Last night (18th June) Baseball Victoria held its first Presidents and Secretaries meeting for the 2018/19 Summer season.
This meeting was a culmination of a long process of engagement with Baseball Victoria’s members and affiliated bodies in an effort to better understand the needs and priorities of the community leading into the summer competition.
The first of these consultations started with a Summit Series which was facilitated by Simon Brown-Grieves, an industry professional in mediation and organizational change management.
From these meetings there were a number of key topics which were listed and communicated with all stake holders during an ongoing and deliberate engagement period.
One of these topics was the formation of the Victorian Summer Baseball League Pennant Committee, whose reinstatement was unanimously supported by the Baseball Victoria Board.
After a long nomination process, VSBL clubs were offered the opportunity to vote for the three (3) nominees which they thought most representative of their communities and members. These three nominees joined the three (3) BV appointed members, forming a new six (6) person VSBLPC.
The new members of this committee, Chair Michael Gourlay, Deputy Chair Dwain Richardson, John King, Jake Cole-Sinclair, Competitions Co-Ordinator Kelsey Quinn and Umpires Co-Ordinator Stewart Howe, met on the 7th of June for the first time to discuss a range of unresolved topics that were considered broadly at the Summit Series.
From this meeting, the VSBLPC tabled five recommendations including two proposed changes to the VSBL playing conditions for the upcoming 2018/19 season. These were related to the commencement date of the competition and the heavily debated Non-National rule.
The meeting commenced at 7:07pm with 26 clubs represented. Baseball Victoria CEO, Justin Huber welcomed the participants and reiterated just how committed BV has been to engage thoroughly with its members and run a professional process to achieve a balanced outcome for the upcoming summer competition.
“I am truly excited by the level of communication we have had with our stakeholders over the last six months. We have committed to receiving the feedback necessary in order to facilitate the decisions that best represent our community and members. We have a group of baseball people representing our baseball community for the first time in a number of years with the reinstatement of the VSBLPC. I feel the change even in the short period since the VSBLPC was established and I can’t wait to see what value we can deliver as a collective to our community.”
Justin introduced the VSBPC members before handing over to Deputy Chair, Dwain Richardson who led the inaugural Presidents and Secretaries meeting on behalf of Chair, Michael Gourlay, who was unable to attend due to family commitments.
Dwain soon established a concise and well-rounded conversation which followed an agenda prepared in the weeks leading up to the meeting. Pre-reading papers for this agenda were circulated to all the VSBL presidents and secretaries 1 week prior to the meeting. This was to allow for adequate consideration of the topics and engagement with the local communities that the presidents and secretaries represent.
Item 4 on the agenda was the vigorously discussed Non-National rule. The pre-reading papers outlined a recommended rule change from the VSBLPC that amended the wording of the current playing conditions. This recommended change was presented to the presidents and secretaries for a vote as follows;
Current Playing Condition: 98 a) A player will be deemed ‘non-national’ if they are not an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident or have not continuously resided in Australia for the six months immediately prior to the commencement of the season in which a Club wishes to register them as a player.
To be replaced with
Revised Playing Condition: 98 a) A player will be deemed a ‘national’ if they are an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident. All other individuals that do not currently hold Australian Citizenship or a Permanent residency visa will be deemed as a ‘Non-National’.
After further lengthy discussions the vote was cast and the result was heavily in favor of leaving the rule unchanged for the coming season. The official vote count had 9 in favor of the recommended change and 17 against.
Item 5 on the agenda required the presidents and secretaries to decide on another recommended rule change. This recommendation allowed for the season to commence one week prior to the current provision in the VSBL playing conditions, which restricted the start of the summer competition to no sooner than the first weekend in October. The recommendation to change the current rule was presented to the presidents and secretaries for a vote as follows;
Current Playing Condition: 5a) The Summer League regular season fixture will commence no earlier than the first from first weekend of October.
To be replaced with
Revised Playing Condition: 5a) The Summer League Senior regular season fixture will commence no earlier than the last weekend of September.
After a short discussion the vote to adopt the recommended change to the playing condition was strongly supported. The result tabled 24 in favor and 2 against. Competition Co-Ordinator, Kelsey Quinn, will now make the necessary official changes and circulate a revised VSBL playing conditions to the members for the upcoming 2018/19 season.
“I’m really pleased that the Presidents and Secretaries saw the benefit in allowing the season to commence one week prior to the start of October. This will allow for a very well rounded and even competition in terms of the amount of home and away games played throughout the season. This took a lot of hard work and analysis in order to better understand the anomalies that we will experience in this calendar year and a change such as this in the playing conditions further supports the integrity of the competition. This is a great outcome for the VSBL and demonstrates the commitment of the presidents and secretaries to a vibrant and valuable competition experience.”
The meeting was closed after a general business discussion at 9:05pm. Deputy Chair, Dwain Richardson, reiterated the lengthy process undertaken to achieve an engaged meeting, and the ongoing commitment to over-communicating and delivering value to the presidents and secretaries meetings.
The next meeting with be conducted on August 6th at a location yet to be determined. Baseball Victoria would like to thank all the participants in last night’s presidents and secretaries meeting and look forward to the ongoing dialogue and engagement with its valuable members.
