Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Strategic Approach to Areas of Growth

Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Strategic Approach to Areas of Growth ...... 31 Table of Contents Regional / Local Focus (Epicentres) ...... 32 Relationships ...... 34 Introduction ...... 4 Programmes Overview ...... 37 Context ...... 4 New Adult Structures ...... 40 Approach ...... 5 Existing Adult and Youth Structures ...... 42 Themes ...... 5 New Structures for Young People ...... 44 England Talent Development ...... 45 Section 1: Organisational Vision and Priorities ...... 6 Section 5: Scale of Impact ...... 54 Overall Goals ...... 6 Fit with Overall Strategy ...... 6 Impact on Active People Survey ...... 54 Operational Responsibility for Work ...... 6 Team Growth by Years ...... 54 Team Growth by Programme ...... 55 Section 2: Track Record and Capability ...... 7 Participant Growth by Year and Programme ...... 55 Track Record ...... 7 Assumptions ...... 56 Strengths and Weaknesses ...... 7 Approach ...... 56 Evidence...... 8 Measurements ...... 57 Risk Management ...... 9 Feedback ...... 60 Estimating Impact ...... 62 Section 3: Market Context ...... 10 Talent Development ...... 62 Who Plays Our Sports? ...... 10 Why Do People Play Our Sports? ...... 12 Section 6: Infrastructure ...... 63 Demand for Our Sports ...... 13 Workforce ...... 65 How Do People Find Our Sports? ...... 14 Club and League Development ...... 71 How Do People Participate in Our Sports? ...... 15 Marketing ...... 74 Our Influence and Reach into the Market ...... 16 Facilities ...... 78 Retention of Participants ...... 18 Section 8: Core costs ...... 80 Becoming Regular Participants ...... 20 Why People Leave The Sports ...... 20 Governance...... 82 Opportunity and Potential ...... 22 Commercial ...... 84 Challenges ...... 23 Section 9: Financial Overview ...... 86 BSUK's Pen Portraits ...... 25 Budget ...... 86 Section 4: Programmes ...... 27 Assessment of Price ...... 87 Introduction to Growth ...... 27 Comparison with Previous Cycle ...... 87 How We Plan to Grow ...... 30 Salary and Pension ...... 88 © BaseballSoftballUK 2012 2 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Value for Money ...... 88 Programme Outlines ...... 110 Financial Need...... 89 Hit the Pitch ...... 110 Partnership Working ...... 89 Pitch In ...... 112 Approach to Additional Work in 2013-17 Period ...... 89 Swing By ...... 115 Whole Sport Plan Budget ...... 90 Baseball and Softball 4 Beginners ...... 117

Evidence Portfolio ...... 91 NGB and Funded Partner Assurance Programme 2011 ...... 120 Played in Every Park Strategy - Draft ...... 91 Baseball and Softball England Talent Development Strategy: 2013- 2025 ...... 121 Introduction ...... 91 Objectives ...... 92 Appendix ...... 123 Strategic Plan ...... 93 England Talent Development...... 124 Overview of Baseball and Softball ...... 94 Introduction ...... 124 Evidence to Support Talent Development Achievements in 2009-13 Market Segments and Programmes ...... 100 (unfunded) ...... 124 Calculations for Retention and Acquisition ...... 103 Measures of Success for 2013-17 (if funded) ...... 131 The Academy Attendance...... 133

Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 105 Case Studies ...... 138 How Are We Doing Quarterly Report ...... 105 Example: Recovery Plan (Higher Education) ...... 108 Example: Club and League Health Check (Baseball Clubs) ...... 109

Introduction Long- Term Played in Every Park Context Vision Mission Increase participation in baseball and softball in BSUK has been invited to apply for Whole Sport Plan funding for the past two cycles (2005-09, the UK by: 2009-13) and is now in the process of completing its third Whole Sport Plan. With each cycle we have gained a better understanding of the needs of our sports and what we can deliver and have  Building a quality infrastructure. developed a more mature approach to strategic planning.  Providing an enjoyable experience.  Improving performance. In stride with delivery of growth  Raising the profile of the sports. Over the course of the 2009-13 cycle we have developed a real understanding of how to actually 2013-17 deliver growth. This has not been an easy concept to master, but is critical to success. This  Triple the number of teams playing WSP understanding, along with the direct management of our delivery programmes, is what allows regularly (since 2009). us to set outcomes with confidence. Vision Priorities 1. More adult teams. Sits in the wider context of the sports' development plan for the sports 2. More community youth teams 14+yrs. The Whole Sport Plan submission to Sport England is one part of the wider strategy for the 3. Improved playing experience for both sports of baseball and softball that BSUK will deliver in collaboration with the British Baseball recreational and talented participants. and Softball Federations. Our broader strategy is in the process of being drafted (see here) and extends into areas that include: national teams, schools, leagues and competition, events and Role in  BSUK is the Development Agency for the working within other Home Countries. The Whole Sport Plan is fully aligned with this wider Market British Baseball and British Softball plan. Federations. Within the strategic plan for baseball and softball, BSUK has responsibility for delivering the  Our role is to facilitate the development of WSP component. It is this division of responsibility that allows us to focus entirely on delivering more (quantity) and better (quality) the outcomes agreed with Sport England. playing opportunities for teams and individual participants.

 Maturation of the organisation to this point BSUK has established a track record as an organisation able to deliver against outcomes. To date, this has been done by maximising the output of the entire staff, which has made BSUK effective as well as excellent value for money. As our organisation matures, however, this approach is not sustainable. The initial investment to BSUK needs to be built on to ensure that we can continue to develop. Our guiding principle will continue to be efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but additional resource will enable us to continue to mature and to make sound organisational decisions.  Building on successes and taking on new areas of work The 2013-17 Whole Sport Plan is based on what we have learned during the current investment period. As a result, we understand what we can do effectively and our strategy is to continue to work in the areas where we can be successful while developing new areas of work in a careful and strategic manner. The new WSP represents a natural progression from the last one rather than radical change. Our current four priority regions in London, the South East, the North West and the Midlands will remain but we believe there is an opportunity to extend into the M4 West and Yorkshire areas where we can capitalise, in the same way we have to date, on existing bases of play.

Themes

Work over the next four years, building on current learning, will likely be more prescriptive in terms of the processes required for development, though we will balance more formulaic approaches with flexibility to cater for local needs. Recently-formed programmes such as the Hit the Pitch growth programme, Pitch-In volunteers programme, Swing-By local authority and leisure centre offer and Beginners Baseball and Softball will become more established and more standardised. A priority will be placed on developing a strong and appropriately skilled workforce. These and other programmes – tools in place to support the workforce – will be developed from an understanding of the motivations and experience of the participant. We believe these themes will help to improve our success and enable us to deliver an even more appealing and high-quality sporting experience for many new participants. © BaseballSoftballUK 2012 5 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Section 1: Organisational Vision and Priorities

Overall Goals

1. 200 new adult teams, increasing the number from 789 to 989. This equates to an increase in individual participation from an anticipated 2013 level of 21,097 to 24,697. 2. 75 new community youth teams 14+yrs, taking the total from 215 (predicted at the end of the 2009-13 cycle) to 290. That is an increase in young participants of 1,050 – from 3,010 to 4,060. 3. Improve the playing experience for recreational and talented participants through:  Stronger clubs.  Good coaches.  Skilled, rewarded and recognised workforce delivering the sports.  Player development opportunities.  Appropriate facilities.

Fit with Overall Strategy

This plan fits into a wider and longer-term strategy for the development of the sports, which is currently in draft form.

Operational Responsibility for Work

Operational responsibility for this plan is carefully aligned to the organisation's objectives. As such, it is overseen by the BSUK Board, monitored regularly through the Development Strategy Committee, and delivered as a part of the performance work of BSUK staff. Each staff member has responsibility for sections of the overall targets. The Head of Development is responsible for national development targets. National Development staff then take on national targets in their respective areas, which are delivered by Regional staff.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 6 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Section 2: Track Record and Capability What players say... Track Record “ I heard about the Manchester Softball League through colleagues and friends and decided to set up a softball BSUK has existed for 12 years and over the course of that time has worked hard to establish a team to join the league in 2011. After getting in contact strong track record both outside and within our sports. We have been very clear that we want our with BSUK regional officers I found the process to be organisation to be seen as professional, well-governed, flexible, efficient and excellent value for really straight forward, and considering BSUK is a money, and have set out our stall to deliver the results we sign up to. As an organisation with relatively small governing body I was shocked how much relatively modest resources and heavily dependent on Sport England funding, we are highly support we received to get started. This involved aware that we need to consistently demonstrate that the investment made into BSUK reaps everything from access to a coach to coach us for 5 significant dividends. weeks prior to the season starting so we could get used to the rules and format of the game, access to free Since 2005, when Sport England took the decision to include baseball and softball among its equipment, and then support buying our own funded sports, we have delivered the targets and outcomes to which we have committed. In the equipment through grants. The support then continued current 2009-13 cycle, our Sport England performance reviews have recognised that we have through the season, with BSUK staff and coaches been successful in growing the number of people playing our sports. checking how we were getting on. We are now in our Our performance reviews have also highlighted that BSUK has been able to capitalise on the second season, and won our first game of the season facility investment we have received and it has also been recognised that BSUK has established last night.” excellent systems for monitoring and evaluation, which enable us to take quick action when Alice Watson, Bluesox Captain, 'recovery' is necessary. Manchester Softball League Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths BSUK's systems and processes, both in terms of delivery and governance, are one of our key strengths. A great deal of work has gone into developing robust systems throughout the organisation, and this has provided a secure framework in which both our delivery and operational staff can operate. Over the past five years we have focused heavily on the governance of our organisation, and have put a lot of work into creating a model that works effectively, balancing the complexity of our arrangement (two Federation members) with a skilled and independent Board. We have developed committees below our Board with clear purpose and excellent reporting and monitoring systems, which ensure that actions and discussion are properly picked up and followed through. Our strength in this area has been continually recognised in the feedback we receive from the Self-Assurance process and from the on-site audits we have undergone. Our ability to directly influence the sports of baseball and softball is another strength. As almost all organised baseball and softball is played within our sphere of influence, we are able to approach strategic planning with confidence in our predicted outcomes. As an organisation, we are self-aware and highly critical, and

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 7 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents therefore able to understand cause and effect in our development work. In order to be as efficient as possible in our delivery, BSUK has taken the decision to employ delivery staff who are able to be flexible, and who can work across multiple programmes and targets. This has been a strength for our organisation in terms of being able to efficiently change focus where necessary. Additionally, our choice to invest primarily in staff provision has enabled us to maximise our impact, with delivery staff able to access additional funds for our sports.

