The sport of softball has been hailed as a healer of angst, a catalyst for personal change and a good excuse for running around with the opposite sex on summer evenings. So why haven't you tried it yet? Former Great Britain softballer David Lee tells us more...

Bristol 1999, with huge economic downturn just around the corner, a group of hedonists in their dotage (late 20s) decided that an outdoor summer game you can play at the same level and on the same team as the opposite sex was a great idea.

Six teams of 12 players began the fledgling Bristol Softball Association, playing American "co-ed" Slowpitch rules softball.

Twenty years on and only two original teams survive, but there are now more than 30 teams in three leagues in and around Bristol all playing for exactly the same reasons as the originals - sex... sorry, the opposite sex!

Where else in sport is the emphasis on playing both recreationally and/or competitively but ensuring a stint at the bar afterwards?

Though teams' participants have changed over the years, you still see the occasional original's face in the line-ups. You don't have to be super fit to play... able to stand up for about an hour once a week and you're eligible.

Bristol teams have developed over the years to fill every niche of the national softball picture; amongst the participants from beginner level upwards there are Great Britain players who've played in (and won) international events all over the world including six European Championships, two World Cups and an Asia Games Gold Medal.

Some teams have stuck together for over 10 years playing every week, every year, having great fun and exploiting in full the softball social life - marriages, divorces (more of the former than the latter thankfully) and more gossip than Coronation Street.

So what is it and where can I get it you ask ...

Slowpitch softball is very similar to baseball, but with 10 players instead of nine, five girls and five guys. The pitcher (bowler) pitches the 12" circumference ball (twice the size of a baseball) underarm from 50ft to the batter. It's like hitting a pineapple! So the game becomes very much a batter's game. Hit the ball and you become a runner, if the fielders get the ball to the base before the runner, the runner is out. Simple!

Everybody bats and everybody fields; three team members out is the whole team out and the pitch layout is just like a baseball diamond with bases set at 60ft apart.

The Bristol Softball Association (BSA) currently runs intermediate training on Monday evenings and beginners have the opportunity to join new teams to learn all about the game on Tuesday evenings. All equipment is supplied and sessions are run by experienced coaches.

The BSA runs a fully organised, three-division league at Clifton College Sports Grounds in Abbots Leigh from April to September every year, with marked-out pitches, professional umpires, full fixture list, player registration, ongoing coaching, meticulously organised social events throughout the year - including an end-of-season awards event. Clifton College sports grounds have undergone significant improvements and now provide superb level pitches and we will soon have our own fully licensed pavilion.

The cost of playing the sport per individual varies but can be as little as £50 for team subs for a full season.

So what are you waiting for? ... Get yer daps out and rush headlong into a sport you'll probably become addicted to!

For further information email Chris Moon, Chairman of the BSA, or visit the Bristol Softball Association.