Wimbledon ball boys and girls popularly known as BBGs, must undergo rigorous trials and a training program before being selected to assist the players on the elite grass courts of All England Club. No wonder these ball boys and girls, who on average are 15 years old, are the real stars of a near picture-perfect Wimbledon Championships that requires great discipline, fitness, and composure over the course of the fortnight.
The numbers tell the story of a very intense and grueling process that is followed each year. Out of 1000 applicants, only 250 ball boys and girls get selected. Of these 250, around 170 are onboarded from 750 fresh applicants coming from Year 9 and 10 school children, and the remaining 80 are selected from 250 BBGs of previous years.
Applications from nearby schools are invited as early as January, almost 6 months before the tournament. Just to highlight, some of the oldest schools which are still participating in the BBGs program are Raynes Park High School and Wimbledon College (1969 onwards) and some new ones are Sacred Heart High School and Tolworth Girl’s School (2006 onwards).
The BBG’s preliminary trials start in February at the Raynes Park Community Sports Ground. The prospective participants attend a training session once a fortnight until the start of Easter Break. Based on the same, the applicants get further shortlisted for the final phase of trials that happen at Wimbledon, after Easter until mid-June. Here, the key skill sets are trained and reviewed in weekly sessions that last up to 2.5 hours.
What are the requirements for the ball boys and girls at Wimbledon?
The aspiring ball boys and girls are trained on requisite skills that are thoroughly practiced on a weekly basis. Every week, a new skill is added once the old one is perfected. The ball boys and girls who lag behind during the upskilling process are cut off from the selection program as it progresses forward.
Some of the important skills that get evaluated are:
Agility and Balance: Ability to run in short bursts as soon as the ball drops, maintain a ready start position all the time;
Endurance and Focus: Ability to keep tracking the ball, the umpire scores, and the ball changes as the match progresses for extended periods;
Rolling and Feeding: Ability to roll the ball in a straight line all across the ground; ability to correctly throw the ball to the player just at his or her waist height in exactly one bounce;
Confidence and Composure: Ability to maintain a confident posture, and remain calm and poised in any situation, such as dealing with a celebrity player’s temper, as millions are watching you.
As Sarah Goldson, who heads the BBGs Selection and Training Program at Wimbledon sums up, “You need incredible discipline in order to stand still for so long and remain entirely focused. There’s no time for hair fiddling.”