Last night (18th June) Baseball Victoria held its first Presidents and Secretaries meeting for the 2018/19 Summer season.
This meeting was a culmination of a long process of engagement with Baseball Victoria’s members and affiliated bodies in an effort to better understand the needs and priorities of the community leading into the summer competition.
The first of these consultations started with a Summit Series which was facilitated by Simon Brown-Grieves, an industry professional in mediation and organizational change management.
From these meetings there were a number of key topics which were listed and communicated with all stake holders during an ongoing and deliberate engagement period.
One of these topics was the formation of the Victorian Summer Baseball League Pennant Committee, whose reinstatement was unanimously supported by the Baseball Victoria Board.
After a long nomination process, VSBL clubs were offered the opportunity to vote for the three (3) nominees which they thought most representative of their communities and members. These three nominees joined the three (3) BV appointed members, forming a new six (6) person VSBLPC.
The new members of this committee, Chair Michael Gourlay, Deputy Chair Dwain Richardson, John King, Jake Cole-Sinclair, Competitions Co-Ordinator Kelsey Quinn and Umpires Co-Ordinator Stewart Howe, met on the 7th of June for the first time to discuss a range of unresolved topics that were considered broadly at the Summit Series.
From this meeting, the VSBLPC tabled five recommendations including two proposed changes to the VSBL playing conditions for the upcoming 2018/19 season. These were related to the commencement date of the competition and the heavily debated Non-National rule.
The meeting commenced at 7:07pm with 26 clubs represented. Baseball Victoria CEO, Justin Huber welcomed the participants and reiterated just how committed BV has been to engage thoroughly with its members and run a professional process to achieve a balanced outcome for the upcoming summer competition.
“I am truly excited by the level of communication we have had with our stakeholders over the last six months. We have committed to receiving the feedback necessary in order to facilitate the decisions that best represent our community and members. We have a group of baseball people representing our baseball community for the first time in a number of years with the reinstatement of the VSBLPC. I feel the change even in the short period since the VSBLPC was established and I can’t wait to see what value we can deliver as a collective to our community.”
Justin introduced the VSBPC members before handing over to Deputy Chair, Dwain Richardson who led the inaugural Presidents and Secretaries meeting on behalf of Chair, Michael Gourlay, who was unable to attend due to family commitments.
Dwain soon established a concise and well-rounded conversation which followed an agenda prepared in the weeks leading up to the meeting. Pre-reading papers for this agenda were circulated to all the VSBL presidents and secretaries 1 week prior to the meeting. This was to allow for adequate consideration of the topics and engagement with the local communities that the presidents and secretaries represent.
Item 4 on the agenda was the vigorously discussed Non-National rule. The pre-reading papers outlined a recommended rule change from the VSBLPC that amended the wording of the current playing conditions. This recommended change was presented to the presidents and secretaries for a vote as follows;
Current Playing Condition: 98 a) A player will be deemed ‘non-national’ if they are not an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident or have not continuously resided in Australia for the six months immediately prior to the commencement of the season in which a Club wishes to register them as a player.
To be replaced with
Revised Playing Condition: 98 a) A player will be deemed a ‘national’ if they are an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident. All other individuals that do not currently hold Australian Citizenship or a Permanent residency visa will be deemed as a ‘Non-National’.
After further lengthy discussions the vote was cast and the result was heavily in favor of leaving the rule unchanged for the coming season. The official vote count had 9 in favor of the recommended change and 17 against.
Item 5 on the agenda required the presidents and secretaries to decide on another recommended rule change. This recommendation allowed for the season to commence one week prior to the current provision in the VSBL playing conditions, which restricted the start of the summer competition to no sooner than the first weekend in October. The recommendation to change the current rule was presented to the presidents and secretaries for a vote as follows;
Current Playing Condition: 5a) The Summer League regular season fixture will commence no earlier than the first from first weekend of October.
To be replaced with
Revised Playing Condition: 5a) The Summer League Senior regular season fixture will commence no earlier than the last weekend of September.
After a short discussion the vote to adopt the recommended change to the playing condition was strongly supported. The result tabled 24 in favor and 2 against. Competition Co-Ordinator, Kelsey Quinn, will now make the necessary official changes and circulate a revised VSBL playing conditions to the members for the upcoming 2018/19 season.
“I’m really pleased that the Presidents and Secretaries saw the benefit in allowing the season to commence one week prior to the start of October. This will allow for a very well rounded and even competition in terms of the amount of home and away games played throughout the season. This took a lot of hard work and analysis in order to better understand the anomalies that we will experience in this calendar year and a change such as this in the playing conditions further supports the integrity of the competition. This is a great outcome for the VSBL and demonstrates the commitment of the presidents and secretaries to a vibrant and valuable competition experience.”
The meeting was closed after a general business discussion at 9:05pm. Deputy Chair, Dwain Richardson, reiterated the lengthy process undertaken to achieve an engaged meeting, and the ongoing commitment to over-communicating and delivering value to the presidents and secretaries meetings.
The next meeting with be conducted on August 6th at a location yet to be determined. Baseball Victoria would like to thank all the participants in last night’s presidents and secretaries meeting and look forward to the ongoing dialogue and engagement with its valuable members.