West Linton's Nicola makes ball girl finals
Tina Koenig • Published 29 Mar 2012 09:30
0 Comments
Share this
WEST LINTON school-girl Nicola Berthelsen could be sharing the tennis court with the likes of Murray, Nadal and Federer later this year.
The 14-year-old is one of only 100 children across the whole of the UK who are in with a chance of becoming a ball girl or ball boy at one of the world's top tennis tournaments at The 02 in London, in November - the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Nicola attended a regional trial at the Lanarkshire Health and Racquets Club on Saturday, March 17 and found out that she's made the final selection trial which will take place in London in April.
She was one of nearly fifty children that took part in the Barclays Ball Kids regional selection trials and showed impressive athleticism, agility, endurance, co-ordination, ball skills, balance, speed and team work.
And after seeing her performance the Barclays Ball Kids Talent ID Team selected her to be put through to the final - along with just six others.
Having heard about Barclays Ball Kids at last year's event, the Peebles High school pupil decided to sign up immediately for it.
She was extremely excited about the day's events and is thrilled to have made it through to the final stage.
Nicola is an all-round sports enthusiast and has captained the Peebles S3 netball squad and also attended the Borders Sports Academy as part of the Tennis Borders Squad.
Head Trainer of the Barclays Ball Kids Talent ID Team, Mark Magrath has also been involved with the selection and training of the Wimbledon Championships Ball Boys and Girls.
He told the Peeblesshire News: "We had a fantastic array of talent in Hamilton. A lot of kids turned up, it was a great trial, very competitive with a lot of strong athletes."
He continued: "It was really nice to see kids that play a variety of different sports to such a high standard as well as a lot of tennis players and it made our job really difficult when selecting the kids for the National Selection Trials in April."
Nicola will find out if her lifelong dream of being a ball girl will come true on Saturday, April 28 at the National Selection Trial.
If she's chosen she'll be one of thirty Barclays Ball Kids to take part in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the tennis-season ending climax which features the world's top eight players. This year's tournament takes place from November 5 to November 12.
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 23 Mar 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
Peeblesshire News Poll
Should planning application be given the go ahead at Rosetta Caravan Park to build 175 new houses?
