Volunteer Spotlight: Helen Berott

After playing for the first time on a 50+ senior tennis team and making it to Districts and Sectionals in 2005, Helen Berott decided it was not enough to just be a tennis player. 

“That was such a positive experience that I knew I wanted to volunteer and be a part of it too,” she remembered.

Since then, Helen has been volunteering for USTA and serves as the Local Area Coordinator (LAC), a volunteer position that serves the USTA NorCal Adult Leagues and helps captains and players understand and implement the USTA rules and Local League Area Regulations.

“I have always found the championship events like Districts and Sectionals to be so much fun and to have such a great atmosphere,” Helen said. “Everyone is happy to be there, and it's great to be a part of it all. The sportsmanship is always outstanding.”

In fact, she counts the sportsmanship between the players and seeing the thrill of victory on the faces of news players as some of her favorite memories from her years of volunteering.

Over the years, Helen has helped hundreds of players and teams participate in USTA NorCal tennis, as well as volunteered at numerous Adult Leagues championship events.

And soon, she will be adding two more events to her list and will be volunteering at the 18 & Over Sectionals coming up in July/August, as well as the 40 & Over Sectionals in September.

From answering players' questions to taking scores and assigning courts, there is a lot to be done as a volunteer.

“At the upcoming 18 & Over Sectionals we will have 25 courts to manage at one site and an additional 15 courts to manage at another site,” Helen said. “This keeps everyone pretty busy, but it’s a fun challenge.”

In addition to volunteering, Helen is also an active Adult Leagues player herself. She played in her first USTA match ever in 2004, where she and her partner won. From there, she was totally hooked and has played more than 450 USTA league and tournament matches and almost 400 SATA matches, as well as captained or co-captained 34 teams, of which 11 went on to post-season play.

These days Helen plays in the 65 & Over league and competes with a team that has won their local league and went on to Sectionals for four seasons. 

“The camaraderie is a great part of league tennis, as well as the competition,” Helen added. And that is one of the driving factors for her participation as both a volunteer and player with no plans to stop anytime soon.