Should Ball Kids be given an allowance?

Criticism is pouring into the Australian Tennis Association over whether to pay an allowance to the ball kids in the first Grand Slam Australian Open of the season currently being held.

Every year, about 2,500 children apply for the Australian Open Ball Kids, but less than one in five pass. Children who pass through such a narrow gate will have a valuable experience of being on the big stage with players they admire. However, waiting for the ball kids who have been thoroughly trained in detail is a harsh environment with heat waves and sudden rain. Not only that, but they also have a sense of pressure, such as being yelled at by nervous players.   안전놀이터

In this year’s Australian Open, some players had to wait for a long time because the first and second rounds of men’s and women’s singles were postponed due to heat and rain, while others realized that the match was postponed until late at night to the morning of the next day. Also, in the night session, two games are played, and in the case of men’s singles, the game often continues until dawn. The second round, in which Andy Murray (England) faced off against Tanasi Kokinakis (Australia), took 5 hours and 45 minutes to finish after 4:00 in the morning. Of course, the ball kids are also there.

Despite this situation, after being classified as a volunteer from 2008, it was reported that no allowance was paid to the Australian Open ball kids, and the pros and cons are hot on social media.

Even in the case of Wimbledon, the selection is as strict as the Australian Open, but 200 pounds (about 300,000 won) are paid to the ball kids a week. The US Open also pays ball kids the minimum hourly wage of 13 dollars (about 16,000 won) in New York.  

The local media warned, “As long as there is value in the experience, you can instill in children the value that free is good,” and fans called “Ball Kids’ performance at the Australian Open as free child labor.”

On the other hand, there are fans who claim that “Ball Kids are receiving expensive products such as GoPro cameras, Bluetooth speakers, and headphones instead of allowances, and calling this free child labor is an insult to the free child labor that is actually carried out abroad.”