Kids serve as ball retrievers during Davis Cup
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Some local tennis players are ready to serve -- or more accurately, to retrieve.
Eighteen young athletes have been training to be ball kids at the Davis Cup. They’ll take the court retrieving balls, towels and making sure the players are taken care of.
Barbara and Rick Garza are in charge of training the ball wranglers. They teach them how to act under pressure.
“We are training them very hard to make sure nobody does botch it. Everyone makes mistakes, but we want them to be very professional and we feel like they are ready,” coordinator Barbara Garza said.
Running after tennis balls isn't exactly glamorous work, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I like being on the court, seeing the players and how they hit. It helps me learn how I can play with my own game. It's a teaching experience,” ball volunteer Michael Garza said. “The person at the net is probably one of the hardest jobs. It's really confusing because you have to know where all the balls are and stuff so it is a hard job, yea.”
The ball kids will spend about 15 hours as volunteers on the court this weekend.