2012 Annual Report - Softball Australia

Acting CEO’s Report
Sustainability
Our national events provide an opportunity to
showcase our sport, promote the sport and enhance
spectator involvement. Last year we established the
Event Review Committee to evaluate and review all
aspects of the current national events program. The
intention of the review was to develop an effective,
commercially viable and sustainable national events
program.
Michael Shields, Softball Victoria Board Member, was
appointed to conduct interviews throughout Australia
with coaches, officials, administrator, participants and
spectators to seek feedback regarding our national
events program. The report indicated a need for similar
standards across all tournaments, provide a better
focus on our volunteers and to improve the overall
atmosphere of these events to engage and attract
more spectators.
The Event Review established short, medium and long
term goals that need to be finalised in consultation
with our Member States, such as:
• trial combined events (eg U17 Boys and Girls same
venue) or Gilley’s Shield and U17 Girls
• a review of the national events calendar, including
all Softball events (international, national and state)
with the purpose of improving the current schedule
• trial a proposed event model at one event, eg U17
• develop a full working document for a centralised
event program which includes procedures,
processes, costings and case studies
• identified and recruited volunteer SCCP Coaches to
deliver the pilot programs in each state and
established baseline numbers for FY12 and FY13 (as
part of planning/pilots)
• finalised the national ISP strategy and the
membership model for remote Indigenous
communities, launched the ISP program in Canberra
on 23 March with MOU sign-off in Northern
Territory, South Australia and Western Australia
• 7,896 ISP participants through various initiatives
In High Performance:
• delivery of six National Catchers and Battery Camps
in ACT, NSW, SA, Tas, Vic and WA
• development and implementation of a national
Strength and Conditioning program for Open and
U19
• review and restructure of the National Elite
Development program with the focus on the Daily
Training Environment (DTE)
• establishment of a National Coaches Leadership
group, which includes the formation of the
National Coaching Committee and establishment
of the Battery Reference Group with work
commencing on the National Softball Coaches
Guidelines
Our deliverables
Over the past 12 months we have achieved many of our
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
In participation:
• finalised the Softball Batter Up (SBU) program and
Kids Zone for associations and clubs and delivered
25 pilot programs, with 1,517 SBU participants taking
part
• appointed a National Community Coach
Coordinator and three coordinators to develop the
SCCP resources
• conducted four Softball Community Coach pilot
programs to compile feedback on the induction
course resources and delivery methodology.
Stacey Webber
Stacey Webber (Qld) was one of the standouts for the
Aussie Pride team with impressive statistics that included a
batting average of 0.556, a huge 14 RBI display from 6 games
(6 singles, 1 double and 3 home runs) and a slugging average
of 1.111
Image courtesy Donkin Gook Photography.
SOFTBALL AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2012 Page | 7