As part of a coordinated initiative by the ESF Development Commission to grow the sport in every format, specialist slowpitch coaches and umpire trainers have been sent to several ESF member federations over the past couple of years to run clinics to promote and develop the slowpitch discipline.

The latest Slowpitch Development Clinic was run in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the weekend of February 19-21 at the request of Slovenian Federation Board Members Igor Veselinovic, Darja Grimsic and Bernard Perme.

Their objective was to improve their members’ understanding of the slowpitch format, since Slovenia is now taking part in ESF slowpitch competitions as well as running a domestic indoor slowpitch league in the winter. Many Slovenian slowpitch players have previous experience of fastpitch or baseball and were looking for expert guidance to perform effectively in the new format.

Former GB Slowpitch Team player and now Assistant Coach Lukas Kelly and I spent three very busy days addressing slowpitch playing and umpiring techniques and strategies, and were overwhelmed by questions.

Day 1: February 19th

The first day’s session combined gymnasium and classroom work on slowpitch pitching and other playing techniques. This soon became a batting clinic as each participant – coaches, managers and players alike – spent time at the plate receiving personal coaching from Lukas. I covered the rules of pitching, including timings, height and strike zone issues, and “umpired” the exercises.

There was then a classroom session on the rule differences between fastpitch and slowpitch that continued with discussion and questions over dinner.

Day 2: February 20th

The Slovenian National Slowpitch Team and two of its top club teams will be active in ESF slowpitch play this summer, and in the winter they keep their skills sharp by playing Indoor (“Arena”) softball. So they used one of their regular Saturday tournaments to expose as many players as possible to the visiting clinicians. Many of the players involved had “retired” from fastpitch or baseball, but slowpitch has brought them back into the softball family.

With nine teams playing on a tightly-timed rota from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm on two pitches, the activity was continuous and exhausting, as anyone who has played Indoor Softball will know. Every one of the participants got first-hand attention from Lukas, as he took each team in turn and coached a full game with them. Their response to his input was immediate and obvious, and they were all keen to show off how good they were as players!

The standard of play was impressive: those teams would certainly be competitive at any events Lukas and I have seen in GB and elsewhere that Indoor Slowpitch is played.

With regard to umpiring issues, I observed the three local officials as they worked the games and fed back during and after each game. Indoor Softball is a high-speed and demanding challenge for umpires: distances are short and the action is explosive and continuous. Positioning is critical, and reactions have to be as sharp as the players’.

Although local formal training in umpiring is in short supply, Slovenia has already qualified Tomo Zezlina to ESF standard in slowpitch, and the local players who volunteered to help out as officials at the event had the advantage of a good understanding of the game. The group concentrated on positioning, mechanics, signalling and player/coach management. Discipline can be an issue in the heat of a fast-moving game, and some lessons were learned about the handling of challenging situations!

Igor Kep enjoyed it so much he has volunteered for the next ESF Slowpitch Umpire Course to be held in Belgium at the end of June!

In all, more than 100 players spent the day fully involved in their competition, putting in a lot of effort and energy and gaining new knowledge and skills.

Federations and teams new to softball can find the start-up period very difficult, but the ESF is committed to helping softball development in all its forms, as is the ISF. The International Federation has already supplied Starter Kits to Slovenia: these are bags containing everything you need to launch a team, from bases to gloves. These kits were much in evidence throughout the day and helped supply a high-quality experience for all the players.

Adding the human touch of expert clinicians to the physical supply of sometimes expensive equipment showed that the coordination of ESF and ISF efforts can be successful at grassroots level in growing the sport in places where it has not been seen before.

Day 3: February 21st

The final session of the Slowpitch Clinic took place on Sunday morning. No sooner had Lukas and I finished breakfast than the core group arrived again, this time to review the experiences of the day before, consolidating lessons learned and planning further activities. The umpires reviewed rule changes and developed positioning protocols specifically tailored to the indoor game.

As the local club will host the European Slowpitch Cup this year, Club President Andrej Mrevlje showed the clinicians and Board members the field and facilities to be used, and hosted lunch before Lukas and I had to return to the airport.

We worked hard over the weekend, but we enjoyed both the sporting activity and the generous hospitality shown by the hosts after the working sessions were over. We would be very happy to return if asked, and will be keen to see how Slovenian teams fare in this summer’s ESF slowpitch competitions.

Local Reactions

Two of the key people behind the development of slowpitch in Slovenia, Federation Board members Igor Veselinovic and Darja Grimsic, were both happy with how the weekend went.

Igor Veselinovic said: “It was great and we spent a nice time together. On the first day there were not so many people, but on Saturday there were nine co-ed teams and Mike and Lukas were on the field the whole day, without even a break for lunch. Mike was helping umpires and even called one game while Lukas was helping to manage games, and each team had his help on at least one game. On Sunday morning they discussed tactics for the European Slowpitch Championship and Cup this season with coaches and players. Thanks to the ESF for choosing us for this development programme.”

Darja Grimsic said: “Lukas is a very, very good coach and he showed us a lot of things we needed to know. Now we understand the differences between fastpitch and slowpitch much better. He worked with our pitchers and the results were already seen the next day at the tournament. He talked a lot about tactics and he worked with every team at the tournament. We didn’t have enough time to ask him everything we needed to – three days are just not enough!

Mike did a great job too, and because of his work one of our guys who helps us with umpiring at our tournaments has decided to go to Belgium to become an ESF standard umpire, which is very good for slowpitch in Slovenia. Mike showed our players a totally new level of umpiring. This clinic was a great experience for all, and I really hope that we can do the same thing again.”