GBL Committee, Women’s and Finals Hosting and more.

To all GBL Clubs as addressed,

Please read the following information regarding news for the GBL Competition

NEW GBL COMPETITION COMMITTEE

The recent election for the GBL Competition Committee has concluded and we are pleased to advise the new GBL Competition Committee is as follows:-

• Janelle Dunsdon          Redcliffe Padres nominated
• Jason McMahon          Ipswich nominated
• Karen Gallpen             Southern Stars nominated
• Mark Ready                Windsor nominated
• Matt Glasson               Pine Hills nominated
• Michael Bates             (QBUA nominated)
• Richard Fulcher           Carina nominated
• Rod Gaunt                   Western Districts nominated
• Scott Sharples             Gold Coast nominated

Congratulations to all of the above – a Chairman will be elected by the Committee members at the first meeting in 2021.

The GBL Competition Committee is seeking further members to join the Committee – if interested – please send your interest by email to Glen Long – gbl@baseballqueensland.com.au

The GBL Competition Committee would like to sincerely thank outgoing members – Javier Gonzalez and Gareth Irving for their contributions during the course of their tenure on the GBL Competition Committee

The GBL Competition Committee will also be inviting a member of the Qld Baseball Scorers group to join the GBL Competition Committee.

FINES

The GBL Competition Committee has decided to rescind all invoices in relation to unaccredited umpires to assist clubs during these very difficult, COVID affected times.

However fines will stand and will need to be paid for those fines in relation to no supply of an umpire.

Please understand this action in no way condones the use of unaccredited umpires and the use of unaccredited umpire from 1 January 2021 will be a breach of GBL Competition Rules with an associated fine. This is an acknowledgement by the GBL Competition Committee that Clubs have had a difficult start to the season with the many challenges presented to Clubs.

Clubs need to understand that it takes significant volunteer time to check every GBL Game Card, identify breaches and raise invoices. The GBL Competition Committee as manager of the GBL summer baseball competition has a duty to ensure the competition follows rules set down by Baseball Australia. History has shown that Clubs need to be persuaded to follow the Competition rules and the issuing of fines is the mechanism for this. We don’t want the money, we want Clubs to follow the rules.

It is imperative that all Clubs ensure their Club umpires are appropriately accredited for 2021.

WOMENS POST XMAS SHORT SEASON

GBL Clubs are reminded that team entries for Women’s teams close on Friday, 18^th December 2020.

Teams must be Club based.

MELEE RULE

All GBL Clubs are reminded of the Melee Rule – there have been too many instances of melee’s occurring already this season.

9.8 MELEE RULE

9.8.1 The GBL Competition Committee will not tolerate the clearing of players and coaches from a bench to engage in a melee under any circumstances. As such, the Competition Manager will apply an automatic one (1) game suspension on any reported player, coach or other person that leaves their bench or designated area to engage in a melee.

GRAND FINAL HOSTING

The following Clubs have been approved to host Grand Finals

1. Masters – South Division        Host Club – Southern Stars
2. Masters – North Division        Host Club – Host club required – please send your interest by email to Glen Long – gbl@baseballqueensland.com.au
3. Seniors – Divisions 1 – 3         Host Club – Pine Hills
4. Seniors – Divisions 4 – 6         Host Club – Southern Stars
5. Juniors – all age groups          Host Club – Redlands

Congratulations to the above Clubs for the successful hosting application and we look forward to some wonderful Grand Final games.

QLD MASTERS GAMES – ANZAC Day weekend 2021

The GBL Competition Committee is seeking Expressions of Interest to host the QLD MASTERS GAMES – ANZAC Day weekend 2021.

Depending on team entries, this will be a three day tournament for the three Masters age groups – 35+; 45+; 55+ – Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Team entry is available for any Queensland based Club team. Individual player entry will also be available – individual registered players will be allocated to teams.

Rules will be largely based on the GBL Masters Competition rules with some additional rules to ensure games end on time etc.

More information will be sent soon.

QUEENSLAND GBL SENIORS GAMES

The GBL Competition Committee will be seeking Expressions of Interest from Clubs in relation to holding a pre-season Tournament for the QUEENSLAND GBL SENIORS GAMES.

It is anticipated this will be held in early September 2021 – more details to follow.

REPORTED AND EJECTED PLAYERS

The GBL Competition Committee has noted a significant increase in reported and ejected players so far this season. The GBL Competition Committee request Committees of all GBL Clubs address this issue with Coaches and players to try and minimise poor behaviour and breaches of player and member behaviour.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The GBL Competition Committee would like extend season greetings to all GBL Clubs and best wishes for a festive, safe and healthy Xmas break. We look forward to the resumption of the season in early January 2021

Women’s Post Christmas Short Season Baseball Competition.

