BNP Paribas – Meet The Ball Kids

Hundreds of volunteers donate countless hours to help make the BNP Paribas Open run smoothly. The ball kids are a vital part of each and every match.

294 kids from all over the country and farther have come to the desert to volunteers for the tournament “We have kids from a number of different countries,” said Director of Ball Kids Adam Jasick. “We’ve got Belgians and we’ve got Hungarians, we’ve got Czech amongst other countries. Kids from all over the world are coming out to participate this year.”

The participants find great joy in the tournament for many reasons. “Well I love tennis, and I wanted to miss school, get some sun, come ball kid,” said Mary Kate Johnson, a ball girl from Logan, Utah.

The experience of getting face-to-face with the top players in the world is enough to make the hard work completely worth it. “Standing on the court with the players getting to see them hit the ball that hard is really cool to be out there with them,” said Andrew Hugie.

As much fun as the kids have, they do serve a very important role “The kids are a huge asset to the tournament, ” said Jasick. “Not only are they running down balls which saves time and keeps the flow of the match going, but they service the players with the towels and the water and anything they might need.”