Some of the key decisions made during the recent WEBSF Annual meeting.
Outline of Tournaments for 2015/16:-
- Run 6 Gold Waistcoat one day events with limited entry to 32 players each. The venues currently available, subject to conditions are: Belgrave & Plaza, Plymouth and Jesters Swindon, other venues to be investigated
- A sponsor has pledged £1000 sponsorship to hold a ‘Gold Masters’ one day event at the end of the season. This will be a knockout format played over best of 7 matches for the top 16 in the Gold Waistcoat Tour ranking list.
- Run a one day Silver Waistcoat Championship. Possible venue Jesters in Swindon or Top Q, Gloucester. The age limit was set as under 21.
- Run a Bronze Waistcoat tournament to be played over one day. Possible venue Jesters in Swindon. The age limit was set as under 16.
- Run the West of England Open Snooker Championship, two day event.
- Run a ONEFOURSEVEN tournament in December.
- Billiards competitions will be considered this season given there is scope in the calendar
- Run a Ladies tournament if we can reach a minimum of 6 players.
- Run a team tournament if it can be fitted into the calendar.
- No changes in Tournament Fees & Trophies are foreseen.
Coaching Strategy for 2015/16:-
- WEBSF to develop an English Billiards certification scheme
Funding Initiatives and Sponsorship:-
- WEBSF to bid for funding from World Billiards. If successful this will be used towards the WEBSF ‘development of English Billiards’ project.
Member Proposals:-
- Tournaments – Make all matches 2 frames, three points for a win and one point for a draw: Declined – due to difficulties when several players finish level
- Make knockout events seeded: Agreed – Seeding already in place
- Open the Gold Waistcoat entries only to ‘local’ players within the West of England first and then offer places to affiliate members if all 32 places have not been filled: Declined – All members to have equal opportunity to enter as per our current system
- Have more ‘open’ events: Declined – Not possible due to the resources available and the detrimental effect on pursuing other WEBSF Aims & Objectives
- Try to implement a 5 or 6 inter county league: Declined for the moment – However, a team event will be considered
- Maybe a Masters over 40’s Gold Waistcoat: Declined – same reason as item 4
- Simplify and condense the points system to make the Gold events more competitive: Agreed. Agreed – new points system has been drawn up and will be introduced this season.
Note: The Management Team were pleased to receive the suggestions for improvement listed in the above ‘Member proposals’, it shows that members care about how we run our tournaments and want to see continuous improvement.
The main reason for not adopting more of the ideas proposed is mainly due to the amount of resource available to implement them. We are ever mindful that one of our main aims is to promote the development of Billiards & Snooker at grass-roots. We do this through our coaching programme which we intend to expand this season. To increase the tournament schedule this season will have a direct impact on the time available to run the WEBSF Coaching School and pursue other services we would like to implement.
We are constantly seeking to recruit and train-up volunteers to help with both the coaching and running of tournaments. Spare time is limited for most people, especially on a weekend but any help with running the Foundation will be taken seriously.
Paid-up members can request a full copy of the meeting Decision & Action Notes by emailing websf_uk@yahoo.co.uk
WEBSF 