Softball Australia are pleased to launch a series of virtual Town Hall meetings focussing on providing information to our valued softball members around development of key areas including participation, sponsorship, financial administration and player pathways.

Running throughout September and October, the Town Halls will provide the opportunity to softball members to learn about best practices, resources available to them from Softball Australia as well as information for current and aspiring coaches, umpires and scorers.

Members will also be able to submit questions in regards to each topic for presenters to address in order to make sure the sessions are as beneficial as possible.

In the first iteration, six Town Halls will be held weekly with registrations now open through the revolutioniseSPORT platform.

“Benefiting our members is at the core of everything we do and these Town Halls are very much focused towards that,” said David Pryles, Chief Executive Officer at Softball Australia.

“We hope our community gets a lot of valuable information and insight from the sessions, but more importantly, we hope it facilitates the beginning of a two-way conversation between our staff from different areas of the organisation.

“The staff are always available to assist at grassroots level so hopefully by putting some faces to some names during the Town Halls we can really get the ball rolling. I’m proud to launch the series with two Olympians and thank Kaia Parnaby and Jade Wall for making themselves available for our valued members”

The Town Halls will begin next Monday 20 September at 7:30pm AEST and will feature Olympians Kaia and Jade discussing their experience and different pathways to sport’s biggest stage.

The full schedule includes:

• Town Hall Session #1, Olympian Insights, Monday 20 September, 7:30pm – 8:15pm AEST approx
  • Kaia Parnaby and Jade Wall discuss their experience in Tokyo 2020 and the varying paths they took to get there
• Town Hall Session #2, Growing Junior Membership, Monday 27 September 8:00pm – 8:45pm AEST approx
  • National Participation and Club Development Manager Nick Frayne and Systems Development Manager Ben Utting will discuss the products and support available to Clubs and Associations focused around junior participation, the session will close with Communications and Marketing Manager Jack Lucas sharing insights on how to promote programs digitally
• Town Hall Session #3, Coaching Accreditation and Pathways, Tuesday 5 October, 8:00pm – 8:45pm AEST approx
  • High Performance Pathway and Travelodge Aussie Spirit Head Coach Laing Harrow and National Pathways Coordinator Brooke Wilkins will speak to the coaching accreditation ins and outs, as well as highlighting the high performance pathways available to athletes.
• Town Hall Session #4, Admin, Governance & Budgeting, Monday 11 October, 8:00pm – 8:45pm AEST approx
  • Facilitated by Chief Executive Officer David Pryles, National Operations Manager Bron Parry and National Finance Manager Elyse Eley will provide insights into best practices of managing the off-diamond aspects of a softball club
• Town Hall Session #5, Umpiring and Scoring Pathways, Monday 18 October, 8:00pm – 8:45pm AEST approx
  • Led by National Umpire in Chief – Operations Kyira Cox, National Scoring Committee Operations & Communications Portfolio, Kirsty Andrews and National Pathway Coordinator Brooke Wilkins, the session will provide an overview of the pathways available for officials
• Town Hall Session #6, Sponsorships and Grants for Clubs, Monday 25 October, 8:00pm – 8:45pm AEST approx
  • CEO David Pryles will share insights on how to approach and secure potential sponsors at a grassroots level and how to make grant applications stand out from the pack

Attendees must sign up for the sessions with registrations open now, join at softball.org.au, questions can be submitted through the online form.