LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
The Bellingham Pickleball Club (BPC) is an all-volunteer non-profit organization with over 900 members. We facilitate court availability, skill development and tournaments in the greater Bellingham area.
Currently, we have openings at several important volunteer positions, including leadership of the following committees. As the leader of a committee, you will have several other volunteers under you performing one or more specific tasks. Below is information on the committees in need of a leader, a short description of the mission of the committee, what you would do in your role and a list of the positions in that committee that will be held by your associates.
If you are interested in exploring any of these important positions, please email communications@BellinghamPickleball.org and someone will contact you to discuss everything.
Thank you and have fun out of the court!
Eric Roeder, Vice President Bellingham Pickleball Club
Open Play Committee: Shelby Luedecker, Chair and Coordinator
The Open Play (OP) committee plays a central role in the BPC, arranging and managing partnerships with local venues to provide open play opportunities. During winter, OP selects and manages the club’s indoor play options.
Reporting to the Open Play leader are the winter venue managers, the equipment coordinator, the school scheduling coordinator, the host trainer and a group of people known as “hosts.” Winter hosts at the public schools coordinate setup, play, and takedown of the pickleball courts. Summer hosts help coordinate open play at Cornwall Memorial Park. Training is provided to BPC OP hosts on a regular basis to ensure that new volunteers have the tools and information they need to feel confident in their role as BPC Ambassadors.
Open Play management and hosting are great ways to engage with the BPC community. The Open Play Committee leader should love to play pickleball, be organized, efficient and an effective communicator.
Membership Committee: Open Position
The Membership Committee serves several critical functions in the club. It welcomes new members and is primarily responsible for filling open volunteer positions in the club. When someone joins the club, they indicate if they want to volunteer. A member of the membership committee contacts this person (and any existing member who decides to explore volunteering) and attempts to find a good match between the needs of the club and the skills and desires of the member. Even if a good match isn’t available immediately, the membership committee maintains a database to help fill future positions.
The membership committee also recommends ways to honor volunteers and utilize club funds for the benefit of members. In addition, it also helps select and recruit candidates for the annual election of our Board of Directors.
Reporting to the committee leader is the: New-Member Onboarding Coordinator; Volunteer Coordinator; Board Candidate Coordinator; and the Membership Marketing Associate and an experienced IT Coordinator.
The leader of the membership committee should have been a club member who has participated in open-play for over a year, be outgoing, organized and an effective coordinator.
Facilities Committee: Open Position
The Facilities Committee is focused on outdoor court maintenance at Bellingham Parks, mainly Cornwall Park. The committee is most active in the warm weather seasons, May – October. The maintenance of the tools needed by BPC members to perform court drying and cleaning is the responsibility of the facilities committee. The time commitment is minimal in line with the adage, “many hands make light work”.
Reporting to the committee leader is the: tool manager; volunteer coordinator, volunteer trainer and a group of members who have volunteered to be trained in effective and efficient preparation of the courts for daily play.
Tournament Committee: Open Position
The Tournament Committee’s role is growing as the BPC membership gains skills and desires to participate in competitive events.
The committee recommends to the board which large tournaments the club should conduct (currently two per outdoor season) and also schedules and operates ladders and royalty-court events. Each large tournament and ladder has a tournament director. Committee members also conduct the royalty-court events that are so popular in the club.
In addition to the volunteers listed above, there is need for many volunteers to help with the bigger tournaments. The club’s Membership Committees help recruit volunteers for these events and then the Tournament Committee manages them on the day(s) of the event.
The leader of the tournament committee should be an experienced pickleball player, who has participated in at least two tournaments and is passionate about leading a small team in the area of competition. He or she should understand tournament functions and needs, is organized and an effective communicator.
Events Committee: Open Position
The committee is responsible for coordinating social mixers and the August Annual General Meeting. The committee members share the responsibilities for planning and tracking the details related to events. Our goal is to have between two and four members on the committee and to recruit volunteers as needed for specific events.
Photographer/Communications Committee: Open Position
The Skill Development Committee (SD) provides valuable services to our members by establishing the skill development sessions and schedule. The SD committee sets the vision and coordinates the upcoming SD sessions. The volunteer hosts help BPC members learn pickleball skills through drills and games. The hosts are provided training and support by professional coaches, as well as guidance on how best to lead sessions. Skill Development is one of BPC’s key member benefits and the committee continues to need individuals to lead sessions. The time commitment is variable, as the volunteer can lead sessions as it works with their schedule.
Communications Committee: Marieanne Burley
The Communications Committee members work remotely to disseminate information to BPC members and to answer questions related to BPC programs. Our goal is to respond to member inquiries within 24 hours. Some committee members monitor electronic communications every 4-6 weeks. Generally, this takes ½ hour per day during the monitoring week.
Committee members can volunteer for special projects such as updating the website, building monthly emails, and developing annual surveys. The amount of time required for these special projects varies, but average 5 hours a month. Experience with email marketing tools (Mailchimp), WordPress, and Webmail is beneficial, but not required.
Finance Committee: Steve Gibbs
The Finance committee works closely to ensure the financial solvency of the Bellingham Pickleball Club. The responsibilities include income and expense tracking, insurance processing, IRS reporting, and annual budgeting. The team currently consists of three people.
New Covered Courts: Paul Orlowski
The Pickleball Pavilion committee will be in need of grant writers and fundraisers once a site has been approved for the new covered courts to be built. If you have expertise in this area, please lend a hand. The covered courts committee work is a combination of in person and remote, so the time commitment depends on your availability.
Board of Directors:
The Board of Directors (BoD) is evolving to become efficient and effective at serving the growing BPC member base. In the coming year(s), in addition to liability and risk mitigation, our focus will be on member’s pickleball skill development, open play, and securing covered courts. An initiative is underway to build covered courts in Bellingham, and the BPC BoD will play a role in ensuring that our members have generous access to those courts.
The BPC Board meets via Zoom. Members are welcome to attend these meetings, but cannot vote on matters presented. To receive the Zoom code for the Board Meetings contact us.