Alright, I’ll admit it. As cheesy as it sounds, Maria Sharapova has been my hero ever since I was a kid. She’s fearlessly aggressive on the court, her serves are killer and her mental strength is remarkable. Did I mention she’d won 23 WTA titles, including three Grand Slams and Wimbledon by the age of 17? No big deal.

The fact is, she can’t afford to waste energy on trivial matters like picking up balls. Professionals like Sharapova are playing for the tournament win, points for their WTA ranking and, most importantly, a paycheck. With the stakes so high, chasing after runaway balls might break their focus. It’s a risk they just can’t take.

So if the players don’t pick up the balls, who does? It’s a simple question with a simple answer: ballpersons.

Ballpersons are really the behind-the-scenes magicians who ensure a fast-paced, high-intensity tennis match. Without them, a match would be like the first day of high school all over again: painful, frustrating and seemingly never-ending. Thankfully, viewers and players alike can concentrate on the sport itself because of the hard work of the ballpersons.

Woah, hold up. Did I just say hard work? How hard can it be to be a ballperson? All you have to do is pick up a tennis ball.

Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

This year, I have the immense pleasure of being a ballgirl in the Bank of the West Classic (BotW). In its 41st year, the BotW is the world’s longest-running female-only tennis tournament and is the first women’s stop in the Olympus U.S. Open Series. This year, the BotW features four players ranked top-10 in the world and 11 ranked in the top 30. So for a helplessly tennis-crazed fanatic like me, getting to be a ballgirl in this environment made me the happiest teenager alive.

I was too happy. There was so much exuberance that I had no room for any other emotion. At my first ballperson training session two weeks ago, the word “nervous” wasn’t even in my vocabulary. True, I’d never had any experience as a ballgirl, but I thought that surely a tennis fanatic like me would have no trouble picking up tennis balls.

I was wrong. I confess that I had my fair share of embarrassing moments throughout practice that day, but through them I was able to appreciate the difficulties that come with being a ballperson.

There are six ballpersons on a court during the match: one in each of the four corners and two at the net (one at each post). A ballperson must always be alert both mentally and physically. Since there are six balls available for the tennis players, ballpersons must be mentally aware of who holds balls during the point. Physically, ballpersons must be agile when sprinting to the ball and must be accurate when rolling the balls to the correct location. Also, ballpersons must have a good stage presence; they must stand tall and attentively when waiting for the point and must enter and exit the court in the proper fashion.

At the end of the training session, I was a bit overwhelmed. So much information had been thrown at me, and I was struggling to digest it all. Over time, with the help of the incredibly generous ballperson coordinators and the additional training sessions, I was able to develop my skills as a ballperson and fully appreciate the undercover operations of running a smooth match.

Alright, I’ll admit it. I was completely wrong in my original opinion of ballpersons. But, as cheesy as it sounds, I’m happy that I was wrong. Being wrong taught me the danger of forming preconceived notions without truly understanding the situation. Being wrong helped me realize the importance of having an open mind and allowed me to appreciate all the intricacies of being a ballperson.

And so I encourage you, too, to shake off your ballperson prejudices and come to the BotW this Saturday. Come watch the players work hard on the court and the ballpersons work hard off the court. Who knows what revelations await us?

Oh, and did I mention that my hero Maria Sharapova will be present at Stanford for the BotW?

No big deal.