What is "water boy"

alt. A man or boy who regularly supplies a sports team or other group with drinking water. n. A man or boy who regularly supplies a sports team or other group with drinking water.

n. an assistant who supplies drinking water [syn: waterer]

In the United States, a water boy or water girl (sometimes spelled waterboy or watergirl) is someone who works on the sidelines and provides water or other drinks to athletes. The phrase has also been used to describe diminutive figures who serve another team or person in the business and political worlds, in a slightly derogatory manner (ex. "Bill is the CEOs water boy").

The position has a long history in athletics. In the 1869 New Jersey vs. Rutgers football game, one of the earliest American football games, an unnamed water boy is documented giving aid to a Rutgers player.

Among notable people who served as water boys was President Herbert Hoover, who was the Stanford Cardinal football's first water boy.

In college football, if a star player became injured or unable to play, he would be kept on the team as the water boy. This allowed the player to hold onto lucrative scholarships and stay on in college. The water boy would have also been used as a sort of ad hoc coach and advisor to certain struggling players through the game.

A water boy is someone who, in many contexts, such as construction and farm crews, or in sports, provides workers or competitors with water.

Waterboy(s) may also refer to:

• The Waterboy, a 1998 film starring Adam Sandler
• "Waterboy" (song), a traditional folk song performed by Fats Waller, Odetta, John Lee Hooker, and many others, and arranged by Avery Robinson
• The Waterboys, a Celtic-rock band formed in 1983
• Waterboys (film), a 2001 Japanese comedy by Shinobu Yaguchi
  • Water Boys (TV series), a TV series based on the film
• Waterboyy, 2015 Thai film