This year's Australian Open will have a truly international flavour with 36 youngsters from across the Asia Pacific region heading to Melbourne Park to take part in the Australian Open 2006.
This year's Australian Open will have a truly international flavour with 36 youngsters from across the Asia Pacific region heading to Melbourne Park to take part in the Australian Open 2006.
Six children from Singapore have joined others from Philippines, Korea and India as well as 276 local kids to form the 312-strong Aviva Ballkids team.
The Aviva Ballkids program sets high standards for participants, so the youngsters who make it to the final team have practiced hard to ensure they have the requisite skills to stand on court along side tennis champions the calibre of Lleyton Hewitt or Serena Williams.
The six Singaporean Aviva Ballkids are 15 year olds Vanessa Boey and Leong Chee Jun, 14 year old Naomi Yang, 13 year olds Brian Koh and Laura Lim and 12 year old Silas Yang.
Each of the children practiced hard to ensure that their skills were sufficient to gain selection for the Aviva Ballkids program, practicing drills of rolling and throwing tennis balls as well as intensive fitness training. Some of the children even sought tips from last year's Aviva Ballkids to ensure that they did not miss out at the Aviva Ballkids selection trials held in Singapore in mid September 2005.
When asked about their motivations for wanting to join the Aviva Ballkids program, each of the children spoke about the attraction of being part of a Grand Slam tournament and the chance to be on court with their tennis heroes.
"It's a chance in a million to be up front at the net or back at the baseline watching the action instead of sitting on the couch and watching it on television", said Naomi Yang.
This sentiment was shared by Leong Chee Jun who said: "I applied to become an Aviva Ballkid because I wanted to experience the atmosphere at the Australian Open 2006 and hopefully meet some of my favourite players, especially Roger Federer."
Silas Yang said he is most looking forward to the opportunity to meet Australian tennis champion Llyeton Hewitt and to make friends with the other Aviva Ballkids. He said he applied for the program to gain experience, to increase his confidence on the court and to perform to the best of his ability.
Thirteen year old Laura Lim said that she originally applied to join the Aviva Ballkids program because most of her friends were applying, never dreaming she would be good enough to be chosen for a Grand Slam event. Laura now has high hopes for what the Aviva Ballkids experience will be like.
"I hope it will be a totally fresh and exciting new experience. I'm looking to gain skills I can use for life and I also hope to meet many new friends in Melbourne, and bond with those coming from Singapore", Laura said.
All six Singaporean children will join their fellow Aviva Ballkids for a special BBQ event at Melbourne Park on Wednesday 11 January where they will meet Melbourne Lord Mayor John So, minister for tourism the Hon John Pandazopoulos and Aviva chief executive officer, Allan Griffiths.
The event is a chance for all of the Aviva Ballkids to come together for the first time before the Australian Open, to get to know each other and to enjoy a good Aussie BBQ in Melbourne Park's beautiful Garden Square before the pressure of their Aviva Ballkids duties begins in earnest.
The Aviva branded uniforms worn by each Ballkid will have a highly visible presence in every match played during the Grand Slam event which begins in Melbourne on 16 January.
Allan Griffiths, chief executive officer of Aviva Australia, said he was looking forward to meeting many of the Aviva Ballkids on Wednesday, particularly those who have traveled such a long way to be part of the Aviva Ballkids team.
"I was very proud of the efforts and conduct of the Aviva Ballkids in 2005 and look forward to the upcoming event in 2006", said Allan.
"One constant on-court presence in an Australian Open tennis match is the Aviva Ballkids, which is a perfect way to have our Aviva brand on show around the world," Allan said.