Brisbane, QLD, 14 April 2025 | Tennis Australia

More than 100 school kids from Queensland had the opportunity to meet Australian Billie Jean King Cup Orange Girl Emerson Jones as part of the AO Holiday Programs presented by Weet-Bix^TM in Brisbane.

Three lucky participants from Toowoomba made the trip down with coach Adolfo Garcia from the South Queensland Tennis Academy.

“For the kids to be able to come here today to the Weet-Bix^TM AO Holiday Programs and be able to be a part of that whole experience, it’s something that you can’t buy. You can’t put a dollar value on that,” Garcia said. “Meeting someone like Emerson, she’s achieved so much at such a young age, it’s definitely something worth seeing.”

Participants were involved in a Q&A session with Jones and also got to watch some of the Billie Jean King Cup action at Pat Rafter Arena.

“It was very exciting as I’ve only seen her (Emerson Jones) on the TV and, never in real life. And now I have a feeling because she touched my shoulder, my mum’s going to say we’re not washing this shirt anymore,” participant Matilda Poetschka said.

Once in the same position idolising her heroes, junior world No.1 Jones realised how beneficial an initiative such as the Weet-Bix^TM AO Holiday Programs was.

“It’s always great meeting younger kids that look up to you,” Jones said. “I love answering their questions and meeting all of them.

“When I was younger, Ash Barty would always be somewhere around here and you’d always ask for pictures and everything, and at AO when I was a little younger, I’d always go watch the pros play. I think that was really inspirational for the young children.”

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