Press release World Baseball Softball Confederation
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today launched a new Game Management System (GMS) as well as new guidelines for officials for the new urban five-on-five discipline Baseball5. The new GMS, which was trialed at select 2019 events, is intended to greatly simplify and standardise Baseball5 competitions.
The main innovation is the introduction of a Game Official, who has a complete knowledge of the game and is able to manage all aspects of the competition. The traditional figures of Umpire, Scorer and Technical Commissioner have evolved into the role of Game Official, more accurately reflecting the “all you need is a ball to play” philosophy.
In line with the vision of Baseball5, the competition management has been streamlined to increase accessibility and to allow competitions to be organised, officiated and sanctioned more easily, in response to the wave of new Baseball5 events and competitions that have emerged across the globe.
The new GMS highlights the major features of Baseball5 competitions and games management, and it is intended to be a complement to the WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook 2019. An updated version of the WBSC Baseball5 Rulebook was also released today, in conjunction with the new GMS.
The release of the GMS, includes also the WBSC Baseball5 Scoring System has been developed to meet the following characteristics:
- Easy to teach and understand
- Intuitive and quick in practice
- Allow room for basic stats
- Minimize negatives
- Reduce interpretation
- Highlight positives
The 2019 season also served to finalise the technical specification for the Baseball5 ball, which are presented in the Rulebook. Today the WBSC Baseball5 department also presented the Baseball5 Ball homologation programme.