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Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids are individuals, usually human youths but sometimes
dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...
, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football,
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
,
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, tennis,
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
and
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. Though non-essential, their activities help to speed up play by reducing the amount of inactive time.


Tennis

Due to the nature of the sport, quick retrieval of loose balls and delivery of the game balls to the servers are necessary for quick play in tennis. In professional tournaments, every court will have a trained squad of ball boys/girls with positionings and movements designed for maximum efficiency, while also not interfering with active play. As well as dealing with the game balls, ball boys/girls may also provide the players with other assistance, such as the delivery of towels and drinks.About Wimbledon - Behind the scenes, Ball boys and ball girls
wimbledon.org.


Positions

* ''Nets'' are located on either side of the net to retrieve balls that are trapped by the net. Their job is to gather ''dead'' balls from the court and feed them to the ''bases'' after a point. This is usually done by rolling them alongside the court. * ''Bases'' are located just off each corner (at either end of the baseline at either end of the court). Their job is to retrieve balls from the ''nets'' and then feed balls to the server.


Feeding

''Feeding'' is how the ball boys and girls give the balls to the players. At different tournaments, they use different techniques for feeding. At some tournaments, bases have both arms in the air, feeding the balls with one arm; at others, they have one arm in the air which they feed the balls and the other arm behind their back. When feeding the ball, they must also be aware of a player's preference. Most players accept the standard, which is for the ball boy or girl to gently toss the ball (from the position with their arms extended upwards) such that it bounces one time then to the proper height for the player to catch the ball easily.


Hiring

There are various methods for selecting the ball boys and girls for a tournament. In many tournaments, such as Wimbledon and the
Queen's Club Championships The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) T ...
, they are picked from or apply through schools, where they are selected by tournaments and they have to go through a number of selections and tests. In some other tournaments, such as the
Nottingham Open The Nottingham Open was originally known as the Nottingham Championships or Nottingham Lawn Tennis Tournament (1887-1967), is a tennis tournament for men and women held in Nottingham, United Kingdom, played on outdoor grass courts at the Notting ...
,
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
and the US Open, positions are advertised and there are open try-outs. Applicants are required to pass a physical ability assessment. In addition to fitness and stamina, the abilities to concentrate and remain alert are essential.


Association football

High-profile association football matches may employ ball boys to avoid long delays when a game ball leaves the pitch and its immediate vicinity. Typically positioned behind
advertising board An advertising board, or A-board, is usually a term reserved for the advertising hoardings seen at association football matches, although there are other more general forms such as billboards and posters A poster is a large sheet that is pla ...
s surrounding the pitch, ball boys will try to be in possession of a spare ball at all times, so that this can be given to the players prior to the loose ball being retrieved. Methods for selecting ball boys vary between grounds. On occasion, away teams have complained about perceived favour of ball boys towards home sides. Association football ball boys hit the headlines in England in a 2013
Capital One Cup The Capital One Cup is a multi-sport award given to a school to acknowledge athletic success across all sports. Several sports programs from higher-education institutions across the United States are pitted against each other, acquiring points t ...
match when
Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered ...
, a member of the away team, which was trailing at the time, appeared to kick at an apparently time-wasting ball boy Charlie Morgan who was lying on top of the ball. Hazard was subsequently
sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...
for violent conduct and suspended for three games. It was later revealed that the ball boy had tweeted the day before that he had intended to waste time.


Baseball

Ball boys are stationed in out-of-play areas near the first and third base foul lines to retrieve out-of-play
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
s. They should not be confused with
batboy In baseball, a batboy or batgirl is an individual who carries baseball bats to the players on a baseball team. Duties of a batboy may also include handling and preparing players’ equipment and bringing baseballs to the umpire during the game. ...
s, who remain in or near a team's dugout and the home plate area, primarily to tend to a team's
baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histori ...
s. As ball boys are stationed on the field, albeit in foul territory, they can occasionally interfere with play; such events are governed by Rule 6.01(d), the main point of which is that if the interference is unintentional, any live ball remains alive and in play. Since 1992, the San Francisco Giants have employed "spry seniors" as "ball dudes", instead of the traditional youths. In 1993, Corinne Mullane became the first "ball dudette", and she and her daughter Molly have since been honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the first mother-daughter duo in Major League Baseball.


Cricket

Ball boys are stationed around the field just outside the
boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment * ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film * ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film * Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pl ...
to retrieve any balls struck into the spectator stands or to the boundary rope. In India, disabled people are not allowed to be ball-boys anymore after a controversy occurred in 2017, after criticism of the
Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...
surrounding the appearance of a polio-afflicted fan who had been serving as a ball-boy for a few years.


See also

*
Water boy In the United States, a water boy or water girl (sometimes spelled waterboy or watergirl) was someone who worked in the field, providing water to farm workers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the name is given to those who work on the ...


References


External links

* {{Baseball positions, state=collapsed Sports occupations and roles Terminology used in multiple sports Association football terminology Basketball terminology Rugby league terminology Rugby union terminology Tennis terminology