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Senior Softball Women's Advisory Board (SSWAB) Meeting
January 19-20, 2008
The Senior Softball Women's Advisory Board (SSWAB) is an advisory board to the Senior Softball Summit. The Summit provides a forum for players (through its advisory boards) and promotes senior softball through the exchange of ideas and cooperation among its member organizations. The SSWAB provides a forum for women players, promotes women's senior softball, and advises the Summit on women's issues.
The SSWAB membership at the time of this meeting was the following:
| Name | Region | Representation | |
| Layla Bryan | Mid-South | SPA | laylab@attglobal.net |
| Carmen Campbell | Northeast | cdoublecee@peoplepc.com | |
| Karen Charette | Great Lakes | SSWS | kcnlathrup@aol.com |
| Betti Garnett | Florida | SSWC | softball2eag@aol.com |
| Doreen Garrett | Eastern Canada | doreen.garrett@sympatico.ca | |
| Pat Lawlis | Southwest | lawlis@aol.com | |
| Dusty Loversky | California | dustysue4@yahoo.com | |
| Randy Moses | Northeast | ISF/ISSA | apple.moses@netzero.net |
| Colleen Needham | Great Lakes | canjld@fuse.net | |
| Vicki Oltean | California | SSWS | vicki.oltean@palmsprings-ca.gov |
| Gaile Sandberg | Southwest | HWSG | gailesandy@yahoo.com |
| Judy Lee Schreiber | Southeast | SPA | SPAJudyLee@msn.com |
| Margaret Sievers | Southwest | LVSSA | None |
| Connie Stewart | California | SSUSA | grannysoftball@aol.com |
| Cyndi Winslow | Southwest | SSWC | cyndi1@cox.net |
Connie Stewart, Cyndi Winslow, Jeannie Brent, Carmen Campbell, Karen Charette, Betti Garnett, Doreen Garrett, Pat Lawlis, Dusty Loversky, Colleen Needham, Gaile Sandberg, Judy Lee Schreiber, and Margaret Sievers were present at the meeting. The Board regretted having to accept a resignation from Sylvia Mergl as the representative of Canada. Doreen Garrett and Gaile Sandberg were welcomed to their first SSWAB meeting. Jeannie Brent,was a guest representing SPA at this meeting.
Nomination and Elections were put on the floor for a new Vice Chair and a new Tournament Coordinator. Sue "Dusty" Loversky was elected Vice Chair. Colleen Needham was elected Tournament Coordinator.
The 2007 SSWAC Minutes were approved via email, with no objections.
The Senior Softball Women's Advisory Board (SSWAB) is the new name established for this women's advisory group. It was formerly the Senior Softball Women's Advisory Council (SSWAC), but the acronym was too easily confused with the member organization SSWC. The SSWAB acronym is distinct and hopefully will make it easier for players to distinguish between actions of the Advisory Board (which are recommendations to the Summit) and actions of member organizations.
After some discussion about the possible need for an additional meeting in middle of the year, the idea was rejected. All work of the SSWAB will be accomplished either during the meeting at the Summit in January or via email at other times of the year.
Connie expressed some concern with the lack of email responses and deadlines by members. She asked for better response to email requests and to make an effort to make deadlines requested.
After some discussion about the need for SSWAB information on the web, it was agreed that we need to continue using the central Summit web site, and all member organization's women's sites can link to it. Each women's site should also link to other women's sites.
Doreen will check to see if passports will be required for Americans going to a Canadian tournament such as Dorchester or the CanAm this year. It was recommended that all players who may go to Canada should apply for a passport now because it takes a long time to get one. OPEN
There was some discussion about the Summit's effort to clear up player misunderstandings about its purpose. Some players have the mistaken idea that the Summit is a rule-making body, and this is not the case. The Summit is a forum for an exchange of ideas among the member organizations, and making rules more alike is often an objective, but all rule changes are ultimately decided by the member organizations. It is important to emphasize that the Summit does not dictate to member organizations. It's purpose is to discuss and deal with common issues, then make recommendations to member organizations.
Summit objectives are:
- Strive to eliminate tournament conflicts
- Identify and publish commonalities and differences in the rules
- Provide forum for players for information
- Provide each member association a manner of rating teams
- Provide awareness of health and safety issues
In an effort to also clear up any misunderstandings that players may have about the SSWAB, it was decided to de-emphasize the organizations represented and emphasize instead the regional representation of the SSWAB. The SSWAB has worked out a set of recommended women's rules to further the objective of encouraging member organizations to have women's rules that are more alike. However, the emphasis must be on the fact that the SSWAB is an advisory body only.
