Umpiring Twin It to Win It

-Hi, I'm Amelia.

-And I'm Imogen.

-We are 12 years old.

-And if you haven't guessed...

-BOTH:

-We are identical twins.

This summer, we are going to crack Wimbledon.

But there's just one small problem.

We don't play tennis.

We've never made strawberries and cream.

And as for umpiring, even the chair is scary.

How am I going to get down?

But one way or another, we are going to turn Wimbledon...

-BOTH:

-Into Twinbeldon.

We were terrible at playing the game.

So we've come to Surbiton tennis tournaments to see what else

we could possibly do to get into Wimbledon.

Hey, we get to sit down all the time.

Yeah, that's much more my cup of tea.

Why does he keep saying, "Love," though?

I don't know. Maybe he just really likes the players.

Why does he keep saying, "In, out, in, out, in, out?"

I don't know. Maybe he's doing the hokey cokie.

Girls, love means no points.

And in/out means whether they've got a point or not.

You're going to have to learn the rules if you want to be an umpire.

A tennis umpire is a referee for all the matches.

Mum is right, we know nothing about how to do the job.

We need help.

We are here to meet Gordon Reid.

Britain's number one wheelchair tennis player.

Gordon Reid has been playing wheelchair tennis for over 12 years.

And he won a Paralympic gold medal in Rio.

And he won Wimbledon last year.

CHEERING

-Hi, girls.

-BOTH:

-Hi.

-So I hear you two would like to be umpires.

-Yeah.

I want to be the umpire in the big, tall chair.

He's the one everybody wants to be. He's got the most power.

Power? Now, that sounds like our kind of thing.

What does an umpire actually do?

Well, the umpire's main job is to look after the players and

make sure they are behaving themselves.

Come on. Please, look at it! What?

You are the worst ever!

But their other job is to call

when the ball is inside the line or outside the line.

Foul!

So, this is our line that we are going to use to decide

whether the ball is in or out.

So, anything that lands this side of the line is in.

Anything that lands that side of the line, you have to shout, "Out,"

as loud as you can.

-BOTH:

-That sounds easy.

-We can totally do that.

Well, it's not as easy as it looks. Cos you have to be really focused.

Focus? That's not really our strong point.

What were you saying?

For Wimbledon umpires, focus is everything.

So Amelia is putting her focus to the test

by calling the ball in or out.

OK, are you ready? You know what's in, you know what's out?

-Kind of.

-OK, let's go.

-Out.

-That was in, not out.

This side of the line is in, that side of the line, out.

-Out.

-Good job.

-Out.

-Good job, that was better.

Now that I'm starting to get it, Gordon wants to make it

harder by getting Imogen to try and distract me.

SHE LAUGHS

I don't think your focus was very good there.

It doesn't matter if the ball is flying at you,

you've got to be very serious and follow the line.

Ready? Focused?

-Was that not out?

-Oh, right, yes.

Oh, it's all going a bit downhill.

I don't think I've ever tickled an umpire on the court before.

Come on, over here.

I think you are better at making each other laugh

than you were at calling the lines.

-Yeah.

-So, what do you think?

Do you think we will be able to go into the big chair now?

Why don't you meet a real umpire and they can tell you what it's

really like to be up in the big chair?

-Hi, George.

-Hi, girls.

George is one of the best umpires in the UK.

-And he's going to be umpiring at Wimbledon.

-I am.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-You can't just get up in my chair.

-Sorry.

So what have we got to do, then?

Come and sit down, I'll tell you how to be an umpire.

OK, girls, so in order to be a tennis umpire,

you need to know the tennis rule book.

And you need to know everything that's inside it.

Are you kidding me?

Nope! If you want to be a chair umpire,

you need to learn all the rules.

-Imogen, you can do that.

-I can't learn all this.

OK, what's next?

So, next, you also need to be able to shout really loud,

so that everybody on court can hear you.

FAINTLY: Out.

-FAINTLY:

-Out!

I'm not sure that's loud enough.

