Traveling to the Sony Open

On March 25, 2014, I got one of the greatest experiences ever! My Program Advisor Mrs. Perkins and I went to Miami to represent Fuel Up to Play 60 along with Ambassadors Noa and Tyler at the Sony Open!  On the first night we arrived at the hotel and got settled in our rooms. That night we had dinner with the SAP staff members and GENYOUth Foundation’s Alexis Glick and Courtney Dubin. We ate at Rosa Mexicano, the food was great!

The next day, March 26, we went to the Sony Open Tennis event. At the event, we spoke on a panel about how technology helps to support one physical activity Play at our school called “In the Hot Seat”, which later changed to “Wellness Cafe”. At the Wellness Cafe, students are given healthy snacks and smoothies, and can play board games, Xbox Kinect, and ping -pong. This was a great way to get everyone to come together and play. Like Noa said at the Sony Open Tennis event, the Xbox Kinect helps to balance the playing field for the athletes and the non-athletes. After talking about the Wellness Cafe, SAP introduced their new app, “Sony Open Tennis”. The application allows the fans to track the return speeds of the ball, see virtual replays, and see the players’ rankings, plus their wins and losses. In my opinion this app is EXCEPTIONAL! It will be the start of something big.

After introducing their new app, it was lunch time. During lunch time, we were interviewed and got a behind the scenes tour of the Sony Open event. We saw where and how everything happens at the event. We also bumped into a couple of tennis players. I really loved the press conference room. After the tour we ate lunch and watched tennis. It was so cool watching it in person! All in all, this was a great experience for me. It was great just to see and talk to Noa and Tyler and seeing what they are doing in their schools. The Sony Open Tennis app really amazed me and I met some really great people like Alexis Glick (CEO of the GENYOUth Foundation), Mary Joe Fernandez (Tennis gold medal Olympian), and Evan Welsh from SAP.

Heaven
Louisiana State Ambassador
8^th Grade