Most high school extracurriculars are a club that meets twice a semester and a line on a resume. The ones that actually mean something have three things in common: you run them, they produce a number you can point to, and they help somebody outside your school.
Leading a BallBack chapter is one of the simplest ways to get all three. You start a tennis ball recycling operation in your city, you partner with real facilities, and you can say exactly how many balls you kept out of a landfill.
$0
Cost to start a chapter
1 to 2
Pickup trips a month
65,000+
Balls recycled network-wide
What counts as a strong extracurricular?
Admissions officers, scholarship committees, and interviewers are all reading for the same signal: did this student start something, stick with it, and change an outcome? A strong extracurricular is one where you hold responsibility rather than attendance. Founding and running a local chapter of a national nonprofit reads very differently from being a member of a club.
"The best extracurricular is the one where you are the reason something exists."
Environmental extracurricular ideas that actually work
Run a recycling program for something nobody handles
Tennis balls cannot go in a curbside bin, take about 400 years to break down, and roughly 125 million are thrown out in the US every year. That is a real gap, and it is small enough for one student to close locally.
Partner with local facilities, not just your school
Clubs, public courts, HOAs, and tennis centers all generate dead balls. Partnering with them turns a school club into a citywide operation and gives you adults who can vouch for your work.
Track a number and publish it
Balls collected, facilities partnered, pounds of rubber diverted. A measurable outcome is what turns a story into evidence.
Recruit and hand off
Bringing in underclassmen and training a successor is leadership experience you cannot fake, and it keeps the impact going after you graduate.
What leading a BallBack chapter actually involves
BallBack is a student-run nonprofit fiscally sponsored by Hack Club, a 501(c)(3). Chapter leaders collect used tennis balls from courts in their city and route them into recycled rubber, youth tennis programs, and dog shelters. Here is the honest version of the commitment:
- Outreach. Reach out to tennis facilities near you using our scripts and the operating partner directory. Most leaders land their first partner in a couple of weeks.
- Pickup. One to two trips a month, one to two hours each. A free cardboard box works as your first collection bin.
- Repurpose. Playable balls go to youth programs and shelters before anything gets recycled.
- Recycle. Pack, photograph, request a prepaid label, drop it at UPS. Labels come back in about two days.
- Support. $60 in BallBack credit unlocks after your first partnered facility and first shipment, and there is a reference letter at the end of a completed term.
Not a tennis person? There are remote roles too
If you do not live near courts or you would rather build skills than drive boxes, BallBack also runs remote volunteer teams in marketing, growth and funding, and operations. Those roles include grant writing, media outreach, social media, and community management, and they carry the same real responsibility. You can see what is open on the open positions page.
Start a chapter in your city
Applications are reviewed in about five days. Sophomores, juniors, and rising seniors in a US city without a chapter are the best fit.
Apply to lead a chapter
