By Max Davies
KILMORE Tennis Club played host to level one of ballkid trials on May 21, with about 30 youngsters from across Victoria attending for a chance to be selected for next year’s Australian Open.
More than 1000 children aged 12 to 15 are set to participate in level one of the trials at 18 tennis clubs across Victoria over the coming weeks.
Kilmore Tennis Club coach Gavin Moreira said the club had seen a positive turnout for this year’s trials.
“It was a very cold day here in Kilmore, a little bit slippery as well but the kids did a great job,” he said.
“We accommodated for the weather to make sure the kids are all safe out there, but we had a good cross range of kids that are brand new doing a trial for the first time and others that have returned for a second and third time.”
About 1500 children are estimated to have applied for level one trials, from which 750 will progress to level two trials in Melbourne in July, before about 430 are selected for either the Australian Open, AO, squad or a train-on squad.
Those selected in the final 430 will then take part in extensive training from August through to November ahead of the major Australian tournaments early next year.
“The kids that are in the AO squad get four or five months of training and the kids that are in the train-on squad will go and ballkid the Kooyong tournament, which happens in January, as well as a couple of wheelchair tournaments and disability tournaments, which are usually held Craigieburn,” Mr Moreira said.
“Those kids will then often go and do level one trials again, so they’ve come from doing five months of training last year, they’ve been ballkids for the Kooyong and Craigieburn tournaments and now they’re trying out again – fingers crossed they’ll get through.”
Results will be announced at the end of June to let participants know if they were successful in progressing to level two.
Kilmore Tennis Club junior Lisa Gallagher, who took part in the trials on the weekend, said being a ballkid at major tournaments was a worthwhile experience.
Ms Gallagher made it to the train-on squad last year and took part in a range of tournaments.
“It was really good at the Kooyong tournament. I got to be right up close with the players and it was a lot of fun meeting a lot of new people,” she said.
“When I was a little bit younger, I’d always thought about it but I’d never really pushed myself to do it. Then one of my friends was talking about it and she was a ballkid at the Australian Open, so we just decided to do it together.
“Hopefully I’ll make it through this trial and into level two, and then make it into the AO squad for 2024.”