Weaknesses Interestingly, a number of the weaknesses that have been considered in our review of risk are tied directly to our areas of strength. The work we have put into the governance of BSUK has been hampered by the less-developed governance of our two member Federations. The Federation Boards are made up of volunteers from the sport without any thought given to skills analysis or open recruitment, and these volunteers then feed through to our Board. In reviewing our systems it has become evident that there is a clear need for the Federations to be supported in improving their governance because of the impact this can have across our structure. It is for this reason that we are seeking to employ a staff member within our core staff to lead this development. Our staff model is also both a strength and a weakness of the organisation. Having staff who can operate across multiple programmes has meant that we lack certain specialist skills across our organisation. This has prevented us from being able to develop in areas that might have had a significant outcome for our sports, such as commercial development, marketing and high-level coaching. The lack of high-level coaching, as well as the lack of any investment into our talent pathway, has been a weakness for our sports. The fact that at present we are not able to provide a seamless progression from community sport to the talent pathway works against our ability to retain players or to help individual athletes reach their full potential – and, importantly, to function as high-level and credible international sports. Underpinning each of the weaknesses identified is the key issue of lack of resource and dependence on Sport England investment. The difficulty in balancing the need to maximise results from investment against choices that we should make for the good of our organisation, our staff and the sports is clearly not sustainable in the long-term. It has forced us to overload our staff and take far too many things in-house that would be better delivered through external expertise, and it constantly requires that we make choices between direct delivery and organisational health.

Evidence

Building on the success of growing regular participation in baseball and softball in the current funding cycle, we are confident and clear that continued growth is possible, despite the increasing demands of sustaining current participation and making new teams secure. New growth can be achieved as part of our continued core business – our sharp focus on growing participation in the sports – aligned to the organisation's mission and long-term vision. Work has already begun to understand more clearly the mechanisms that will enable larger growth through the charity sector and we are confident that there is a potential for team sports to be used as a vehicle to raise money for charity while offering regular and strong sporting opportunities.

Over the current four-year period BSUK has embraced an ethos of carefully managing risk that runs through every aspect of the organisation. In this period, the culture of the organisation has moved from passively maintaining a risk register to understanding what it means to consider and mitigate against risk in all areas of our work. Our operational approach to managing risk can be divided into organisational and development.

Organisational Risk Management For BSUK, managing risk works not just from the top down (Board), but is an integral part of all operational areas. The Board, each of its subcommittees and the Operations Department maintain separate active risk registers that are reviewed regularly. Each risk has an identified owner who holds that risk as part of his or her work programme. The people involved in each work area have a clear sense of the agreed appetite for risk and make decisions with this understanding. In the regular review of risk, actions are often moved from committee to committee in order to get input from different organisational perspectives (financial, governance, development), as this can elicit different treatments. The BSUK Board will annually review its entire Risk Register and agree the priority risks to be managed and reported on over the year ahead so that items do not lie dormant in between. As a risk changes in terms of likelihood or impact, this is reported to the Board and discussed.

Development Risk Management In order to best manage the outcomes and targets that BSUK is committed to delivering, robust mechanisms of capturing data and effect have been put in place for all development work (see here). The process of check and challenge is constant and allows us to recognise any risk to success as early as possible. Embedding these monitoring and evaluation processes (see here) has developed over the current cycle and is now an integral part of development work. Where a risk to successful delivery is identified we are able to be efficient in putting recovery plans in place. Due to our having a flexible and multi-skilled development staff, we can be agile and efficient in making changes to focus in order to address a risk of under-delivering. The BSUK Board Development Strategy Committee which meets 8 times each year has ownership of the monitoring and evaluating process and critically interrogates all information provided on a quarterly basis. This has ensured that any issues in delivery are identified quickly and that recovery plans are carefully scrutinised. This mechanism has ensured that BSUK is proactive about possible risk, rather than reactive once a risk has materialised.

Who Plays Our Sports?

BSUK Target Audience Baseball and softball are two sports that are still relatively new to the UK sporting landscape. However, what we know about our sports and our development programmes, matched with key market segmentation data from Sport England, allows us to draw a clearer picture of exactly who we are pitching baseball and softball to. Given the mixed-gender nature of slowpitch softball and the fact that baseball and fastpitch softball tend to be made up of male and female participants respectively, there is a broad mix of people who fall under the BSUK 'audience'. In consulting key data and research, there are a number of profiles and trends which we think match up with what we offer. This includes groups such as students within the college or university setting who are looking for a new recreational activity such as softball to take up and try. For some, predominantly the baseball societies formed at universities, this tends to be international students familiar with the sport from their home country upbringing, or lapsed cricketers. Similarly, once outside the FE and HE setting, recent graduates who fall under the 'Ben' and 'Chloe' profiles of Sport England's Market Segmentation very much want to extend their university experience, and socialising through sport makes them a key group. In the main, this is due to the mixed-gender nature of slowpitch softball and the social scene that goes with it. This group incorporates a range of profiles but with similar trends threaded through them, such as a desire to play sport for enjoyment's sake, to meet new friends and as a release from working lives. Many members of SUK's audience like to be part of a club and so fit well with club development programmes and membership, following on from the team league play they experienced through Hit the Pitch programmes either at college, university or in the workplace. Therefore, the main age groupings for our sports would be:  Segments 1-4 (18-25 year olds)  Segments 5-10 (26-45 year olds) And to a lesser extent but still relevant for corporate/charity and new adult activity:  Segments 11-16 (46-65 year olds) Moreover, looking at the map of market segmentation by population, one can see that around large cities – for example in London, Birmingham and Manchester, which are all key locations within our four focus regions – the key groups are represented in force . The nature of their work and lifestyle reflects their large city environment and they are a major audience for BSUK's adult corporate and leisure centre activity . This is not to say that programmes should not be run in less urbanised areas, but larger cities and areas of population do lend themselves to BSUK's main offers.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 10 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Ethnicity Demographic by Market Segments From the table below one can see a clear similarity between the current baseball and softball playing population and the Sport England profiles that match most closely with the sports and with BSUK development programmes. It should be noted that the ethnicity percentages of BSUK participants was taken from 1728 respondents who undertook the survey. This is a only a proportion of the total playing number in the UK but is sufficient to reflect the whole. A focus on these profiles should be made to sustain and continue the growth of baseball and softball in the UK.

Asian / Black / Market Segment White British Other White Irish Heritage Chinese Other Asian British Black British

Ben 74% 12% 7% 5% 1% 1% 1%

Jamie 60% 15% 14% 5% 2% 1% 2%

Chloe 75% 12% 6% 5% 2% 1% 2%

Helena 76% 11% 5% 6% 1% 1% 1%

Tim 77% 10% 6% 5% 1% 1% 1%

Alison 78% 9% 5% 6% 1% 1% 1%

Philip 82% 7% 4% 6% 1% 1% 1%

Elaine 83% 7% 3% 6% 1% 1% 1%

Segments Average 76% 10% 6% 6% 1% 1% 1%

BSUK Average 68% 22% 3% 2% 2% 1% 2%

Insight From 2009-13 Baseball and softball have a wide appeal and many people find them interesting and enjoyable to play. Softball is predominantly played as a mixed sport, with five men and five women on a team. This lends itself to a fun and social sporting experience. Both sports appeal to people who enjoy team environments and the experience of competing as part of a wider group, with shared and common outlooks. As a recreation activity, the feeling of belonging to a wider group of people adds a dimension to the sporting activity that many find compelling. While the added commitment might be more of a complication for some, the fact that there is a commitment to a common team outcome presents as an additional motivation for taking part. As sports best enjoyed outdoors, there is an appeal to having an outdoor activity where players can enjoy the fresh air and make the most of the summer months. Both sports are both relatively easy to learn, but complex enough to present a challenge, and can take a lifetime to master. Slowpitch softball, already modified to offer an easier and more enjoyable playing experience for the whole team, has easier entry points and lends itself more to those who are looking for a sporting outlet that doesn't require previous experience or a great deal of skill. Baseball lends itself better to the serious sports person. Barriers – such as accessing and paying for equipment and the know-how to form and run a team – can be mitigated by quality hands-on support. Where this is offered, there is an appetite to play and perhaps surprisingly also to volunteer to organise the activity for friends or colleagues. BSUK has been very successful at offering this close support and has reaped rewards (in terms of new teams) by doing so. Unlike more traditional sports, baseball and, even more so softball, do not present themselves as sports best suited to one type of person or another and are not limited by preconceived ideas of who might play. This makes the sports much more welcoming to people from all walks of life and more likely to be taken up by people from a myriad of backgrounds. Softball, in particular, is a welcoming and friendly place for LGBT players, as well as a great equaliser for people from different socio-economic backgrounds. Chief Executives and high-earning bankers play alongside unemployed, students and people from less affluent backgrounds and upbringing, without reference or issue. Moreover, both sports, with a strong brand identity linked to Major League Baseball and to common references in American culture, are seen as cool options to play by many – particularly teenagers and early adults. For many, interest in the sports has been sparked overseas. The demographic data below – specifically the high percentage of White Other players – indicates that a lot of people from Antipodean, Commonwealth, American and South African backgrounds find the sports appealing. This is due to a combination of exposure to the sports in their home countries and their social appeal. Additional motivations have materialised in the last few years. There has been a boom in players who begin their involvement with the sports through activities designed to raise funds for charities. Other reasons why people take part are to grow their status within a company, build stronger work relationships, network and meet others from similar industries. This is reflected by the boom in industry leagues in the Charity sector, Advertising, Publishing, Banking, Law, the Public Sector and the Emergency Services. For some, often women, they play because their workplace team needs women to make up team numbers or just to be a part of the wider team activity. For some, playing is a chance to live the dream of playing in the Major Leagues.

