Who are we?

BaseballSoftballUK (BSUK) is the development agency for baseball and softball in the United Kingdom. Since 2000, BSUK has provided services to the sports' governing bodies, the British Baseball Federation (BBF) and British Softball Federation (BSF) with the aim of developing and increasing the levels of participation, skill and achievement in UK baseball and softball. This occurs at both junior and adult levels, from school and grassroots through domestic adult clubs up to the Great Britain national teams.

In December 2008 it was announced that BSUK had been awarded £2.7 million in public funding from Sport England - the agency that delivers the Government's sporting objectives - for the period from April 2009-March 2013. This was based on the Whole Sport Plan submitted by BSUK in October after consultation with federation members from both sports. This is BSUK's development plan for baseball and softball and the Sport England funding is budgeted against specific programmes within this. Amounting to an average of £675,000 per year, the current funding is an increase on the £566,000 per year which BSUK was receiving from Sport England by the end of the first Whole Sport Plan period (2005-2009).

Projects under BSUK's Whole Sport Plan include regional support for youth baseball and softball development programmes and support for workplace softball, coaching and coach-training, facility development and expansion and strengthening of clubs throughout the country, including helping with the achievement of Clubmark accreditation.

You can read more about the award in the news article published on our website in December 2008.

BaseballSoftballUK is registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee.

Registered office: Ariel House 74a Charlotte Street London W1T 4QJ

Registered company number: 6258953

The 'About BSUK' Microsite

If you don't find the information you're looking for on this page, try the 'About BSUK' Microsite which provides further details about our history, funding, vision and governance.

The National Governing Bodies

The British Baseball Federation (BBF) governs baseball in this country. Baseball clubs pay annual affiliation fees to be a member of the BBF and play in BBF Leagues and Junior Leagues. There is also a full Great Britain Baseball Programme which comprises youth national teams at different age levels and the senior Great Britain baseball team.

The British Softball Federation (BSF) governs softball in this country. The vast majority of UK softball is played in the co-ed (mixed) slowpitch format but there are numerous single-sex slowpitch teams and a growing fastpitch community. There are many regional slowpitch leagues around the country whose teams affiliate annually to the BSF through these leagues. Single-sex or tournament teams must also affiliate in order to take part in BSF National Championship tournaments. Aside from National Championships, there are a multitude of local tournaments during the summer. Softball has a wide-ranging Great Britain Softball programme which includes men's and women's senior fastpitch teams, junior fastpitch teams for girls at three age levels and a national co-ed slowpitch team that has won the European Co-ed Slowpitch Championship on six straight occasions.

For more information on the relationship between BSUK and the Federations, visit the 'About BSUK' microsite.

Why register on the BSUK website?

Launched in 2002, the BSUK website (which now also hosts separate websites for the British Baseball and Softball Federations) has become an extremely important tool for the Federations and their members. The sites provide a central point for news, resources, communication and administration across baseball and softball. By registering on baseballsoftballuk.com, users can gain access to:

• Email (bsukMail and bsukGroups)
• The Hot Corner e-newsletter
• Important news and offers sent directly to your email inbox
• Online forums

One of the most important functions of the websites is to allow leagues and teams to publish fixtures, results, standings and their own news, and to manage their player rosters. It is important for baseball and softball players to register on the site so that they can be added to their team's roster. This is because:

• The BBF and many softball leagues use these published rosters as the official record of who plays for what team.
• A player's eligibility to play league games and tournaments (including baseball and softball's National Championships) can be based on these rosters.
• It helps BSUK to count the number of leagues, teams and players involved in the sports.
• Rostered users gain access to their league and team forums and email on the BSUK site.
• Player's statistics can be loaded after every game.

If you are a new user you can register by clicking on 'Register' in the lefthand menu. If you have registered previously, login with your username and password in the top right corner.

Navigating the website

The BSUK website is separated into sections across the top of the site: Home, Baseball, Softball, Youth, National Teams. In each section, the following options are included:

NEWS You will find relevant news on each of the Home, Baseball, Softball, Youth and National Teams sections. The News Archive at the top of each news page gives you access to every article posted on this page since the website was launched!

CONTACTS Each section has a Contacts page on the left.

CALENDAR Each section has its own Calendar in the lefthand menu. This is filtered from the main calendar on the Home page and you can filter it further by using the dropdown menus at the top.

LEAGUES This is where teams are listed and fixtures, results, standings, rosters and statistics are displayed for baseball, softball and youth teams and leagues.

TEAM FINDER Want to play baseball or softball but need to find a team? The Team Finder feature allows you to search for teams based on area, age and format.

FANTASY LEAGUE When you're not playing ball on the field, manage a team in Fantasy Baseball UK, the Number #1 UK fantasy league for MLB fans.

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Find out about services, advice, benefits and commercial offers provided to the members of the British Baseball Federation and British Softball Federation.

DOWNLOADS .pdf resources here include Baseball and Softball Bulletin or e-newsletters, publications, rules and regulations, Minutes from official meetings, Advice Notes, welfare documents and much more.

BASEBALL ON TV Want to watch your MLB favourite team but don't know where to look? The Baseball on TV page lets you know which networks showcase Major League Baseball action.

MLB IN THE UK Look here for an introduction to Major League Baseball and its work in the UK.

ADDRESS BOOK Once you register on the BSUK website you will be able to use the Address Book to keep track of all of your contacts.

bsukMAIL Use bsukMAIL, along with your Address Book, to keep in touch with others in the baseball and softball world.

bsukGROUPS Send emails to groups of clubs, leagues, players and other user groups.

FORUMS As a registered user you can keep in the loop on what's going on in baseball and softball today.

SUPPORT AND FAQs Answers to common questions are provided, including support for starting a new team or league or getting involved in baseball or softball in numerous other ways. in this section you can also send us your enquiry by email or through the 'Problems and Queries' function.

Useful Links

Beginner's Guide to Baseball

Beginner's Guide to Softball

Play baseball or softball

Website User Guide - a guide to player registration and league and team admin on the website

LINKS TO INFORMATION DOCUMENTS
Aside from links to webpages, most links to documents are in .pdf format which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you don't have this already you can obtain it free from the Adobe site. If you have trouble accessing these, contact BSUK and ask for a hard copy to be sent to you.