IT’S not only the players who get nervous during a professional tennis tournament. For the ballkids, those young, unsung heroes who help to make the event possible, stepping out on court with the stars in front of an attentive crowd can be a nerve-wracking experience.Head ballkid trainer Gerri Swan has the responsibility of preparing a team of around 120 local children to deal with the pressure and to do their job efficiently when it counts.

Swan was one of a team of adult ballkids who worked the first XL Tennis Classic, as the event was known in those days, back in 1993. In her opinion, the vital attributes to be a successful ballkid are “good eye-hand coordination, concentration and a good attitude”.

Swan, who shares responsibility for ballkid training and organisation with Weezie Scully and Disa Oubella, started out training the youngsters in early February.

All public and private schools on the island are invited to send children to participate and the initial pool of children usually numbers between 150 and 200. So does Swan ever worry whether she will be able to turn this large group of fun-loving kids, many of whom have no ballkid experience, into a smooth-operating team fit for an international tennis event?

“I’m always a little nervous about that,” she admitted. “But I can look back to previous years and know that it’s always worked out before. It can be a bit hair-raising but I find the job very rewarding.”

Twenty training sessions were scheduled to prepare for this year’s Open, the first four for new or second-year ballkids only. The sessions take place on the hard courts at the Horizons and Cottages resort in Paget.

First-timers have to attend at least eight training sessions before they qualify to be a tournament ballkid, while those who have done one Open before must attend five and youngsters who have done two or more years must train a minimum of four times.

During the hour-long sessions, the children undergo drills to practise good rolling and throwing techniques and retrieve while other youngsters play a game, so they can face real match situations. They also get pep talks on wearing the right shoes (predominantly white and flat, not ridged) and how to stand (feet at shoulder width to improve balance, lest a gust of wind should make you sway).

Scully said that maintaining concentration was probably the most important single thing for ballkids to do. “When the players are serving towards you at 90 miles per hour, it’s important to be paying attention,” she said.

“All of the kids have to do at least one day of the qualifying weekend and then during the week of the tournament they miss one day of school to go to Coral Beach. The evening matches tend to be the biggest ones, with the biggest crowds, under the lights. Only kids aged 12 and over do those. We try to rotate it so all the kids get a chance to do a night match.”

After her seventh training session, first-timer Paige Carey, 13, said she was getting the hang of it. “For the first couple of sessions, it was a bit confusing and it was hard to keep up,” she said. “I did not know when to roll the ball. But now I’ve done a few sessions, I can follow it a lot easier.”

The Bermuda High School student, who plays tennis two or three times a week, added: “To be honest, I am a bit nervous about the tournament, but it will probably go fine.”

Compared with Paige, 12-year-old Thomas Ribaroff is something of a veteran, having done ballkid duty at the past two Opens. “I found it quite difficult the first year, but in the second year I really enjoyed myself and had a lot of fun,” he said.

“I was nervous, but at the same time I knew I was prepared, and the training helped me through. We have to practise throwing and rolling the ball a lot. I also play tennis so the other kids can practise.”

Both Thomas and Paige are tennis players, but that is not a prerequisite for being an efficient ballkid, Scully said. “It can obviously help to have some knowledge of tennis, but it’s not an absolute necessity,” she said. “And we’ve had plenty of kids who’ve been excellent without having played tennis at all.”

Rain at the tournament is the biggest headache for the ballkid team leaders. If there’s a possibility of play resuming, the kids have to hang around, sometimes for hours. That is when the ballkids’ tent, equipped with table tennis tables and card games, shows its true value.

Major problems with the kids are rare. “They’re great,” Swan said. “Always extremely well behaved.”