Finding people interested in playing the sports does not tend to present itself as a significant challenge. The sports are appealing enough to be of interest to a wide range of people, far wider than the sports' infrastructures can handle. When we have widely promoted the sport, such as through our Play Ball! With Frubes Roadshows and MLB's Fan Fest festivals in major UK cities, there has often been overwhelming interest expressed, which has driven hundreds of new participants to local organisations. This means that the bigger issue for our sports is to create an infrastructure of clubs and leagues that are able to cope with such levels of demand. It is our belief that building this structure – and extending it to new places – is the best way of growing participation in our sports. Demand can be broken down into four broad categories: 1. Those who do or have played the sports. 2. Those who are aware of the sports (usually baseball fans), who would be open to playing opportunities. 3. Those who have some awareness that the sports exist (often through seeing a baseball game in another country), but haven't yet considered playing. 4. Those who have little to no awareness of the sports and have not yet considered playing.

“Latent demand” covers items 2 and 3, whereby people recognise that they might play if they had the opportunity. However, the majority of our new and potential new participants probably sit in the fourth category – they don't yet know that they will want to play the sport(s).

Baseball Softball  Have a familiarity through exposure in other countries or on television in  Joined a company that has a team. the UK and found it after internet or local search.  Have a familiarity through exposure in other countries and found it after  Word of mouth, including through a friend. internet or local search. Perhaps have seen baseball on television in the UK.  Saw a game being played and was interested.  Word of mouth, including through a friend.  Saw a notice about beginner or taster sessions.  Saw a game being played and was interested. This includes seeing it  Have played it from young, or played softball at school (74% of secondary played in an open urban venue such as Regents Park. schools play softball).  Saw a notice about beginner or taster sessions.  Found it at college or university (growing area).  Have played it from young, or at school (74% of secondary schools play  Through a local session or taster activity. softball).  Moved to a new city and found it as a new social activity.  Found it at college or university (growing area).  Want to try a new sport or try something new. This includes people who  Through a local session or taster activity. have left or don't like cricket but are looking for a similar sport.  Found it through new social sports environments (such as Go Mammoth).

 Moved to a new city and found it as a new social activity and as a place to meet new people.  Want to try a new sport or try something new.  Are a part of a multi-sport club, like hockey or rugby, that offers summer softball. This includes teams formed by teams or groups of people from other sports.

Like cricket and rounders, our sports are played predominantly in the summer months, by people who participate in teams that play at least once a week. Often, teams play more regularly. Softball teams often take part in weekend (one-day or two-day) tournaments in addition to their weekday league play. Baseball teams, which typically play on one day of a weekend, also encourage players to attend one or two weekday practice sessions. There is some winter play. Baseball either continues to practice indoors throughout the winter or starts soon after the new year. Softball has a number of organised tournaments and leagues that play a modified indoor version of the sport that is fast, active and fun. This is played by a smaller, but growing, community of players. The participation model for baseball and softball is reflected in the adjacent graph. There is quite a lot of sporadic playing of the sports. Quite often, teams form – mostly from companies – to play once or twice a year and BSUK offers support for these company days (and charges for them). In 2010, over 80 individual softball days were run for companies in London alone, with other leagues across the country running similar events. As these individual days do not count in our internal measurement systems, no developmental resources are directed towards them and they are regarded for the most part as a commercial activity for BSUK. However, some efforts have been made from these days to encourage teams to form and join leagues and players to take up the sport more regularly. Very few players play all year round but not weekly.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 15 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents The Appeal of Slowpitch Softball Where many other sports are having to create modifications that make them easier to access, our sports have already made this modification. From roots in baseball and competitive fastpitch softball came the most popular format of our two sports in the UK – slowpitch softball – usually played as a mixed sport with equal numbers of male and female players. Since being introduced over three decades ago, slowpitch softball has grown from being a niche pick-up game played in London's Hyde Park to a fully-fledged sport, with over 300 teams in London and 650 teams across the country. The popularity of slowpitch softball comes from the fact that the game can be played in every park, with Slowpitch Softball is an easy-to-access sport, lines marked out and bases put down in a space of approximately two football pitches. And the played mostly in parks for up to an hour-and-a-half format is particularly conducive to busy urban lives, with the majority of games played in 60-90 on weekday evenings by men and women playing minutes during weekday evenings. This makes slowpitch softball a great option for many types of together. For many, it is the perfect mix of a low- people who find it an appealing mix of social and sporting activity. commitment sporting activity and social outing. Our Influence and Reach into the Market

BaseballSoftballUK Ltd (BSUK) is the development agency for the two sports. Our primary relationships within the sports are with the main organising bodies: baseball clubs and softball leagues. We form the conduit by which most clubs and leagues partner with the broader sporting world, including national and local sport agencies and international governing bodies. Our development staff communicate directly with leagues and clubs via our Point Person system. BSUK partners with companies, charities, local authorities, County Sports Partnerships and the educational environment (HEI, FEI and schools) to build participation and profile for British baseball and softball. BSUK’s key internal stakeholders are:  The British Baseball Federation (BBF) and British Softball Federation (BSF), the two National Governing Bodies and membership societies that organise and regulate the nation’s domestic baseball and softball competitions – the British baseball leagues and British softball leagues and tournaments.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 16 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents  The volunteer workforce via direct support to clubs and leagues.  Coaches through the BSUK Coach Education Programme.  Players through clinics and BSUK's Academy Baseball and Academy Softball programmes. The levels of influence BSUK has in our sports are strong. In the 2009-13 cycle, club- and league-focused work, whereby a development member of staff has been allocated to work with every baseball club and softball league – the key organising structures for the respective sports – means that there is a track record of development influence from BSUK and the two federations on baseball clubs or softball leagues, carrying through to the teams and the players that make them up. In addition, there are relationships that exist with many independent leagues and teams playing in structures that we don't work with directly through other means such as facility provision and management – for example, in Regents Park. Our data, which analyses all known baseball and softball teams in existence, gives us confidence that we have a good understanding of the playing population in this country and the ability to understand our influence on it.

Contact with Participants  Most clubs and leagues affiliate to either of the two Federations and are communicated with regularly. The community has a strong on-line presence and participants are in regular contact with either BSUK or their respective Federation through email, by engaging with our suite of websites (one for BSUK, one for the British Softball Federation and one for the British Baseball Federation), through our strong presence on Twitter and Facebook, through push news notifications and in person through Federation volunteers or BSUK staff members.  Through our Point Person system, whereby a member of staff works directly with every baseball club or softball league, there is regular contact (not less than every two months) between a staff member and those organisations. This has led to a strong presence, a clarity of purpose for the organisations and a clear route for feedback. Over the last four years, through this Club-Centred approach and through the work of BSUK Point People, relationships with clubs and leagues and with the players that comprise them have become strong, positive and vibrant.  Through our tournament offer in the 2009-13 period, we have enhanced relationships with league-based and independent softball tournament organisers by offering support in the form of facility development, equipment loans and tournament organisation standards.  Through the development of new opportunities to play, BSUK has maintained a firm handle on the experience of those taking part in our sports for the first time. Very few examples exist of structures offering new playing opportunities that do not include the direct involvement of a BSUK staff member and this gives us direct influence over the experience of new participants across the country.  Where a league exists that does not affiliate to one of the Federations, BSUK has made efforts to support their development and enhance their playing offer, usually with the end in mind of encouraging full affiliation as part of the natural growth process and long-term sustainability of that organisation. Taking this approach of not limiting our development support to affiliated members has helped us build relationships and influence in new and emerging markets, such as the rapidly-growing London Charity Softball League.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 17 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Contact with deliverers of our sports BSUK has built relationships with key deliverers of our sports and we have worked closely to enhance and steer delivery with a number of bodies such as:  Local Authorities and education institutions who make their facilities available for hire by the sports. We have worked with a number of such organisations to develop their facilities so they are more appropriate to the sports and to open up additional use of their facilities, often for our new development programming. Where relevant, we have provided advice on maintenance, upkeep and rates of hire.  The Royal Parks, working to provide as tailored and effective a provision of softball facilities to the London playing community as possible.  Go Mammoth, a new virtual social sports club set up in London. Partnership with Go Mammoth has given us another means to introduce softball to new audiences, particularly consisting of new-to-London young working professionals.

