The BASL 2021 Masterclass Series is now firmly in the marketplace and proving to be a great success within the sport and sports law community.
The purpose of the BASL Masterclass Series is to bridge the gap between having knowledge and engaged learning. BASL and Tactic Connect recognise the importance of providing quality education from those that are fully immersed and are leaders in their field of expertise, and being supported by an academic team that truly understand how to deliver key messages in a learning environment. The ethos is simple; you gain more by engaged listening and learning how to utilise the information than by simply reading and being spoken at.
During February Tactic Connect virtually hosted the Anti-Doping WADA Code Update Masterclass on behalf of BASL. The morning session ran from 9am-130pm and was delivered expertly by Michele Verroken, Director of Sporting Integrity.
Michele gave a detailed overview of the Anti-Doping legal framework, key amendments to the WADC, provisions that enable athletes to seek a reduced sanction, protection for whistle-blowers, case management agreements, aggravating circumstances and much more. Post-session feedback has suggested the masterclass could have been delivered over a whole day, allowing for more in-depth discussion and conversation between the group. For future sessions we will work with Michele to extend the timeframe of the session providing more scope for delivery.
The vignettes were exceptionally well put together and extremely informative. Marjolaine Viret (attorney at the Geneva Bar and specialising in sports and life sciences) gave an insight into her opinion on the new substances of abuse rules and Matthew Kaiser (sports lawyer, Global Sports Advocates) extensively discussed the challenges in disproving that doping was intentional.
The next masterclass in the series was delivered on 19th March 2021 at 9am in association with ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission). The session was entitled ‘Esports – Law, Regulation and Integrity Challenges’ and was primarily delivered by Ian Smith, ESIC Integrity Commissioner with support from Michele Verroken again, this time in her capacity as ESIC Director. The masterclass covered the Esports landscape, substantive areas of law relating to Esports, rules, frameworks and regulation plus the challenges of effective integrity in this rapidly growing and evolving environment. The session was a huge success and attracted a multi-national audience with participants joining us from Dubai, USA and Belgium.
Prior to all of the masterclasses participants receive a BASL Masterclass handbook noting timings and an overview of the content that will be delivered. To aid further learning, and arguably the most important of all the content in the handbook, is a personally selected reading/further resources list curated by the presenter. This list is principally designed to offer opportunity and further engagement with the topic, whilst supporting self-directed learning. Lecture slides, vignette recordings and the full session recording all accompany the post-session materials delivered to all participants.
We are pleased to report that so far the technology has held up, the sessions have gone really well and have been extremely well received by the attendees. In particular, the participants have appreciated the limited numbers, allowing them to fully interact with the speaker (and other participants) both during and after the session.
The next BASL Masterclass in the series will take place on Friday 21st May between 9am and 1pm and is entitled ‘Safeguarding in Sport’. The session will be delivered by the excellent Richard Bush, Bird & Bird LLP. Richard has over a decade of experience advising sports organisations in respect of contentious and regulatory matters and this very current and poignant session will provide attendees with a high level of knowledge in this vital area of sport regulation.
If you would like to know more about the BASL 2021 Masterclass Series please do take a look here. Please email connect@tacticconnect.com if you have any questions or you would like a booking form.