Officials attend Italian baseball and softball convention

Director of umpires Adrian Casha and umpire Chuck Micallef represented MABS at the Italian Baseball and Softball Convention in Italy recently.

The event, entitled CON3, brought three annual conventions; for coaches, umpires and scorers respectively, under the same roof at the PalaRiccione Conference Centre in Riccione, Emilia Romagna. In order to ensure a truly holistic event and discussions, team managers were invited to attend the event in addition to coaches, umpires and scorers.

Nearly 700 attendees converged on the Adriatic Coast from as far afield as Japan and Canada. These included renowned officials, National and Olympic team managers, and Hall-of- Famer Bob Stanton. These special guests presented seminars, led discussions and held Q& A sessions during the three day event.

Topics of discussion included scouting, charting, teaching, pitching and other mental and technical aspects of coaching, umpiring, scoring and playing the two sports.

The Maltese officials focused their efforts on discussions about Softball and returned with firsthand understanding of rule changes to be implemented next season, including changes to strike zones and pitching delivery.

They are already planning a local seminar to communicate these changes to all other Maltese officials, team managers and players.

Furthermore, the MABS representatives continued to build relationships with renowned FIBS officials, paving the way for possible future cooperation.