2011 VMFL Executive Bios

President: Valder Belgrave

After serving two years as Vice President of the VMFL he succeeds Paul Sparrow as the latest President of the Vancouver Mainland Football League. 

Valder has been involved with minor football for over 10 years, both of his sons having played from Flag through to Junior Bantam with the Coquitlam Minor Football Association. He sat on the Coquitlam Minor Association Executive as Treasurer for two terms and more recently as Field Coordinator for the past two years.

A former competitive swimmer, he is still bewildered about the source of his sons' passion for football. Both now play at at their respective high schools, but retain their ties to community football as referees. Outside of painting Mackin field and providing transportation for the young referees to their weekly game assignments, Valder can be found at various lacrosse fields and arenas, as well as the Justice Institute, where he manages to put in sufficient hours to earn a pay cheque.

Vice President: Mel Beaton

After serving as the 12 man Commisioner in 2012 Mel has stepped up to the position of Vice President. Mel is a past president of the South Delta Rams Football Club. He served in that role for 2 years and prior to that he served as Vice-president at large for the club. He has been involved with football since 2005 when his son began at the flag level and continues to be active with the club.

He has also been involved with other non-profit and sports organizations as a parent volunteer, board member and legal advisor. He was involved for several years as an official and recently served on the rules committee for the BC Summer Swimming Association.

Secretary: Helen Johnson

After serving several years on the board with Langley Minor Football as an intergral part of the building of that Minor association, Helen has shifted her focus to various governing bodies. Currently Helen holds the Secretary title for the VMFL where she has worked for some time now under several presidents.  As well Helen also is Secretary for the BCFC Junior Football League where she continues her many years of volunteer work in the football community.

Director / Treasurer: Dan Bouchard

Dan returns for his third year on the board where in his position of Treasurer he has been pivotal in the development of short and long term budgets and has been able to bring a high standard of quality to the financial reports.

Director / 12 Man Commisioner:

Director / 9 Man Commisioner: Sean Roden

Sean played many sports as a child in addition to football and as an adult has coached softball, baseball and soccer before starting to coach football 10 years ago with Football Nanaimo. This will be Sean's 8th season as the Head Coach of the Nanaimo Midget Redmen.

Sean has been the President of Football Nanaimo in the past and is currently the Vice-President of Football Nanaimo, the President of the Vancouver Island Canadian Football Association, the Island Zone Rep for the BCCFA and has now joined the Executive of the VMFL.

Director / Head of Coaching: Shane Thompson-

Shane has been involved with community football for almost a decade now with most of his time spent working with Langley Minor Football. As a Head Coach at various levels including Midget where he currently resides, Shane has also sat on the Langley Executive for many years.

For more than five years now Shane has held the position of Director with the VMFL and remains today as the Head Of Coaching for the league.

Director / Spring Flag Football: Doug Pauls

Doug may be new to our executive team this year but he already has a lot of VMFL experience.  In getting Westside and Coquitlam to work together Doug managed to spear head the Spring flag football movement, starting off with four teams between the two associations.  Last year he provided some much needed help and time in driving this new VMFL program to where 20+ teams participated last year.  Doug will take on this role now officially as part of our VMFL executive team in 2010. 

A former player in the late seventies for Richmond High School Doug later went on to play ball for Simon Fraser University in the early eighties and then spent a year of Junior Football with the Richmond Raiders in 1983.

His coaching resume includes Vancouver College High School where he started in 2004 and continues to coach with the Varsity team.  As well Doug has maintained the roles of coach for the Westside Warriors as well as Vice-President in the past.  Doug's two sons both played for Westside with one currently playing for Vancouver College while the older is playing for Azusa Pacific University in L.A.

 

Director: Joe Connelly

Joe Connelly has been involved with North Surrey Minor Football since 1967, coaching at every level from flag to junior.  He has been a member of the Association's Executive since 1980 and served as President in 2010 and 2011.  

He previously served on the VMFL Executive back in the 1980's, during the presidency of Don Berger and as President of BC Minor football from 1989 - 1991.  He has won his fair share of provincial titles as a coach and was recognized for his contribution to minor football with a Football BC Builder Award and a BC Lions' Orange Helmet in 2006.