Retention of Participants

There are a number of ways through which our sports retain current regular participation, including some routes supported directly by BSUK staff. The most significant reasons why people continue to play the sports through life changes are:  Belonging to a team or club. The team aspect – specifically being part of a group of players with whom friendships have been formed – means that there is an extra motivation to stay involved in the sports. Sometimes, when friendships are broken or there are fall-outs, this might result in a negative impact, but this is rare and often these players find other teams to play with, replacing one group with another. People who like a sense of belonging are likely to want to find alternative options should their current environment break down. Team involvement as a motivation presents itself slightly more strongly for people who have experienced team involvement in other sports and / or other countries.  Belonging to the wider baseball or softball community. There is a strong sense of community in both sports, but particularly in softball. Strong friendships are formed with players in other teams and, though a vibrant social community, made stronger through weekend tournaments away, motivating people to keep up these friendships and stay in the sports. There are a number of examples of people who travel from other countries to continue to be a part of the sports and to maintain their involvement despite the cost and effort. For many, belonging to a wider community is a high motivation for continued involvement. These drivers manifest themselves in many ways, including, for those who played at university, as a way of staying in touch with university friends (some continue to play with their university group for years after graduation). Former employees of a company may continue to play on the company team after they've moved on (many of the corporate leagues in London allow for former employees to be counted as legitimate players for their old company). People whose other life commitments take priority still continue to be involved on a more ad hoc basis with their old team. “Cell division”, whereby a team splinters and forms a new break-away team, has been one of the significant features of growth within the sports. This is seen regularly in softball and now more often in baseball. Sometimes, the breakaway comes from a few players on the original team wanting to organise their own activity, sparked by a personal desire to play a formative organising role. Sometimes, this can just be down to wanting to provide an environment that can offer the breakaway players more appropriate playing opportunities. © BaseballSoftballUK 2012 18 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents BSUK communicates well with players who are about to experience life changes and acts as a point of continuity for recently lapsed and ready-to-return players. However, more work is planned to develop this understanding, identifying players who are about to move town, move job or set up a family, and offer appropriate alternative forms of play should they want them. Players in both sports are required – most comply to this requirement – to register themselves on their respective sport's website. Player registrations systems exist on www.britishbaseball.org and www.britishsoftball.org and there is a plan to collect improved information about participants' jobs and life habits. Year-to-year playing habits (through team memberships and through tracked performance in the sports) will also be analysed and players who are lapsed or changing their playing habits will be communicated with in an appropriate fashion. BSUK staff will also work with clubs and leagues to ensure that appropriate playing solutions are offered for those who are no longer able to make the same time commitment to the sports as their life priorities change. Where the sports experience overcrowding – such as when a team recruits too many players or a club or league runs out of capacity to house all the players that are interested – BSUK provides regular and hands-on support for that organisation to extend its infrastructure to accommodate the interest. Where this isn't possible, alternatives are sought, such as directing excess players to alternative playing options (most applicable in London and Manchester) or encouraging teams to be formed by these excess individuals, with support and tools offered by BSUK staff to achieve this goal and to ease the process of becoming an organising volunteer and player. Internal measures – such as tracking the number of teams playing the sports, referenced elsewhere in this document – monitors the overall health of the sport and players can be tracked with a reasonable level of depth and continuity through online player registration systems. While there is a small amount of transference of existing players into new development teams, this is mostly to do with changing lifestyles or the offering of a more appropriate experience. In counting the number of teams, there is a criteria that the team can't be made up of more than a few players who play in multiple teams in order to be counted. This is our means of ensuring that, in counting the number of teams, we obtain a reasonably true reflection of participation numbers. One of the negative drivers that affects retention in slowpitch softball is having enough women to form a team. With 42% of the softball community being female in a sport where the rules require 50:50 participation, female players can make or break teams. If a team finds difficulty retaining or recruiting enough women, this presents a critical threat to its continued existence. This issue is felt most within corporate teams, but is also experienced elsewhere. BSUK tackles this issue pro-actively by taking three approaches. First, by offering male-only playing opportunities through our single-sex tournaments. Teams can access this format on a number of occasions during the season in the form of one-day and two-day tournaments. Second, by promoting the recruitment and development of women. Sometimes, women may feel less inclined to participate because they do not feel their skills are sufficient and they might be seen as letting their team down. This is countered by offering women-only development sessions for existing and new players. Third, BSUK believes that it is important to enforce our value of genuinely co-ed participation. The rules of co-ed slowpitch softball require teams to have five men and five women on the field at any one time, but some corporate leagues adjust this rule to respond to female recruitment problems. We do not believe that this is a sound approach and we will work closely with these leagues to help them understand that this adjustment creates a less appealing environment for female participation and undermines the genuinely co-ed nature of the sport. It creates a vicious cycle whereby women are less likely to be involved and teams are less motivated to recruit or provide an environment where women are treated as equal and are valued. There is a long-standing belief in British slowpitch softball that the men on opposing teams tend to cancel each other out and that the women – not the men – define the strength of the team. We believe that this approach is conducive to retaining and strengthening softball in this country.

As outlined above (in How Do People Participate in Our Sports?), the majority of people who participate in baseball and softball do so on a weekly basis through the season. There are some people who take part in the sports less regularly – such as once a year at a company softball day or a social event – but the majority of people in our sports do participate regularly. In our proxy measure that monitors the number of teams, teams may only be counted if they play on a minimum of six occasions. This, for us, is a marker to define legitimate teams and there is an assumption that there will be additional practice and play dates in addition to those six occasions. BSUK has worked with the Federations to encourage teams to extend the regularity of their participation in the sports, by creating and promoting weekend tournament playing opportunities for those teams and players who only take part once during the week in league play. Tournaments are, we believe, an experience that people enjoy and that helps teams to bond socially and become more sustainable. Specific efforts have been and will continue to be made to encourage teams forming within Higher and Further Education environments to take up tournament play within existing competition structures; our experience to date has shown that this is more likely to lead people to become lifetime members of the softball community. In baseball, BSUK has supported new formats such as Spring and Fall Leagues, and promoted localised mid-week league play, to supplement the standard home-and-away weekend competition.

Why People Leave The Sports

For more information about the types of people who play the sports and why they might leave, please click here. The most common reasons people leave baseball and softball are listed below. Except for a tendency for baseball players to move to softball, the reasons are generic and would likely apply to all sports. However, even if generic, it has still been productive to consider how we can plan to mitigate against this . There are a number of reasons that retention or a return to our sports is fairly high. The team and community dynamic is very strong in our sports and means that players who live generally maintain ties to the sport and therefore re-engage more easily. While issues around work (longer hours, change of job, etc) are universally common, two things mitigate against players leaving the sport. The first is that softball particularly is ‘portable’. There is evidence to suggest that people who play in company based teams will often seek to start a team at a new company when they change jobs both because they enjoy it, and because softball has been an effective networking vehicle. Secondly, the majority of softball played (midweek, local to work) has been designed to fit people who work long hours. It should also be noted that both baseball and softball are sports that are relatively easy to return to after a gap due to pregnancy or injury as it is possible to play at an appropriate level, and to contribute effectively, even when fitness is reduced. As stated above, as the team dynamic is key to retaining people in the sports, this is the basis of each of our growth programmes. Additionally, much of our work in New Adult Structures is geared around the workplace, or is set up to work for people with limited free time, and should therefore help to counteract the reasons that people leave sport generally.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 20 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Baseball Softball Why do people leave the sports? Why do people leave the sports?  Commitment levels take a toll.  Change company.  Fed up with the organisation or structure of the sport.  Move city.  Move city.  Change of life priorities.  Change of life priorities.  Have a baby / set up a family (usually a brief break).  Have a baby / set up a family (usually a brief break).  Job commitments – long working hours.  Job commitments – long working hours.  Injury / age.  Injury / age.  Their team folds.  Their team folds. What do they do when they stop playing? What do they do when they stop playing?  Find another sport.  Move to softball.  Other activities.  Go into coaching or administration.  Find another team.  Find another sport. Not many go into administration or coaching.  Find another team.  Other activities.

The potential and opportunities available within the next four years are made up of a combination of the elements of our sports – our strengths and weaknesses – and the ability of BSUK to influence positive change within the sports. As discussed above, BSUK is in a strong position to affect change, by supporting the Federations to offer strong playing opportunities nationally, by working directly with clubs and leagues to develop the sports' offer and by building strong new partnerships that lead to new playing organisations being set up. Our sports are very relevant to the modern landscape. Slowpitch softball, in particular, offers a well-developed social sport that can be played in just about any park, with minimal equipment and no prior experience required. Softball – now very well established in the country with over 650 teams playing each summer – is our modified social sports offer. With the challenges of modern life, we think that ours are sports that many people will choose to play, even if they don't currently know the sports are played here. As we have a strong playing offer for a wide range of men and women, we believe there is an opportunity to extend what we offer into new or developing areas of work. Some of these opportunities include:  New places. The sports aren't currently played in as many towns or cities as we would expect. This means that there are a significant number of urban and suburban populations which, based on our experience in other parts of the country, are likely to respond well to the sports being offered.  New sectors. The charity sector is an emerging market for us. Since 2009, the majority of slowpitch softball growth has been in this sector, with a new league of 72 charity sector teams in London and a charity / company league formed by Wickes Homestores to raise funds for their charity of the year, Leukaemia Lymphoma Research. Softball is being offered as fundraising activity by Mencap and we believe that there are strong opportunities to further develop this work to create more charity teams and to harness charity work with companies to form new company teams.  Extending entry points. There are few mixed-team sport options within universities and we believe we have a strong offer to make to students who are often keen to try something new. Our sports offer a chance for people – or groups of people – to come together, play sport, get fresh air and socialise. Continuing to develop our university offer will, we believe, lead to more people joining softball at a younger age. For baseball, a sport that is more dependent on previous experience, we can provide an entry point to appeal to men, in particular, who either don't like or used to play cricket.  The LGBT community. Softball, in particular, is a friendly environment, open, inclusive and sensitive to the challenges faced by LGBT people. The largest softball club in the country is the Rainbow Raiders, a strong sporting organisation within the London LGBT community, and there has been successful work with other LGBT organisations in Manchester and Brighton to form new teams or to encourage people to join existing teams. Our sports are well placed to give a wide range of harder-to-reach people a chance to choose a sporty lifestyle and we have a strong tradition of appropriate modification to meet the challenges of modern life. While the profile of the sports in this country means that there is little explicit latent demand, we believe the sports offer something for nearly everyone. The real opportunity within the next four years is to extend our sports to reach new audiences.

