Last weekend the annual congress of the European Softball Federation (ESF) was held in Antalya, Turkey. Thanks to FIBS.it, BaseballSoftballUK.com and EuropeanSoftball.org here are a few tidbits:
- Secretary General Patrice Bienfait retired from his post due to health reasons and became the first “Member of Honor” in the history of the ESF. He also received the ISF Medal of Honor from ISF President Don Porter and ISF Vice President Dale McCann. Francesca Fabretti was appointed as acting Secretary General until the next Congress.
- Massimo Romeo was officially inducted into the ESF Hall of Fame.
- The 2011 European Softball Championship Women’s will be hosted by the Friuli region in Italy from July 25th to 30th.
- The format for the 2010 European Softball Championship Junior Women’s in Vienna, Austria from July 25th to 31st was approved. A-Pool and B-Pool will be in the same tournament. 17 teams are going to play 65 games overall on three fields on seven days. The ESF will evaluate the format and might also use it in the 2011 Senior EC in Italy. Official Website
- The 2010 European Co-ed Slowpitch Championships will be held in Prague, Czech Republic from July 5th to 10th. One year later Bulgaria will be the host.
- There will be more flexibility for the teams, when entering the European Cup or the European Cupwinners Cup. So clubs can change to the other competition once the venues are known.
- Starting in 2011 electronic scorekeeping systems have to be used during all ESF competitions.
- Malta is now the 36th full member of the European Softball Federation.
- The ESF countries in the Balkan region have founded the sub-group Southeast European Softball Federation.
- The destination of the 2011 ESF Congress is not known yet since there were no bids.