The GBL Competition Committee is asking for team entries for the post Christmas Women’s short-season baseball competition. This is for a 10 week short season – 8 home and away games plus 2 weeks of Finals.

This new short season will be offered as follows:-

• Division 1
• Division 2

A minimum four teams to be entered for each Division for each competition to proceed.

The new short season will commence as follows

• Season will commence on Saturday 16^th January 2021
• Semi-finals – Saturday 13^th March 2021
• Grand Finals – Saturday 20^th March 2021

Players will need to register again for a short season registration if they did not register for a full season registration at the start of the summer baseball season.

Team entries must be received by COB – Friday, 18^th December 2020. Please send the completed Team Entry form to Glen Long – Competition Administrator – gbl@baseballqueensland.com.au

Nominations Now Open for GBL Committee

Nominations are now open to fill 6 positions on the GBL Committee .
Nominations can be made by filling out the form below and sent to gblcommittee@baseballqueensland.com.au

GBL Competition Committee nomination form

The closing date for Nominations is 5PM Friday 4 December 2020

The Ballot Form will be sent to all Clubs the following week.

The 4 returning members are Michael Bates, Karen Gallpen, Richard Fulcher, Scott Sharples.

Please read through the Charter below.

GBL Competition Committee Charter – GBL Version 3.1

Cancellation of QLD GBL Senior Games for 2020.

To all GBL Clubs as addressed,

Regrettably, there has not been sufficient team entries to allow the QLD GBL SENIOR GAMES – Division 1/2; 3/4; 5/6 to be played on the 18; 19; 20 December 2020 to proceed.

The GBL Competition Committee will seek to offer this program as a pre-season tournament option in September 2021.

Thank you to the Clubs that replied – it would appear that the timing so close to Christmas was a significant factor in Clubs not participating.

Best regards

Rodney Gaunt
GBL COMPETITION COMMITTEE

GBL 2019-20 Survey Summary and Response

The GBL Competition Committee would like to thank all Clubs and players who participated in sharing feedback for the GBL 2019/2020 summer baseball competition.
We have analysed the feedback and please find following a summary of that information.

The aim of having two surveys was to allow people to share their experiences of the season and also allow people to share insight into specific competition aspects.

Below we will aim to summarise and acknowledge key areas brought to our attention through the surveys.

2019-20 GBL SEASON SURVEY

The Survey asked for the satisfaction of the individual to be rated out of 5 stars.

• Satisfaction around the number of games played was at3.6 stars.
• Satisfaction around the level of competition was at 3.8 stars
• Satisfaction around umpiring was at 3.3 stars
• Satisfaction around the level of excellence club facilities was at 4.1 stars
• Satisfaction around the level of sportsmanship was at 3.9 stars.
• Satisfaction with the level of communication from clubs to individuals was at 4.0 stars.

We allowed people to share their thoughts on what their favourite aspects of playing this season was. Key themes that were shared were:

• Growing / Maintaining Friendships
• Quality Coaches
• People who were involved in the club being supportive and caring
• The development of players.

We gave people the opportunity to share “other comments”. With 72 comments received, we have selected 3 themes that were consistently shared.

• Teams / Players playing in a division that others had the opinion they shouldn’t have been in. 11 People responded that having teams who should have been in a higher division did not make for a pleasant experience.
• The inability to navigate/reschedule rain-affected games
• Extending the GBLW season. (Senior women’s).

To summarise this survey, the GBL Committee is pleased with the progress we have made in recent years to build a competition people are generally enjoying and pleased to contribute to. We acknowledge that there are aspects of the game that we are continuing to work on.

We recognise that the season we have had and how it ended created challenges that were new to our Committee. It is our commitment to look at avenues to play rained out games and the survey provided insight into some creative measures that we will look into.

We also recognise the collective voice in regard to teams being potentially seeded in the incorrect division. The GBL Committee will look at creative measures to create a fairer competition in all our divisions and also recognise that this is a continuing work in progress between the Committee and the clubs who make up the GBL.

The GBL will also look at creating a framework for growth for women in our sport. We saw a large growth in our GBLW competition this year and are proud to see new people involved in our sport. Our intent will be to create a sustainable and successful competition and the Committee will look at building short term and long-term plans to continuing building the GBLW.