The process of setting our long-term vision, reviewing our impact over the current funding cycle and assessing where we want to go in the next cycle, has required critical analysis of the challenges that might prevent us reaching our goals. In the course of this analysis we have looked carefully at both the internal and external obstacles to success and considered how these can be addressed or mitigated.

Internal - Organisation Since the creation of BSUK in 2000 our key strength has been the high rate of return on the investment into our sports. This has fundamentally been achieved through our decision to invest primarily in staff, and specifically staff who can deliver across multiple programmes and areas of work. This has allowed us to be flexible and respond to strategic changes. However, our relatively limited resources have required that we have a lean staff structure with too few staff to deliver against challenging targets without regularly over-stretching our workforce. Additionally, when unforeseen circumstances occur that impact on our staff resource, we are ill- equipped to respond. Limited resources have also meant that we are not able to pay market rates to bring in much-needed expertise in certain areas such as commercial, business development, marketing, legal and high-level coaching. We lack the resources to effectively develop our workforce or pay competitive rates to retain staff. At times we have difficult decisions to make about whether to invest in vital shared services or to buy into development work on the ground. Since 2000 BSUK staff have operated either from our head office in London, from their homes or occasionally from local office resource provided through CSPs. BSUK's head office space is rented from Major League Baseball at a highly subsidised rate. Currently, seven BSUK staff work in a space originally designed for five people, and additional staff are required to deliver against our 2013-17 strategy, so there is a clear need for additional office provision.

Internal - Governance Governance and organisational systems are a real strength of BSUK. In recent years a great deal of focus has been put into this area to ensure that BSUK is a well- governed, effective and transparent organisation. There is still work to be done to ensure that we continue to progress, and a key challenge to this progression is our governance structure. BSUK functions as the development agency for the British Baseball and Softball Federations and the three organisations work in partnership. Both Federations require significant work to address their governance and improve their systems and processes. This work will not be accomplished by the volunteer Boards themselves, and has continued to be beyond the capacity of BSUK to manage. Because of the symbiotic nature of the three organisations this issue is now impacting on BSUK's effectiveness. BSUK's agreed mission to increase participation by (among other things) building a quality infrastructure is challenged by our lack of resource to make necessary strides in this area.

Internal - Baseball and Softball Infrastructure All of BSUK's offers to the market are underpinned by a need to develop facilities, quality coaches and stronger clubs and leagues. Much has been achieved to date through capital investment and our focus on clubs and coaches in the current Whole Sport Plan. In order to deliver on our proposed 2013-17 strategy, there is work to be done to improve the facilities where people play, further develop clubs and deploy more suitably trained coaches to deliver on the ground.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 23 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents External - Profile Raising profile has also been identified as a key factor in our mission to increase participation. Currently, this an area that presents us with many challenges related to our lack of expertise and resource. In order to deliver against our mission we have recognised that we need to be able to reach our target market more effectively to communicate the offer that is likely to bring more people into the sports. BSUK has made significant strides in this area, particularly capitalising on the effective use of social media and on-line communication tools, but in the next four-year period it is clear that we need to take our marketing approach to the next level. Within our marketing strategy we have identified the value of events in raising profile. Additionally, staff at BSUK always consider opportunities to build on any investment. In the 2009-13 period we have received capital investment to enable us to develop a dedicated site for baseball and softball at Farnham Park in South Buckinghamshire. It is our intention to capitalise on this investment by staging a high-profile event in 2013 which ties in with our marketing strategy. Relative to larger sports' events, the scale of our event will be relatively modest, but it will serve to raise awareness of our sports and highlight opportunities. This is not something we can drive forward without additional investment.

External - Sports Sector A number of external obstacles to success have been highlighted in our planning and consultation work. One of these is our place in the sporting landscape. In order to access opportunities and effectively communicate our sporting offers in a crowded marketplace, we need to maintain a strong engagement across the sports network. There are a number of sports that operate in the same territory – summer, seasonal, played in park – and in order to reach the consumers to whom our offers will directly appeal we need to be able market ourselves effectively. We are obviously out-matched in competing with large traditional sports such as cricket, and so need to stake our claim against other modern summer sports such as touch rugby and ultimate frisbee. We suffer from having limited facilities, which means that we have little or no community presence in most locations. As a primarily urban sport, we often struggle to have sufficient playing provision. An example would be Regents Park, where over 100 slowpitch softball teams are based and where over 70 games are played each week. Each of the leagues that use the park could add teams but are prevented from doing so by the lack of additional space and no viable alternatives. Additionally, the softball season is artificially constrained to running from May-August only because in most places where the game is played, the alternating winter sport is football, which is generally given absolute priority.

External - Environmental A number of the remaining challenges that we have identified are not confined to our sports, but still require us to plan for them. Lifestyle changes such as longer working hours, home working and recession need to be factored in to our offers to our target consumers. As summer sports, baseball and softball are also subject to the vagaries of British weather. This would be more easily mitigated if we had the freedom to extend our season through greater access to facilities.

As part of our understanding the market context, we have gone through an exercise of capturing a description of the types of people that most regularly participate in our sports, which we are calling Pen Portraits. These portraits are a condensed version of the intelligence gathered from our regional staff based on their direct experience of working with participants. This simple summary of the type of participant most likely to engage with baseball and softball has been an effective mechanism for ensuring that our programmes are designed with the pen portrait understanding at the centre. In the 2009-13 cycle to some extend form followed function in that we made certain assumptions about the type of person we were trying to reach. Now at the end of the cycle we have been able to test out our assumptions and change our approach where necessary. It should be noted that our assumptions and our testing of these did not differ significantly which has meant that our 2013-17 plan has really been a continuation of our work in the previous cycle with some minor adjustments.

Click here for Sport England Market Segements and BSUK Programmes analysis.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 25 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents © BaseballSoftballUK 2012 26 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Section 4: Programmes New Areas of Work Talent The purpose of our bid for Talent funding is to be able to provide a seamless progression from community sport to the talent pathway that Introduction to Growth allows athletes to reach their full potential at whatever level they can attain. is This a vital area of work for retaining athletes within our sports and is currently a critical gap in our sports' provision. This gap works BSUK has made the majority of its day job over the 2009-13 funding cycle the against our being able to operate as we should as part of high-level growth of the sports, resulting in the largest growth spurt that baseball and credible international sports. The inclusion of this area will lead to more softball have enjoyed in many years. Much of the planned activity has been based talented athlete, working regularly with better coaches and reaching their on already-established work practices and approaches and a developing full potential. understanding of how to influence growth across the country. Governance As BSUK and the Federations work in partnership it is of critical Our plans to achieve our growth targets are based on our market understanding of importance that all three organisations have effective governance. Currently, the Federations lag behind BSUK in this area. As good which type of people are likely to play our sports (as described in the Pen Portraits governance is an essential component of the sustainable development of above), and our programmes are based on our interpretation of how best to reach sport it is imperative that we support the Federations in developing into these people. Underpinning this, our marketing and communications strategy is professional, strategically focused and transparent organisations. directed at reaching these people and making our offers accesible. Seasonal In order to develop our talent development pathway and to create more In order to influence growth, a conscious and calculated decision has been taken to Coaching qualified coaches, we need to be able to bring in high-level coaching Expertise expertise on a short-term seasonal basis. The focus of our current staff monitor and evaluate our efforts based on the number of teams playing the sports. provision does not allow for this need to be met through staff resource. While it is not an exact science to then work out the number of participants, it is a strong health-of-the-sports' participation indicator. The London The plan to stage a week-long event at the newly-developed Farnham Baseball and Park and Milton Keynes baseball and softball facilities forms part of our  Teams are the primary form of groupings of players. Softball Week marketing strategy for raising our profile and allows us to reap additional value from our facilities investment.  Teams can be formed within existing leagues or clubs, but can also be in Building on the facility investment BSUK received in 2009-1,3 we plan to more informal structures. We count all existing teams, whether affiliated Venue-based hubs use the newly established sites at Farnham Park and Milton Keynes to or not, formal and informal. develop strong local links and local community play at hub sites.

 Looking at participation within teams means that we know that members Up-scaling Building on effective work in the charity sector in 2009-13, we are seeking of that team are likely – but not guaranteed – to play regularly, in line with charity work to further develop our offer to this sector to significantly increase common playing activities that we've identified across teams. With a few participation. Built on a concept of large-scale national companies raising funds for charitable donation through playing softball, we plan to roll out minor examples, the number of teams closely reflects the number of this work on a bigger scale in 2013-17. people playing and monitoring this means that we have a firm handle on how many people are playing regularly. New disability BSUK plans to begin working with relevant equality partners to develop an work offer for people with learning difficulties with the aim of these participants joining existing competition structures. This focus is based on our market  Our sports are team sports and many people start and continue to play PLANNED FOR understanding that there are limited sporting opportunities for people because of their team mates and organisers. When someone leaves, the LATER with learning difficulties. This work is planned for later in the cycle. team is motivated to either replace them or continue to be in touch with

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 27 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents them. Monitoring teams also means that there is a mechanism for mitigating against drop-out.  We can extrapolate out the average number of team members using our on-line registration mechanisms and thereby work out the number of players playing within these environments. This means that the number of teams is what really matters to us in terms of the health of the sports. Applying an above the line / below the line model, we can place above the line the element most important to us in terms of growth – i.e. the number of regularly playing, organised teams. We draw the line at a minimum, whereby a team needs to play on at least six occasions, have an identity, collect some kind of fee / contribution and have a designated organiser. Activity that does not qualify for this can be seen as 'below the line' and therefore a mechanism for increasing participation, but not an increase in its own right. The most difficult element of this model is finding ways to move activity from below the line to above it – in essence building the infrastructure in which people can play regularly and making sure that they are doing so. Marketing underpins the work below the line, speaking to people who might want to play our sports. Communications runs through all that we do, helping people above and below the line understand what is on offer and how it relates to them.

