The following are the volunteer positions available for the current season. Please review the details of each position prior to volunteering. If you find a position you’d be interested in, use this page to signup.
The following volunteer roles exist:
- Accounting Committee
- Communication Committee
- Sponsor Drive
- Snack Shack
- Senior Day
- Banquet
- Livestream Scorekeeper
- Videographer
- Online Store/Fan Merchandise
Please review any you might have interest in.
Accounting Committee
- Appointment Duration – Multi-year (typically this individual would serve several years)
- Volunteers Requested – One primary with optimally one additional backup
- Skills required – Very basic (rudimentary) accounting skills and patience
The accounting committee is charged with interfacing with the School and Athletic Booster Club to ensure all monies collected or spent on behalf of the program follow the required guidelines. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Collecting receipts and reimbursement forms from other committees and seeing they are properly submitted to the appropriate office for processing
- When necessary, working with Team Parents for any direct contribution collections
- Working with other committees to maintain a comprehensive balance sheet for all program activities (excluding standard operating budgetary items handled by the coach and the district).
- Generating a final financial accounting for each major program activity (Sponsor Drive, Shack, Banquet, etc.)
A single individual typically fills the position, but we are currently requesting an additional “backup” to support the primary should they be unable to complete the necessary tasks for any reason.
Communication Committee
The Communication Committee is (unsurprisingly) responsible for helping to facilitate all program communications. There are two roles within the Communicaiton Committee: Program and Website
Communication Committee – Program Communications Role
- Appointment Duration – Multi-year (typically this individual would serve several years)
- Volunteers Requested – One primary with optimally one additional backup
- Skills required – Flexibility with time commitments, knowledge of email communications and familiarity with MailChimp (our current notification engine) are a plus
The Program Communications Role is responsible for ensuring that information is always readily available to all Coaches, Players, Parents, Families, and Fans. It requires an ability to respond quickly for critical communications as well as creative research and investigation skills to find important data that isn’t always easy to source.
This position is extremely important. The way we all become and remain part of a community is based largely on the quantity and quality of information provided to participants. By keeping everyone in the loop, we help ensure a tight-knit community which in turn helps to support our players.
Tasks for this role can adapt quickly, but a general overview of some of the important tasks include:
- Monitor incoming emails from the “Contact Us” link on our website
- Send team and family notifications containing essential information. These often take the form of coach requests for a notification, but can also be based on notable events, updates, or changes to schedules. The window to deliver these notifications can sometimes be short, so having flexibility can be important.
- Work with other Committees to deliver updates or volunteer requests
- Maintain updated contact lists with all relevant program participants and families
- Maintain primary MailChimp account updating lists, templates, and other communication artifacts
- Maintain the master program calendar including all associated game schedules and events
The calendar maintenance can prove particularly challenging and bears special mention. Schedules of events and games can often arrive incomplete or with incorrect information. The Program Communications Role is responsible for validating all schedule data from as many independent sources as possible. This can include:
- Cross referencing dates, times and locations on calendars between Coach’s calendar, MaxPreps, District calendars, etc.
- Validating information “makes sense” based on known information. For example, it is a common practice when playing a new team for the first time “away” that we check the address or satellite view on Google Maps to ensure the school actually has a baseball field. Several times we’ve booked games only to find the team plays at a nearby park because their school doesn’t have a baseball field. We shouldn’t assume a field listed on a calendar is correct if we haven’t played the team before.
Whenever discrepancies arise, the Program Communications Role must work with the coach to address the concerns as quickly as possible (ideally at least a week before the scheduled date).
A single individual typically fills the position, but we are currently requesting an additional “backup” to support the primary should they be unable to complete the necessary tasks for any reason.
Communication Committee – Website
- Appointment Duration – Multi-year (typically this individual would serve several years)
- Volunteers Requested – One primary with optimally one additional backup (or one content and one technical)
- Skills required – WordPress, Basic HTML & CSS. Optimally the individual would also have some web design experience and familiarity with JavaScript.