2019-20 COMPETITION SURVEY

Rules Review
Similar to last season’s survey 60% of the respondents replied they did not think any rules needed to be reviewed for the junior divisions.

Tournaments / Carnivals
There is significant interest in both Juniors and Seniors Tournaments.

Unlimited Exchange for clubs who have multiple team in the same division.
The numbers came back even on whether this should or shouldn’t be allowed. The GBL will continue to research into the direction it takes.

Little League Rams Passed Ball = Runs
51% of people shared that a passed ball should be allowed to score on in the Little League Rams competition. A quarter said no and another quarter answered NA. The follow-up question related to Coach Pitching after ball 4, this was evenly answered in both the negative and positive.

The GBL Committee will continue to look at avenues to make our game more inviting for new players in this age group and skill set.

Should Major Juniors be played in Winter?
This question had more feedback in comment form than any in the survey. With opinions being split evenly, the GBL Committee is committed to ensuring the direction of our Major Juniors competition will be played in the time of year that will allow the competition and its players the best opportunity to thrive. More time and research will be taken into exploring this question further.

Senior Season Changes.

GBLW: Extending the GBLW season past Christmas was explored in the survey and the results were split evenly for and against. There were many comments added with a variety of expressions both positive and negative. The GBL Committee is committed to building a strategy to create a sustainable and strong GBLW and the results from this survey will be included in helping the Committee make decisions for the future of the competition.

The Link between D1 and D2 will continue to be reviewed by the GBL Committee. The survey indicated mixed responses to the link and as such will be looked into further by the Committee.

Finally, the topic of Double Header Sundays instead of Friday and Sunday games for D1 was explored by the survey. With responses being mixed evenly the GBL Committee will continue to explore avenues of ensuring the best situation for our Division 1 teams.

The GBL Committee would like to thank everyone who contributed to the survey. It is imperative that we continue to get a wide range of input when looking to better our competition. Thank you for taking the time and being passionate about the game we all love.

GBL 2019-20 Awards

Baseball Queensland on behalf of the GBL Committee are proud to publicise the GBL award winners for the 2019-20 Season.

After a fantastic season cut short due to COVID19 the GBL Committee are proud to share the winners of each division MVP, Junior and Senior Clubs of the year and the GBL Volunteer of the Year.

GBL Most Valuable Player Award

GBL Clubs of the Year Award

GBL Volunteer of the Year Award winner:

The GBL Committee would also like to recognise our Volunteer of the Year Award Nominees:

Karen Gallpen: Southern Stars BC

Kim Anderson: All Stars BC

Anna Day: Coomera Cubs BC

Congratulations to all our award winners and well done to all our GBL clubs for making the 2019-20 a fantastic season.

If you are interested in how Club of the Year and Volunteer of the Year are awarded, please read below.

Senior Club of the Year Award Criteria

1. a) based on the number of wins (points on ladder) for every senior team including Men’s, Women’s and

Masters teams.

1. b) Recognises those Clubs that work hard to field the most number of Senior teams
2. c) Extra – 5 points for minor premiers and 5 points for winners of the grand final.
3. d) 1 point deduction for every fine incurred during the season.
4. e) 5 points deduction for every ejection that results in a judiciary sentence. 3 points for every ejection

resulting in a penalty being served.

1. f) 1 point for every 5 percent growth in registered GBL PLAYER numbers at the club from the previous

season registered number of players.

Junior Club of the Year Award Criteria

1. a) based on the number of wins (points on ladder) for every junior team including Little League through to Under 20’s
2. b) Recognises those Clubs that work hard to field the most number of Junior teams
3. c) Extra 5 points for minor premiers and 5 points for winners of the grand final.
4. d) 1 point deduction for every fine incurred during the season.
5. e) 5 points deduction for every ejection that results in a judiciary hearing and penalty, 3 points for every

ejection resulting in a penalty being served.

1. f) 1 point for every 5 percent growth in registered PLAYER numbers at the club from the previous season

registered number of players.

Volunteer of the Year award:

To be eligible, the nominated volunteer must achieve beneficial outcomes for the member club and the community in general. These accomplishments must relate to the following criteria:-

A volunteer who has accomplished at least two of the following:

• Significant contribution
• Work that directly benefits the GBL Club and community
• Event or project
• A lengthy period of commitment to the GBL Club or community

If a GBL Committee member is nominated, that individual is unable to vote for the award. The vote is carried about by the remainder of the GBL Committee and our Baseball Queensland Competitions Administrator Glen Long.