I think we might have to practise with some of those voices.

OK, so you need to learn the rule book,

learn how to project your voice and then come back and see me.

-OK.

-Bye-bye, thank you.

We take it all back. This book of rules is so handy.

Riley, wakey-wakey! You've got homework to do.

But enough with the boring stuff.

If we are going to impress George when we umpire his match,

we have to learn to project our voices.

We're here to meet Tom from The Wanted,

-to see he can help with our umpiring skills.

-Let's go!

Tom is one of The Wanted, who have had loads of chart

hits all over the world.

And he's now starring as Danny in Grease The Musical.

-Hey, girls.

-Hi, Tom.

-How are you doing?

So, singers have something very in common with umpires

because they both have to project their voices.

-So do you have to...

-YELLS:

-..talk really loudly?!

They do, actually. So, we are on the set of Grease The Musical.

So we're going to try some lines, yeah? You ready for it? Let's do it.

Patty, will you stop twirling that thing?!

So we're going to do that line, yeah? Amelia.

Patty, will you stop twirling that thing?

Not a bad effort, I think you can give more than that, to be honest.

Amelia, I know you are a little bit shy to do it.

If you have confidence, you will project your voice so much easier.

Patty, will you stop twirling that thing?!

Patty, would you stop twirling that thing?!

So good. Real good.

And Tom's got another tip for us.

So, when I got taught how to sing, it was all about using

your diaphragm. It forces that volume to come out of your throat.

Ready? Go for it.

-Patty, will you stop twirling that thing?!

-Good.

Patty, would you stop twirling that thing?!

Such a big difference. Massive difference.

I feel like you've come on leaps and bounds in the space of five minutes.

High-five, amazing. Loved it.

Are you ready for the Twins' Cheeky Question?

Of course.

Who was the smelliest band member?

Oh!

I think Jay.

He stinks. But don't tell anyone, OK?

-BOTH:

-OK.

-This secret is safe with us.

-Thanks.

-Thanks so much.

We're going to practise SHOUTING at home.

Your mum and dad aren't going to like you very much.

-OK.

-Doesn't matter.

Come on, girls. We need to go.

When a twin has got to practise, a twin has got to practise.

Girls, have you had a good day?

-SHOUT:

-Yes, thank you, it was lovely!

SHOUTS: We saw a friend.

-SHOUTS:

-And we had a lot of fun!

Why do you keep shouting at me?

Because we have to practise our voice for being an umpires.

-Well, do you have to do that here?

-Yes, we have to do it everywhere!

Oh, great.

After annoying Dad as much as possible,

the big moment has arrived.

And I do wonder if we should have actually read the rule book

a little more.

Hi, girls. Have you been working hard?

Yeah, of course. We know everything.

We know when a ball is in or out, we know how to keep score,

and we know the offside rule.

Imogen, that's football, not tennis!

How would you feel about helping me out with my next match?

-Yeah.

-Great, I could do with a break.

OK, Amelia, if you are ready on the chair,

and you are ready on the line. Good luck. I'm going to leave you to it.

It's crunch time.

We've only got one shot at this, so we'd better not mess it up.

First set. Serve.

Play.

Here we go.

-Out!

-Good spot, Amelia.

-Out.

-Nice call, Imogen.

Game, Anthony. First game.

First game done. I think we can actually do this.

That was a ridiculous decision, that was out!

Oops!

It looks like we spoke too soon.

I think I've lost track of the score.

Game, first set, Anthony 6-1.

That's not the score. It's 5-2!

No.

-Out!

-Are you kidding me?

-I'm the judge.

-Wouldn't get that at Wimbledon.

This is a joke!

I think they're getting cross with us.

-I know, I think we should get out of here.

-Yeah!

How am I going to get down?

OK, that was a complete disaster.

So, what is the thing that is going to get us into Wimbledon?

APPLAUSE

Wait a second. Look at those guys.

They get to be really close to the action

and no-one is yelling at them.

Yeah, that actually looks fun. Let's go.