The role of Website has two primary facets (which may be split across two separate volunteers). These can be described generally as: Content & Technical
Content – much of the work is performed through the WordPress content management system. Our site runs on a WordPress plug-in SportsPress. As such, most of the complexity of maintaining the site content is greatly reduced, though it does take some time to learn the interface which is why this volunteer would ideally serve multiple years in this role.
The content work also requires close collaboration with the Program Communication Role. Where they will keep the master calendar and manage notifications, it will be the Website volunteer that posts this data on our website and makes calendars available for subscription to the community ensuring they are updated in a timely manner when schedule changes occur. This person will also post events, open and close the webstore, facilitate polling forms, and post all game results, summaries, or links to videos provided by the Live Stream and Videographer volunteers.
Technical – the more technical side of this role is the maintenance of the underlying infrastructure on which the WordPress instance runs. Currently, the OP Eagles Baseball property is hosted across the following managed infrastructure:
- Hosted on Joseph Hurley’s AWS account
- Website: WordPress site is hosted on AWS on a LightSail instance (1 vCPU w/1 GB RAM)
- Mail Server: Domain email is on shared email server running in EC2
- File Server: FTP for large files in S3 container
- Marketing Email hosted on MailChimp
- Program email account – for all notifications and program emails
- Sponsor email account – for all outreach and sponsor invoicing
- Volunteer Management on Signup Genius
- Volunteer List – for all program volunteers
- Snack Shack – for all shift management and volunteering for the Shack
- Live Stream on GameChanger
- Each Team has a separate “team” for each season under a shared OP Eagles Baseball account
- Video Library on YouTube
- Games and clips for all teams and all seasons managed on a single YouTube channel
While the relevant committees will be responsible for the content on each of these platforms, the Website role should be able to act as an IT support person should additional provisioning be required or should technical issues arise.
A single individual typically fills the position, but we are currently requesting an additional “backup” to support the primary should they be unable to complete the necessary tasks for any reason. It may also make sense to split the role into Content & Technical sub roles as defined above.
Sponsor Drive
The Sponsor Drive Committee is charged with managing the fundraising activities throughout the season. While the primary fundraiser is the Annual Banner Sale, the committee is empowered and encouraged to identify other opportunities to build financial support across the community. As this is a large undertaking, there are a variety of volunteer roles to support these efforts.
Lead
- Appointment Duration – Full Year (ideally this individual would be open to serving several years)
- Volunteers Requested – Two
- Skills required – Optimally, the individual would have experience with MailChimp and Spreadsheets. They should be a detail oriented individual capable of multi-tasking.
The Sponsor Drive Lead is responsible for directing and maintaining the overall fundraising efforts. They work closely with the Accounting Committee to manage collection, reporting, and delivery of all donated funds. They direct activities and work with website to maintain online pledge and payment data streams. They also work closely with the coach to ensure targets are being communicated and met. The lead is responsible for ensuring all Sponsor tracking data systems are kept current, and that invoices are sent, and funds collected.
There is more than enough work to warrant two volunteers for this position, but the work will need to be highly coordinated to ensure issues like invoice duplication do not occur.
Creative
- Appointment Duration – Full Year (ideally this individual would be open to serving several years)
- Volunteers Requested – Three
- Skills required – Volunteer should have experience with creative design and/or branding and image editing. Ideally, the volunteer would have a license for Adobe Creative Suite. The preferred format for printable output is either PhotoShop or Acrobat.
The Creative volunteer is responsible for working with our sponsors to generate creative content in the form of web and printable banners. The volunteer should be skilled at working with customers taking direction to generate a product that meets our organizational requirements while also delighting the sponsor.
Volunteers must be willing to check egos at the door! The creative process can be a personal one. It requires creators to invest themselves in their designs. Regardless, if the sponsor isn’t happy with the output, you must be willing to happily accommodate their change requests. They are supporting our program, so their happiness with the final product is paramount.
This position will be in direct communication with our sponsors, so a friendly customer-centric communication style is also highly desirable.
We have opened three slots for this position but may need more depending on the amount of content that needs to be generated.