Growth work needs to remain flexible and responsive to a wide range of people in a rapidly changing landscape of personal habits, interests and competing pulls on people's available time. Our sports have grown up both in this country and internationally by being highly adaptive and responsive. We believe – and have outlined above – that there are opportunities to extend our entry points to the sports to university and college age students, to develop more adult leagues (particularly in softball), to increase the number of teams operating within baseball clubs and softball leagues and to increase the number of young people playing in community settings. We have some strongholds in the sports where both baseball and softball are played. Previous prioritisation of these areas, in order to develop from a firm base of people – and therefore workforce – will continue. Our current four priority regions of London, the South East, the North West and the Midlands will continue. We believe there is an opportunity to extend into the M4 West and Yorkshire areas, capitalising in the same way we have to date on an existing base of play. With the creation of our two new dedicated facilities in Milton Keynes and Farnham Park, both in Buckinghamshire, we will prioritise these two areas – which we are calling Epicentres, for want of a better phrase. Epicentres are, for us, facility-led hubs of activity, where we will encourage an extended range of play using all the tools and relationships available to us. We will continue with our club- and league-centred services, begun in the 2009-13 period, whereby we work regularly with each of the organising structures in our sports – in baseball with clubs and in softball with leagues – to develop the quality of their organisations and the quantity of teams within them. This service will be offered to all clubs or leagues regardless of whether they are in a priority area or not. However, sometimes this will mean that a staff member is not within easy reach, something which we will work hard to mitigate where possible. Another key feature of our plan is to concentrate our efforts on the workforce – mostly volunteer – that is responsible for the delivery of our sports. Having an appropriately-sized and skilled workforce is vital to us, especially as we are sports continually fighting to be more established in this country, which is our single biggest challenge in terms of growth. The workforce has the largest impact on the quality of our delivery, recruitment and retention and the participant experience. Perhaps surprisingly, we do not have problems recruiting players – our sports offer interesting and exciting playing opportunities that appeal to far more people in any given area than we could handle (should our marketing reach them all). Our biggest challenge is building quality structures in which those people can play. It is in new growth areas, where the workforce is light, that we have the biggest challenges to forming new teams.

Our approach to development is to work from the strongholds of the sports, concentrating development around existing clubs and leagues, thereby making use of existing workforces and local playing areas. This approach has proved successful in the current cycle, where outcomes have been easier to deliver when we have been able to use people already involved in the sports to grow new teams. Our sports are well suited to centres of population such as cities and larger tows. Our intention to harness this is reflected in our longer-term strategy, where we intend to build up from the three main cities in England: London, where the majority of our playing base is; Manchester, our second main city in terms of baseball and softball play; and Birmingham, where we feel there is potential for significant growth. Working out from these areas, connecting activity along the main motorways, will be the key approach to our regional prioritisation over the next four years. The charts (adjacent) show where our hotspots have developed over the last four years and where we intend for the sports to grow. New focus areas in the M4 West region and Yorkshire will pick up opportunities presented by conditions that are similar to our other priority areas. The Bristol area has developed well in the 2009-13 period, with stronger and more active baseball and softball organisations taking a pro-active role in the area's wider development. Bristol, home to over 40 softball teams, is the largest softball community in a city other than London. The formation of a new baseball club in Bristol has seen baseball returned to the city and the club is making great strides in terms of As of 2012 Planned Growth by 2017 organisational structure and development outlook and reach. With adjacent new and embryonic programmes in nearby towns such as Swindon and Gloucester, the area is, in our opinion, ripe for new and significant growth. Yorkshire also has potential to develop. From a strong, corporate-based softball league in Leeds to baseball clubs in Sheffield, Harrogate and the former home of British baseball in the Humber region, it presents a base from which growth can be achieved.

Organising Idea Develop three new hubs of development in Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), Farnham Park (Buckinghamshire) and in the North West, offering a comprehensive range of new playing opportunities.

Insight The Baseball and Softball Facilities Strategy 2011-17 has identified strategic priorities for baseball and softball centres. Two of these sites have been located and will be established by April 2013 – one in Milton Keynes and one at Farnham Park. A third strategic priority to have a centre in the North West of England will be established within the 2013-17 period. Located well for the existing playing community, these sites also present opportunities to develop strong local community play as hub sites. Each is located near a city where some play exists, but where there is strong potential to extend play opportunities. Milton Keynes is a key new development priority for BSUK due to its size, population demographics and proximity to London and the South East (where the majority of baseball and softball is played). Farnham Park, located close to Slough and to Aylesbury, presents the chance to create new playing opportunities for a diverse range of people.

Offers / Activity  Enhance facility development through Capital Investment: o Provide bespoke staff support. o Employ a new Regional Development post to lead development planning and partnership building, prioritising the two sites within Buckinghamshire.  Support local clubs to become developed, progressive and well-connected local community organisations: o Use local club development plans as a starting point to create strong and example-setting club models through hands-on staff development activity.  Develop strong local partnerships: o Work closely with Bucks Sport CSP, Berkshire Sport CSP, Milton Keynes Council, South Bucks District Council and Slough Town Council to develop strong local partnerships.  Set up local leagues with strong community and education links: o Work with local businesses to develop new adult softball leagues, including corporates leagues and charity-based activity. o Grow local Higher and Further Education play and use the site as a hub for as much activity as possible. o Establish new Little Leagues on each site, reaching into local schools and youth groups, maximising doorstep sports club opportunities and activation programmes such as Sportivate.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 32 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Route to Market & Delivery – Who Will Do This?  BSUK staff will develop strong local partnerships, linking where appropriate to local clubs and ensuring the sites are used as hubs of activity.  CSPs, LAs, education institutions and companies will work in partnership to deliver a comprehensive sports development programme in each area.  Local volunteers and a workforce (not yet recruited) will be in place, delivering a high-quality participant-focused experience.

Outcomes  Established and well-recognised local community centres, offering playing opportunities for a wide range of new participants, playing in new community leagues.  A model of development for other clubs and new locations in the future.

When  Staff support in Buckinghamshire will be in place from April 2013 and will continue throughout the four-year cycle. Staff support in the North West will start in April 2014 and continue for the remaining three years.  Club development support (see Club) will continue throughout the cycle.  Local development plans, community link programme work with education institutions and the formation of Community Youth Leagues (14yrs +) will begin in April 2013 and continue throughout the four-year cycle.

Direct Delivery BSUK has been developing a balance between influencing development and directly delivering it. The former relinquishes some control but is more likely to lead to longer-term sustainable involvement. Direct delivery is a more secure route to market and guarantees a level of quality provision and strong links to extended playing opportunities, but needs to be weighed against the resources it consumes. It is our intention to directly deliver only where this is necessary and based on sound development reasoning. This is most likely to be in delivering Hit the Pitch programming.

Clubs A club- and league-centred approach to development has become a standard operating practice in BSUK's work. Placing the needs of clubs and leagues at the heart of our programming means that we have built strong relationships with the majority of baseball clubs and softball leagues, relationships that can be harnessed to develop participation in the sports and the necessary infrastructure improvements needed to handle such growth. It is our intention to work closely with clubs and leagues to understand what their potential is in terms of size and how to reach it.

Delivery Partners  County Sports Partnerships. We will continue to work closely with CSPs to develop a clear local understanding, maximise collaborative work, harness local economies of scale and build strong club-to-community links through the Sportivate programme. We will also work closely on supporting, educating and developing local workforces of volunteers and coaches.  Local Authorities. LAs are very important local partners and we will continue to work with them to identify common goals and to develop localised sports activity. We will collaborate on access to and enhancement of local facilities, promoting appropriate improvements to provision to ensure that the sports' needs are being met, while maximising revenue generated from local facilities.  Companies, Workplaces and Charities. We will work with workplaces to offer solutions to their community social responsibility, team building, staff development, healthier workplace and charity fundraising agendas. This means finding win-win scenarios where they are able to use regular participation in softball to meet their goals, supported by our development work.  Education Institutions – Higher, Further and Schools. We will work with education institutions to build baseball and softball into their offer for pupils and students, linking where possible to local clubs and leagues that can provide localised support and hands-on help. This will be achieved by understanding the role our sports can play in enhancing learning and helping students to be healthier and more socially acclimatised.  StreetGames. We will work with StreetGames and other national and local partners to develop strong offers for otherwise hard-to-reach younger groups of participants, working towards doorstep clubs and locally-owned playing structures.  Youth Sport Trust. We will continue to work with the YST to develop strong in-school provision, linked to local playing opportunities in clubs and leagues.

Suppliers BSUK currently works with two or three suppliers to offer affordable and appropriate equipment and attire for our sports. We are in the process of reviewing these relationships to leverage greater commercial support from companies that are involved in the sports and to develop enhanced value from these partnerships.

