Memo - Casually On The Ball

The Age

Saturday January 17, 2009

Megan Byrne

IF YOU'RE heading out to catch the tennis action at the Australian Open this week, be kind to the 1400casual staff. Over 12 days they will provide directions to courts, toilets and ATMs; update patrons on scores and match progress; manage the excited, impatient, overheated and occasionally alcohol-affected members of the public; and they will clean up your mess when you leave, come rain, hail or intense heat.

And spare a thought for the 300ball kids, who alternate between running around and standing still in temperatures up to 35 - without pay. In preparation for the event, these willing 12 to 15-year-old volunteers have had five training sessions of

ball-handling drills, match practice and marching on and off court.

This will be 14-year-old Mikallie Baroch's third year as a ball kid at the Open. In 2007, the Penleigh and Essendon Grammar student passed balls to Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis (pictured below) in their marathon five-setter on Rod Laver Arena, which finished at 4am - a late night for any 12-year-old. Shesays it's those matches that make her job special.

"The atmosphere was incredible, and being on Rod Laver Arena with the players is fantastic," Mikallie says. "The heat and the long hours can make it hard, but at the end of the day, there's nowhere I'd rather be."

That is, apart from playing on centre court herself. Mikallie is competing in Victorian tennis tournaments and hopes to be competing around the world by the end of the year.

-- MEGAN BYRNE

© 2009 The Age

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