Sourcing
- Appointment Duration – Full Year
- Volunteers Requested – One primary with optimally one additional backup
- Skills required – None
The sourcing volunteer is responsible for having the banners printed, delivered, and hung. The volunteer must be willing to temporarily cover the cost of banner production. They will work with the Accounting committee to submit receipts for printing and get the reimbursement processed quickly, but there can be a 4–6-week gap between submitting receipts and receiving reimbursement. The volunteer should be okay with this requirement. We have investigated using a PO process but historically found this delays the production of banners too long (we wouldn’t get them until summer).
The Sourcing Volunteer would also be responsible for evaluating the costs of our providers. Currently the best quality/value we’ve found for sourcing banners is Bing Banners, but this is a decision that should be reviewed annually to ensure we are paying the lowest possible price for quality banner printing.
The Sourcing Volunteer will take files provided by Creative, and once they have confirmation of payment from the Sponsor Lead, deliver the files to the production vendor. Banners will be shipped directly to the Sourcing Volunteer who will be responsible for inspecting the banners and then delivering them to the field for banner hanging day. If issues arise the necessitate a reprint, the Sourcing Volunteer will manage this process and if necessary, hang the banner on arrival.
A single individual typically fills the position, but we are currently requesting an additional “backup” to support the primary should they be unable to complete the necessary tasks for any reason.
Snack Shack
The Eagle’s Nest Snack Shack is an important source of additional income for our team. It also makes the game day experience better for fans attending our games. While all families are expected to help volunteer to staff the shack at least once during the season, the operation and management of the shack is directed by the Snack Shack Lead.
Lead
- Appointment Duration – Full Year
- Volunteers Requested – Two
- Skills required – None
Snack Shack lead can be a time-consuming role. It requires a substantial amount of availability throughout the season. Below are some of the key responsibilities of the role:
- Maintain the Volunteer List on Signup Genius
- Work with Communications to sufficiently harass parents to get Shack shifts filled for all home games
- Perform an annual menu review to adjust prices and add/remove items as necessary
- Source all sale items in the shack looking for the lowest possible price (sourcing spreadsheet provided)
- Manage annual build-up and tear down sessions at the beginning and end of each season wherein every item (including furniture) is removed from the shack and all surfaces receive a deep clean (no food can be left in the shack after the season or we end up with rodents)
- Buy items and regularly stock shack (perform weekly inventory to ensure we restock items we are low on)
- Communicate with shift volunteers to ensure they have all the information they need to successfully staff the shack
- Before each home game, drop cash box with change and School Event Accounting forms
- After each home game, pickup cash box and verify event cash count
- Work with the Account Committee to deliver all proceeds, forms, and sale data to allow them to properly complete the shack ledger
Given the time commitment and the need to regularly visit the shack before and after games (to deliver cashbox and restock) it is likely multiple people will want to share this responsibility.
Shift Volunteers
- Appointment Duration – One Game
- Volunteers Requested – One (or two) per game
- Skills required – Ability to read and count. 🙂
Shift volunteers are required for each home game (Varsity and JV). Signups for this are handled on a different signup sheet linked from this page. Typically, we only have one volunteer working the shack at a time unless there is also a game happening on the lower field. On days where we do have two games, we typically ask for a second volunteer to act as a Rover. This volunteer would take one of our order pads and menus and walk down to the lower fields 2-3 times throughout the game to sell snacks to the fans there.
Even though most shack shifts are solo, it’s a really easy volunteer position. Everything you need to do is documented and your shift confirmation will give you all the details so you don’t need to worry about not knowing what to do. Plus, you get a great seat right behind home plate!
Each family is expected to volunteer for at least one shift in the shack each season. Signup here.
Senior Day
Senior Day is our chance to celebrate our Seniors before they leave us to move on to their next adventure. Each year, typically at the end of our last scheduled game, the coaches and players get together and share a moment of reflection and celebration. The Senior Day committee is responsible for all the events/activity/food that accompany this celebration. There are two roles for this committee, Chair and Volunteer.