The SSWAB established the following break-out of regions in the U.S. and Canada:
| Northwest: | WA, MT, OR, ID, WY, AK |
| North: | ND, MN, WI, SD, NE, IA, KS, MO |
| Great Lakes: | MI, IL, IN, OH, KY |
| Northeast: | ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY, PA, NJ, WV, MD, DE, DC, VA |
| California: | CA, HI |
| Southwest: | NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM |
| Mid-South: | OK, AR, TX, LA |
| Southeast: | TN, NC, MS, AL, GA, SC |
| Florida: | FL |
| Western Canada: | BC, AB, SK, YT, NT, NU |
| Eastern Canada: | MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL |
It was decided that the SSWAB needs an additional member representing each of the following regions:
Northwest
North
Mid-South
Western Canada
Anyone from these regions interested in becoming a member of the SSWAB should email a resume to Connie. Existing members will also recruit for members from these regions. OPEN
The following review of rule changes for 2008 for various organizations was presented:
SPA: Players one or two years underage will be permitted for 65+ (2), 70+ (3), and 75+ (4) age groups. The 75+ age group can use 12 players and a player may re-enter a game unlimited times (batting order must remain the same). From 65+ on, overruns are allowed at 2nd and 3rd bases and a courtesy runner may be used as many times as needed per inning. These rules have been modified to encourage the participation of more older teams. The SSWAB agreed with this type of encouragement, and it will be interested in learning of the players' reactions to these specific changes.
SSWS: The Miken Ultra II bat will now be permitted. For the 50+ age group, up to 5 players who are 49 will be permitted. This is the last year of the 50+ age group transition for SSWC, and next year it will be a true age group.
USSSA: Will now use a strike mat.
SSWC: The equalizer is still 5 runs + 2 for an additional age increment, but now it will be added 1 run per inning. For a 5 run equalizer, the 1 run is added from the 2nd to 6th innings. For a 7 run equalizer, the 1 run is added from the 1st through 7th innings. If time expires and some of these inning are not played, the runs for those innings are lost.
Huntsman: Will consider not allowing double rostering. It is the only organization that now does. OPEN
There was a question about whether the ban could be removed on the use of fast pitch bats for women. Fast pitch bats are shorter and lighter, so they won't provide an advantage to anyone using them, but they would be easier for some players to handle. OPEN
The SSWAB agreed on a recommendation to have brackets posted within one hour after seeding games are completed for an age group. The delegates took this under advisement and will strive to have the seeding posted as soon as possible.
A heat exhaustion checklist was developed from information on WebMD. It was recommended that it should be discussed at managers meetings and posted at each tournament complex. The delegates thanked the SSWAB for this recommendation and will accomplish this.
There was some discussion about a new SSWC men's rule where a batter is out if he hits the pitcher with his batted ball when the pitcher doesn't have a chance to make a play on the ball or get out of the way. It will be considered for women's rules as well. The idea is to stop players from trying to hit up the middle because this puts the pitcher at risk. Each organization will look at this rule and consider it but it will be up to each organization to decided whether to incorporate it or not.
There was an issue raised about so many tournaments being 3 days. These are all major (championship) tournaments. Qualifiers are still 2 days. Scheduling poses difficulties for organizations and players. Organizations must make arrangements with hotels, fields, umpires, etc. Players are concerned about getting off work and not playing enough games on extra days. How late teams send in entry fees have a lot to do with making it hard for tournament directors to plan. Late fees need to be charged and enforced. This does not seem to be a problem for the couple of tournaments (St George and Gallatin) that are women only and always in the same location, but it is a problem for most other tournaments. The delegates will take this information back to their individual organizations for review. OPEN
Another issue discussed was the 3 game guarantee brackets that are now often used rather than true double elimination brackets. The consensus was that players would prefer to play 3 pool games into double elimination. It was recommended that 3 seeding games and true double elimination always be used for 3 day tournaments. The delegates will take this information back to their individual organizations for review. OPEN
Schedulers should take into account if teams have traveled a long distance to a tournament. They should not be scheduled first thing in the morning while local teams have their initial games later. The delegates will take this information back to their individual organizations for review. OPEN
It was agreed that there is a need for incentives for getting teams to enter tournaments. Perhaps organizations can do things like reducing the entry fee for returning champions. Teams also need to get confirmation when entries are received. The delegates will take this information back to their individual organizations for review. OPEN
It was recommended that tournament directors need to take measures to ensure that all umpires are familiar with the women's rules for the tournament before play is started. Copies of rule differences need to be provided to the umpires, and they should be encouraged to meet to discuss them if necessary. The delegates will take this information back to their individual organizations for review. OPEN
Carmen worked up some ideas for a SSWAB survey to go to players. She has asked for feedback from each member.
SSWAC accomplishments and recommendations from this meeting were presented to the Summit.
Connie Stewart, SSWAB Chair
Sue Loversky, Vice Chair/Recorder
The national senior softball organizations in America:
ASA
ISA
Huntsman Games
ISSA
LVSSA
NASCS
SPA
SSUSA
National Senior Softball Hall of Fame