Process Partners BSUK collaborates with a number of Process Partners. These relationships add substantial insight to our work and, in many cases, provide valuable support to staff members and work programmes. Sport England continues to offer support through direct involvement in our Development Strategy Committee and our Facilities Steering Group. SportscoachUK works closely with our national coaching lead and has a representative on our Coaching Steering Group. Regular reviews are carried out with Sport England's Communities Directorate and key representatives from the County Sports Partnership Network to monitor and evaluate the relationship between BSUK and CSPs. We connect well with full-time Coaching Development Managers housed in CSPs through our on-staff Regional Coach and Club Development Officers. We work well with the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation and feel that there is much potential in working collaboratively. Over the past year, relationships have been formed with a number of LGBT groups including Brighton Lesbian and Gay Sports Society (BLAGSS) and Pride Sports. We also work closely with the London Raiders Softball Club, our largest single club, made up exclusively of LGBT members.

Influencers Charities Workforce

Sponsors / Commercial Companies Suppliers – see above. Added Value / In-Kind – MLB, Little League, product providers.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 35 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Relationship Maps Relationship Maps are a tool for identifying, prioritising and clarifying the roles BSUK plays with partners and other organisations.

Growth - Existing Growth - New Structures Growth - New Adult Structures England Talent Development Adult and Youth Structures for Young People

Activity Hit the Pitch Sustaining Participation New local programmes  Concentration on most  Workplace Leagues: Club-Centric Development: Local leagues developed through talented 13-19yr olds. ◦ Charity fundraising  Strong organisations. Little League and Play Ball.  Hands-on support for wider ◦ Industry leagues  Identify and offer critical group of talented athetes. ◦ City corporate leagues support to clubs or leagues Connection to schools  Develop competition ◦ Emergency Services most in need. Sportivate. Matalan School Sport structures for talented Leagues Growing Participation Programme. School-Club Links. players.

◦ Workplace Challenge Beginners Baseball and Softball:  Develop talent curriculum. Non-traditional play  Education Institution leagues  Player retention.  Develop athlete profiles linked Door Step Clubs. Stick Ball. Wiffle  New adult community leagues  Infrastructure development. to talent curriculum. Ball.  Leagues at other sports' clubs  Player recruitment.  Talent identification and Swing By  Extending club or league recruitment. Offer to Leisure Trusts, private offers. providers. Environments Workplaces Clubs Clubs Clubs Higher and Further Education Leagues Leagues Leagues Local community Workplaces Teams Teams Other sports' clubs Higher and Further Education The Academy The Academy Leisure Trusts and private providers Local community Classrooms Classrooms Other sports' clubs Schools Higher Education Leisure Trusts and private providers Other Education institutions Further Education

Infrastructure

Staff Workforce Club and League Development Marketing Facilities

Could be: Taster sessions, pick-up games, Indoor Could be: League Development sessions, Beginners Target Audiences Softball, Go Mammoth, Corporate Days etc. Baseball and Softball, Indoor Softball etc.

Player A - New workplace Y Hit the Pitch Club and League Growth Player B - Experienced workplace Y  Workplace Leagues: Y  Develop new growth strategies for clubs / leagues to include more teams: Player C - Fan turned player Y ◦ Charity fundraising Y  Integrate other growth areas (Higher Industry leagues Player D - Experienced the sports in another country Y ◦ Education, Further Education, New Adult Player E - Lapsed cricketer / rounders player Y ◦ City corporate leagues Y Leagues) with club / league work.  Develop a customer-facing approach. Player F - Relocated professional urbanite Y ◦ Emergency Services Leagues Y Workplace Challenge leagues (through  Recruit and support key volunteers / Player G - Reluctant participant Y ◦ CSPs) enablers. Player H - 'Give it a Try' Y Y  Higher Education leagues  Organise pick-up games. Player I - Receptive student Y  Further Education leagues Y Run Beginners Baseball and Softball programmes. Women Y  New adult community leagues Y Workplace and Young Professionals Y  Leagues at other sports' clubs, partnering Ex-Pat Communities Y with the RFU, hockey, lacrosse etc. Y Swing By LGBT Communities Y Y  Programme offer for Leisure Trusts and Students Y Y private providers.

Target Audiences

Player A - New Workplace

Could be talent-identified in workplace softball to join a higher-level club with better coaching. Could attend Academy Player B - Experienced Workplace Y Softball sessions and national team trials in fastpitch or slowpitch.

Player C - Fan turned player

Player D - Experienced the sports in Could be talent-identified in club softball to join the talent pathway if eligible for British nationality, either through Academy Y Softball and/or national team trials in fastpitch or slowpitch. Could be trained for a coaching role within The Academy or another country national team structures.

Player E - Lapsed cricketer / rounders Skills and training habits acquired in playing rounders or (more likely) cricket could mean that Player E could move onto the Y player softball or baseball talent pathway given more experience and good coaching, which could begin with The Academy.

Player F - Relocated professional

urbanite

Player G - Reluctant Participant

Starting a new sport at university or college age makes it difficult to become an elite performer, but exceptionally athletic Player H - 'Give it a Try' students might do so given the relatively small talent pool for baseball and softball in the UK. A referral to The Academy could provide such performers with a chance to progress.

Player I - Receptive Student Y

Talented women players tend to stand out within British softball and tend to progress quickly in an environment with high- Women Y level coaching, such as The Academy (for fastpitch) or the GB Slowpitch Development Squad programme.

Workplace and Young Professionals Y See under “Experienced Workplace” above.

Ex-Pat Communities Y See under “Experienced the sports in another country” above.

LGBT Communities Y Members of LGBT communities could fall into any of Categories A-I.

Students Y See under “Receptive Student” above.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 39 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents New Adult Structures Young People 14-25 70% Adults 26+ 30% Organising Idea Talent 0% Develop new clubs and leagues reaching new participants, based in new areas or markets.

Offers / Activity Outcome This area can be broken into two programmes. The main new adult structure programme is Hit the Pitch, Year 1 29 teams, 551 participants our offer for setting up new programmes. This will be delivered through a number of environments, Year 2 29 teams, 551 participants including education institutions, workplaces, local communities, local clubs and organised groups. The Year 3 29 teams, 551 participants other programme, Swing By, will be directed at Leisure Trusts and private sport and fitness operators, based on a franchise model. Year 4 30 teams, 570 participants TOTAL 117 teams, 2,229 participants Hit the Pitch

 Workplace Leagues: Cost ◦ Charity fundraising SEng BSUK ◦ Industry leagues New Adult Leagues £30,000 ◦ City corporate leagues Workplace and Charities Relationships £40,000 ◦ Emergency Services leagues Management ◦ Workplace challenge leagues Higher Education £40,000  Education Institution leagues Further Education £35,000 TOTAL £145,000  New adult community leagues

 Leagues at other sports' clubs When Swing By All aspects of work will begin from April 2013 and will  Offered to Leisure Trusts and private providers. remain at the forefront of development focus for the first two years of this planning cycle as a minimum. Through continual review, these development plans will be assessed with regard to purpose and success.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 40 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Approach  Workplace activity. Organisations will be partnered to develop a sports offer for their employees. This will include working with charities offering corporate fundraising activity, working with CSPs with Workplace Challenge programmes, working with Local Authorities and local commerce to form city leagues and working with industries to offer new industry leagues (e.g. Emergency Services).  LGBT Development Work. Work will be done with LGBT structures to develop leagues in targeted geographic areas and around national events.  Leisure Trusts and private providers of sport. Our current pilot work will be developed to offer local, easy-to-access opportunities. This includes extending involvement with virtual and social sports clubs such as Go Mammoth.  Local partnerships. Work will be carried out with CSPs, LAs and other sports' clubs (such as rugby, lacrosse, hockey and netball) to offer new community leagues.  Education Institutions. Work will be done with Higher and Further Education to offer sports activity to students and staff.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 41 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Existing Adult and Youth Structures Young People 14-25 70% Organising Idea Adults 26+ 30% Develop existing clubs and leagues to reach their full potential in terms of 14+ participation by supporting Talent 0% them to sustain current levels of participation and to build additional teams within their existing structures. Outcome Offers / Activity Year 1 28 teams, 532 participants Extensive support will continue through our Club-Centric approach, where hands-on development support Year 2 27 teams, 513 participants is offered by members of BSUK staff. This will focus on a number of areas: Year 3 27 teams, 513 participants Sustaining Participation Year 4 26 teams, 494 participants  Strong organisations. Work with clubs and league will continue to ensure that they are fit for purpose and offering strong participant-focused baseball and softball. This includes maintaining TOTAL 108 teams, 2,052 participants Clubmark as a minimum operating standard and development tool and offering good practice advice and tools. This will be facilitated through strong relationships between the clubs and leagues Cost and BSUK staff, underpinned by strong volunteers (see Workforce), good coaches (see Coaching) SEng BSUK and appropriate and sport-specific facilities (see Facilities). New Team Set-Up £5,000  Identify and offer critical support to clubs or leagues most in need. We will respond to new club Equipment Loan £7,000 or league formation enquiries with strong support and tools for facilitating the formation of new Programme clubs or leagues. We will identify early and offer critical hands-on life support to clubs or leagues TOTAL £12,000 showing signs of potentially folding.