Chair
- Appointment Duration – One Event
- Volunteers Requested – Two
- Skills required – None
The Senior Day chair is responsible for coordinating all elements of the celebration with the coaches. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Food
- Entertainment
- Decorations
- Senior gifts
- Anything else
Unlike many of the other committees, this Senior Day committee has near total freedom (in coordination with the coaches) to make their Senior Day whatever they want it to be. The Chair(s) plan, organize, budget, and execute the entire event with the help of their volunteers.
A single individual can fill the position, but it can just as easily be staffed by co-chairs.
Volunteer
- Appointment Duration – One Event
- Volunteers Requested – Ten
- Skills required – None
The Senior Day volunteers work under the direction of the Senior Day Chair(s) to prepare for and execute the Senior Day Event.
We estimate needing as many as ten volunteers for this event.
Banquet
Banquet is our year-end celebration of our players, coaches, families, and fans.
Chair
- Appointment Duration – One Event
- Volunteers Requested – Two
- Skills required – None
The Banquet chair is responsible for coordinating all elements of the banquet celebration with the coaches. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Food
- Entertainment
- Decorations
- Coach gifts
- Player Gifts
- Volunteer Gifts
- Anything else
Unlike many of the other committees, the Banquet committee has near total freedom (in coordination with the coaches) to make their Banquet celebration whatever they want it to be. The Chair(s) plan, organize, budget, and execute the entire event with the help of their volunteers.
A single individual can fill the position, but it can just as easily be staffed by co-chairs.
Volunteer
- Appointment Duration – One Event
- Volunteers Requested – Ten
- Skills required – None
The Banquet volunteers work under the direction of the Banquet Chair(s) to prepare for and execute the Banquet Event.
We estimate needing as many as fifteen volunteers for this event.
Livestream Scorekeeper
- Appointment Duration – Full Year
- Volunteers Requested – Two per Team
- Skills required – Baseball Scorekeeping, GameChanger
Sometimes lives keep us busy. As much as all the family would like to attend every game, it’s not always possible. That’s where the Livestream Scorekeeper Volunteer can help. The livestream scorekeeper will score the game on the GameChanger application allowing all fans to follow along pitch-by-pitch. Ideally, the livestreamer would also have an extra device to broadcast the real-time video along with their game stream so the whole family can feel like they are there.
The ideal volunteer would know the difference between a hit and an error in baseball, and generally know how to keep an accurate scorebook. They should also be familiar with GameChanger (or willing to learn). If you have an extra device to livestream video, that’d be perfect!
We do have access to a limited number of extra iPhones for loan that could be used to transmit the video if you are able to provide Internet accessibility via tethering or a mobile hotspot.
We are looking for two volunteers per team to act as scorekeepers. Volunteers should have availability to be at the majority of the games. Priority would be given to a pair that together could provide 100% coverage of all games.
Videographer
- Appointment Duration – Full Year or more
- Volunteers Requested – Two per Team
- Skills required – GoPro Camera Experience, Video Editing
Sometimes a great play happens that deserves to be immortalized. The Videographer Volunteer ensures those moments are never missed. Using GoPro technology to record games in 4k resolution, the Videographer helps preserve high-quality memories and fill footage reels for prospects looking to play into college.
The Videographer would be responsible for recording games at 4k quality and posting the full games to our YouTube Channel. They would also handle requests from the website to create custom clips from the games for enjoyment of our fans
We do have access to a limited number of extra GoPros for loan that could be used if you do not have your own.
We are looking for two volunteers per team to act as video. Volunteers should have availability to be at the majority of the games. Priority would be given to a pair that together could provide 100% coverage of all games.
Online Store/Fan Merchandise
- Appointment Duration – Full Year or more
- Volunteers Requested – One
- Skills required – Organization, website, managing inventory
This volunteer would be in charge of setting up and maintaining the Online Store for players, fans, friends, and families to purchase OP Eagles Baseball gear. This volunteer will also purchase and manage merchandise sold at OP home games (in the Snack Shack).