspects of the Board’s work (I don’t know as much as I probably should about youth development, for instance), it is clear that some things are done very well. As a personal example, I am grateful as the Chair of Electors for the British Baseball Hall of Fame that the BBF Board is committed to their endorsement of the initiative. At the same time, there are some things that aren’t done as well as they could be. Now, I have written in the past and maintain the view that volunteers should be given some leeway before we jump to criticize them. In addition, it is also worth noting that human nature makes most of us more likely to speak up when we have something negative to say than some praise to share. But there does come a point where the right thing to do is to make your opinion known, even if it is of a critical nature.
2. SOME THINGS TO WORK ON: Personally, and here I am talking about the Senior league, I think that the means of planning ahead, communicating information, and seeking opinions of those involved needs to be improved if the league is going to avoid a decline in numbers of teams and players (which would be most dramatically manifested via the creation of a breakaway circuit, although that seems improbable right now, and would probably be counter-productive in the overall scheme). The following is one example of the potential negative effects of not getting planning, communication, and opinion-seeking right. To have disorganization surrounding the build-up to major events in the calendar, such as the finals, is depriving the sport of the rare moments it has to draw in potential new participants in good numbers. It’s such a battle to grow a minority sport in this country that we should not be wasting the opportunities we do have. My suggestion on this specific point is to build the season backwards from the postseason.
3. VOLUNTEERS: I have met some wonderful volunteers in my 9 years in the sport so far, and it really disappoints me when they are not able or keen to give as much as they might because of imperfect engagement from the Board. Again on a personal level, I have felt that some ideas I have had to improve or grow the sport have not been given the time they perhaps deserved. Here, I refer to only a small subset of the Board, and so this should in no way be viewed as a generalization, but I can only go by my experience. The problem might well be that the points of contact on the Board that I used are busily working on time-consuming, energy-sapping behind-the-scenes tasks, and thus my desire to correspond with them on an idea might be an unwelcome burden. However, it is often the case that a brief chain of correspondence can trigger a substantial piece of work done for the sport without needing to draw further on the Board’s time, and this is where not being able to engage with a point of contact gets really frustrating. Anyway, I have decided that enough is enough, and — with the exception of my aforementioned work with the Board on the British Baseball Hall of Fame (which is both valued and sincerely appreciated) — I have done what I can to move my commitments away from things where the BBF Board’s involvement is a critical factor. I doubt I am the only volunteer with this view. Fortunately, I have found enough other tasks to be getting on with where I do not need BBF Board involvement that I am still able to fill my non-working day with British baseball (for better or worse, until death do us part). My constructive suggestion on this point: add a Volunteers Co-ordinator position to the Board, which would be a person to serve as a point of contact for volunteers, to respond to every suggestion or offer of help within a timely fashion, to bring those that he or she feels could benefit the sport to the attention of the relevant Board member or members, and then to follow-up with the volunteers on progress.
4. BSUK: I think that the work of BSUK should be given more credit by the baseball community as a whole, and my view comes from the fact that I feel we are lucky to have such a progressive and responsive body available to help the development of baseball in Britain. According to my understanding, they are meant to direct their baseball-related activities purely at the direction of the BBF Board, but there are times when it appears, from the outside at least, that BSUK takes on a more autonomous role within some initiatives. The results in these cases more than justify the unofficial extension of remit, if indeed it is occuring. And, yes, they are salaried individuals, but without a professional development agency, baseball would not be able to draw even the relatively meagre funding that it does. My constructive suggestion: the BBF Board should make sure that the wider baseball community has a proper understanding of how the BBF and BSUK operate as distinct but cooperating entities. Moreover, it is obviously important that BSUK is provided with the information it needs to do its work so that the sport gets the most out of its development agency. Finally, it is at least conceivable that, by better harnessing the power of volunteers, some of the work that BSUK currently does could be done by another means, thus freeing up its time to focus on the tasks that most require its professional skill-set.

Anyway, those are some my views. If you have constructive suggestions you wish to share, please leave a comment below