Growing Participation When  Player retention. Work with clubs and leagues to understand how to minimise the drivers that Ongoing throughout the cycle. might lead people to leave the sport(s) and put into place forward-thinking plans to address this, sign-posting alternative opportunities or offering ways of staying in touch with the sport(s).  Infrastructure development. Work with clubs and leagues to develop infrastructure better able to cope with a growth in participation. This will primarily include supporting clubs and leagues with advice and tools for forming new teams by recruiting and up-skilling club / league volunteers.  Player recruitment. Offer programme support through Beginners Baseball and Softball programmes and link clubs / leagues to programmes such as Hit the Pitch and Swing By and to Young People structures to generate growth.  Extending club or league offers. Support will be offered to help clubs or leagues develop programming extended to new age groups, offer both baseball and softball, reach women and girls (through softball) and connect to new communities and groups. © BaseballSoftballUK 2012 42 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents Approach Each baseball club and softball league will work closely with a designated member of staff to identify needs and development potential and to carry out agreed actions. This will be monitored with live data management systems and tracked through our routine assessment of the health of existing sports structures in the form of a bi-annual club and league Health Check.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 43 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents New Structures for Young People Young People 14-25 100% Organising Idea Adults 26+ 0% Develop a strong youth community base, offering high quality local play supported by good coaching and Talent 0% with good links to the local community and schools. Outcome Offers / Activity Year 1 13 teams, 247 participants  New local programmes. Develop local leagues and youth clubs by providing local volunteers with Year 2 13 teams, 247 participants support through our Play Ball and Little League programmes. Year 3 12 teams, 228 participants  Connection to schools. Develop in-school programming through existing programmes (such as the Matalan YST programme) and offer school-club link support through the schools network, the Year 4 12 teams, 228 participants Schools Games programme and our development staff working with clubs and leagues. Use will be TOTAL 50 teams, 950 participants made of existing play in schools to develop awareness and understanding of the sports (74% of secondary schools offer softball, according to the latest School Sport Survey). Cost  Non-traditional play. Continue work developing a street or playground doorstep club offer based SEng BSUK on our Stick Ball and Wiffle Ball formats in order to offer non-traditional playing opportunities to young players. New Local Leagues £30,000 Non-Traditional and £10,000 Approach Door Step Club Offer TOTAL £40,000  Maximise partnerships

◦ Use existing relationships with Major League Baseball and Little League to develop a strong When support package for local volunteers. This work will be continuous throughout the cycle. ◦ Work with Street Games, Shadowball and other national and local youth organisations to

develop programmes for non-traditional environments and hard-to-reach young people.

◦ Connect work being carried out within the school sector (with, among others, the Youth Sport Trust) to the community programming outcomes sought.

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 44 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents England Talent Development Young People 14-25 0% Organising Idea Adults 26+ 0% Provide a seamless progression from community sport to a talent pathway that allows athletes to reach Talent 100% their potential at whatever point on the pathway that may lie, with the aim of enhancing the quantity and quality of players available for national team selection and retaining talented players in the sport beyond Outcomes their time as elite performers. See BSUK’s 2013-2025 England Talent Development Strategy. Expand the number of athletes (meeting Insight minimum talent standards) from both sports Baseball and softball are recent Olympic sports that maintain a realistic chance of being restored to the engaged in our talent development pathway. Olympic programme. Considerable progress has been made in developing the sports' England Talent Pathway since 2001, making good use of investment from UK Sport that ended in 2007. This investment Expand the structure of Regional Academies and has been reflected in competition results achieved by the GB Baseball and GB Softball national teams ever provide a range of qualified part-time and since and both teams are competing at World Championship level in 2012 (see here). A relatively modest specialist coaches working with talented athletes. Talent investment in the 2013-17 WSP cycle could capitalise on earlier public investment and put both sports in a position to progress if and when they are restored to the Olympic programme. Communicate the aims and methodologies of Current Talent Development talent development activities throughout the sports to enhance the links between clubs,  Talented young players are reaching high levels (with minimal resource support) through targeted coaching and competition, driven by national development opportunities at The Academy. Over the past ten years, 16 baseball players from team needs. Academy Baseball have been placed in US high school or college programmes or with teams in high-level European leagues, and six Academy Softball players have been placed in US college Formalise structures for promoting young GB programmes. During the same period, seven Academy Baseball graduates and 16 Academy players to US college programmes and increase Softball graduates have gone on to be selected for their senior national teams (see here). the number of players who are accepted by US  The Academy runs national and regional sessions and reaches a wide range of developing players community colleges and universities. (see here). Currently, The Academy is open to all, but is attended primarily by players who have demonstrated talent potential in club environments. This open policy has created strong links with Send an increasing number of players to Major clubs, who play an important role in identifying talent and who routinely encourage their best young League Baseball's European Academy. players to attend The Academy for an enhanced learning experience. This has had a positive effect on home-grown talent in both baseball and softball and is building a future generation of more Establish defined roles for players who drop off polished and knowledgeable players, most of whom continue their playing careers in this country the talent pathway so they can continue to and have a positive impact on the standard of domestic play. contribute to the sports.

 Both GB Baseball and GB Softball are competing at World Championship level in 2012 and have well-developed junior squads underpinning the senior programmes (see diagram on Page 54). Good Bespoke personal opportunities are provided for talented players to perform at the highest levels. The national team development for programmes, buoyed by British nationals who have developed in other countries, are creating the best 14-19 credible teams competing at the highest level of International Federation play. This provides year olds talented home-grown players with the challenge of reaching high standards in order to represent their country (for details of selection criteria, click here). The platform is there for talented players to realise their aspirations – what's missing is the concentrated support needed to prepare them for The Academy the challenge. Developing a pool of talented  Selection to GB national teams, especially at senior level, involves fierce competition from players athletes. who have developed in other countries. This drives players in England (and occasionally from the other Home Countries) to seek development opportunities through The Academy and has National and encouraged many to consider, as the next step in their playing careers, the move to North American Regional Tiers college and university programmes, where there is an intensity of coaching and competition not yet available in the UK. Improved Domestic Compettiion Offer / Activity A Talent Development Programme that takes a three-pronged approach to preparing young players to realise their potential: Cost  Direct and concentrated support to a handful of the most talented 14-19yr olds at the top of the SEng BSUK talent pathway, supporting their development towards becoming contributory players on the world System Building £60,000 class performance stage. Talented Few £40,000  Extended hands-on development for a wider pool of talented young players through The Academy, Enhanced Support for £40,000 introducing minimum standards for talent identification and developing appropriate curriculum to The Academy Domestic Competition extend their skills and game awareness. £10,000 Enhancements  Improved competition structures, some of them linked directly to The Academy, to facilitate a TOTAL £150,000 higher level of domestic play for players on the talent pathway.

When Throughout the cycle, starting in April 2013.

AGE 12yrs 14yrs 16yrs 18yrs 20yrs 22yrs 24yrs 26yrs 28yrs 30yrs 32yrs+

Seniors National Team Selection to World Class Programmes

U23 GB (Baseball) U18/19 GB U16/15 North American Development GB High School, College, Pro U13 (SB)

Bespoke personal development for the best 14-19 year olds

The Academy England Developing a pool of talented athletes. Talent National and Regional Tiers Development

Improved playing opportunities within domestic competition

Clubs and Leagues

Teams

© BaseballSoftballUK 2012 47 Whole Sport Plan 2013-2017 Table of Contents For evidence related to this section, including previous talent development achievements and competition results, please click here. BSUK regards the inclusion of Talent funding within its Sport England Whole Sport Plan award to be of vital importance to the future of both baseball and softball, because it is only through such funding that:  Full athlete pathways will become available throughout our sports in England, supporting the twin-track rationale of helping each athlete to reach his or her full potential and feeding more talented and developed athletes into our world class programmes.  Talented English athletes will be better able to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations within our sports, giving us a better chance of retaining such athletes and of their becoming 'players for life'.  Even if direct public funding for baseball and softball national teams is not restored, some of the disadvantages currently suffered by Great Britain (GB) teams relative to our European competitors will be mitigated. We will be better able to improve performance standards and maintain or improve our significant achievements over the past decade in international competition, enhancing Great Britain's standing in world baseball and softball through talented English athletes.  There will be a positive knock-on effect throughout the sports, not just at performance and elite levels, but on standards of coaching, competition and performance. Our intention is to make talent development a 'golden thread' running through Clubs, Coaches and Competition, working with clubs to develop a player-led approach, working with the coach education programme to develop high-level coaches and working with the Federations to develop competition structures that will aid the development of athletes on the talent pathway and support the needs of national teams. Our talent development work will coincide with, and will in part be based around, new dedicated facilities for both sports that will open in 2013 at Farnham Park near Slough and in Milton Keynes, through capital funding from Sport England and other partners. During the period 2013-17, we will upgrade these facilities as national training centres and as sites for international competition, and we will develop an additional regional epicentre in the North of England. Talent development is a vital part of international sports like baseball and softball, which were recently Olympic sports and have high-level international competitions in which GB teams have achieved significant results. Given the considerable investment that Sport England is making in baseball and softball in terms of Grow, Sustain and facility creation, the talent pathway is the next logical step to retaining participants beyond our Grow and Sustain initiatives in creating a more complete development offer.

Assumptions The measures below that will demonstrate the effectiveness of BSUK's England talent pathway relate in large part to the need for our World Class programmes in baseball and softball – in this case the national team programmes – to drive the approach to talent development. The emphasis on specialist coaching for the players at the top of the pathway, building competition structures designed to give them more experience at a high level domestically and abroad, providing relevant sports science support and prioritising the placement of our best prospects in US college programmes and at the MLB European Academy are all geared to increase the quantity and quality of players who can make an impact in international competition in baseball and softball.

At the same time, however, the current open nature of the Academy system (which we intend to maintain for part of the 2013-17 cycle to build the numbers on the pathway), our dependence on clubs for talent identification and our aim of embedding coaching principles from The Academy curriculum throughout the club structure in both sports demonstrates that our talent development programme will have strong connections to our sporting community.

Measures