Mastercard Serves Up Australia’s First Wheelchair Ballkid Pilot Program Via Eleven

Prior to the first tennis Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open in Melbourne Park, sponsor Mastercard unveiled the country’s first ‘Wheelchair Ballkid Pilot Program’ to demonstrate the potential of wheelchair users to be ballkids in tennis tournaments around the world.

The payments giant worked with PR agency Eleven, creative technology production company Streaker and disability consulting firm Get Skilled Access, plus ballkid trainers and world ranked players to develop a fresh programme to support wheelchair users on the court: including a new ball holder and collector designed and produced specifically for wheelchair users.

Eleven-year-old wheelchair user and Junior Wheelchair Tennis Champion Sonny Rennison was the inaugural pilot programme participant aimed at training and enabling him to reach the Grand Slam tournament standard.

Using the new, bespoke kit and guided by Professional Ballkid Assessor Diana Sutterby, Sonny learned the foundations and skills required to fulfil the role at the elite level. The training programme included five experienced ballkids, each with major tournament experience, covering all aspects of regular ballkid procedures including how to communicate on court, rolling techniques, court movement and how to best service players during a match.

Then, to test the tech and the training programme, Mastercard ambassador, former World No 8 Men’s Singles Tennis Player and current World No4 Wheelchair Tennis Player Heath Davidson played a match on the court as a live simulation of a tournament-level match.

Mastercard and its partners are committed to the project for the long term and made the ball collector, holder and learnings from the pilot available to tournament organisers and tennis fans around the world. Any 3D printer is able to produce the technology that the initiative pioneered.

“With this initiative Mastercard is championing inclusivity on the court. Mastercard would love to see this technology and the programs learnings brought to tennis tournaments around the world, so that everyone who is passionate about the sport feels like they belong,” said Mastercard Division President (Australia) Richard Wormald.

“This pilot is an important reminder that people of all abilities can participate in tennis programs and there doesn’t need to be limitations on who can apply and participate,” said Professional Ballkid Assessor Diana Sutterby.

“Ballkids are a huge part of Grand Slams and tennis tournaments, however there are some kids who would love to be involved but don’t have the opportunity to take part. I’ve always wondered why kids in chairs can’t be ballkids, and this pilot demonstrated how feasible that could be. Hopefully this can be a starting point for those dreams to come true, demonstrating the potential future of tennis events,” said Mastercard Ambassador and World No4 Wheelchair Tennis Player Heath Davidson.

“I have never seen a wheelchair ballkid before, so I thought it would never happen which made me sad when I was younger. I am excited and thankful to have this opportunity and to hopefully encourage other kids in wheelchairs who might want to be ballkids but didn’t think they could, like me. I hope we can show them that nothing is impossible and to keep pursuing their dreams,” said Junior Wheelchair Tennis Champion Sonny Rennison.

“From discovery calls where we understood what Sonny needed to help him collect and store balls, to sound boarding concepts with tennis players like Alicia Molik and Heath Davidson, we learned and evolved to create a concept that truly supports Sonny in the flow of the game. During the design phase, Sonny provided feedback on the initial design sketches and from there we progressed to testing it out on court where we landed on a final design that will be available to everyone,” said Streaker Managing Director Brigham Glaser.