Prabhakar Shadrack has had a bad phase. Struck by tsunami and dealt a harsh blow by its aftermaths, life for this 12-year-boy, however, changed forever when he was adopted by the National Tennis Academy. Since then, it?s just been tennis, tennis and more tennis. Life has been largely good since then, besides few bad moments remembering his lost ones. The good includes the accolades he gets for playing the game well. His recent good moment was when he was selected for a trip to Melbourne as a ballkid for the forthcoming Australian Open.
?The best change that the international trip brings to young minds like Prabhakar is the feeling of belonging to a community where sports freaks are treated equally. There is no scope of who comes from where, whether he has parents or not, and other irrelevant issues. The idea behind the programme is to get a feel of the game,? says Vivek Khanna, director-marketing, Aviva Life Insurance, the corporate sponsor of the Ballkids initiative.
The moment is also joyous for Shadrack as he has trounced more than 200 children of his age to win the coveted trip. The selection process was rigorous, taking into account crucial factors such as hand-eye co-ordination, concentration levels, work ethics, reaction time, rolling of the ball and general tennis knowledge. And you thought the little children running between the courts, picking and throwing the ball, were taken on face or height value.
?Everything goes under the scanner here. The foremost, however, remains discipline. There is no room to go wrong,? says Alex Yosrfrdis, human resource officer with Tennis Australia and a selector. Elated with the performance of children, she thinks the experience of being ballkids will give them an idea of how to concentrate on the tennis ball and their future with it.
It is a moment of joy for Aviva too, which flaunts the annual programme as a feather in its cap. After all, who minds the benefits of thinking differently on a mundane subject like social responsibility?
Since 2005, as a component of its SR exercise, Aviva Life Insurance has been sponsoring Indian youngsters (in the age group of 12-15 years) to the Australian Open, the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific. With an objective to connect with local communities to promote sports talent amongst the youth, the company in the process gives the young ones experience to watch world champions like Roger Federer and Marat Safin perform at close quarters. The company had also sponsored the ballkids at the Mumbai Open last year.
This year, about 36 children will be selected from Philippines, Singapore, Korea and India for the tournament. From India, four children were selected on Sunday last. Hailing from schools in Delhi NCR, these children have a flair for tennis. The ballkids initiative aims to fuel players? tennis ambitions and give them exposure of participating in an international tournament. The selected children will be trained further in Melbourne to gear up for the tournament.
For Aviva, the initiative is a contribution towards overall youth development. ?Training at any level or on any subject plays an important role towards building a sustainable future. Alliance with the Australian Open is one more step in promoting youngsters in that direction,? says Khanna.
So, if the idea is worth flaunting for Aviva, its partner, Tennis Australia, also feels equally proud to be associated. Says Steve Wood, CEO, Tennis Australia, ?We are delighted to be able to offer such a fantastic opportunity for a keen group of Aviva ballkids from India to get a once-in-a-lifetime experience of being truly involved in the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific. The Australian Open will be a better event because of their enthusiastic involvement.?
For those glued to the TV watching the Grand Slam this January, do keep a lookout for those little kids who will be picking up the balls. One of them could be the next Sania Mirza.