Hydration manager more than just a water boy
While most Aggie basketball fans are only aware of the team playing on the court, there is a whole other team behind the scenes that makes it possible for the Aggies to play their best each game.
One of these people is Jesse Parker, a senior and physical education major, who serves as the “water boy” for the basketball team.
Parker’s love of basketball began from an early age. His father was a high school basketball coach, and Parker spent a good deal of his youth around the sport.
“I essentially grew up in a gym,” he said. “I would help my dad with clocks and stats, and then I played when I got to high school.”
When his father brought Parker’s team to USU basketball camp, someone was needed to referee a game and Parker said he stepped in.
“That’s where the job came from,” Parker said. “It all snowballed from there.”
Parker has worked three seasons for the team and said he anticipates one more before he graduates. Though Parker doesn’t play basketball anymore, he said he finds equal enjoyment in standing on the sidelines and watching.
“I get just as much satisfaction out of what I’m doing now,” he said.
Parker’s duties for the basketball team include doing laundry, managing stats at practice, running the clock, handling food and sometimes traveling with the team when it plays away games.
“I joke that I’m their mom away from mom,” he said. “It can be a very thankless job. No one notices what you do until you don’t do it.”
Parker said his favorite part of the job is working with the team, which he said he’s friendly with and often sees outside of practice.
“The thing I enjoy the most is the guys,” he said. “I don’t just work for or with them. They’re my friends. They’re good guys and they’re appreciative of what I do.”
Members of the basketball team speak just as highly of Parker.
“Jesse does a lot for the team,” Preston Medlin said. “He’s a great man. He always gets there early, before everybody else and does a lot for us.”
In addition to his duties for the team, Parker keeps busy as a full-time student and as the campus intramural sports coordinator.
“I have a great team who really helps put all the intramurals together,” he said. “Mostly, I just make sure everything is running smoothly.”
His duties as hydration manager keep his schedule full. Parker said he begins every day early with classes, which he struggles to fit in around his busy schedule. He arrives an hour early for practice in order to prepare the team’s practice gear.
“We practice every day, except for travel days,” he said. “At the beginning of the year it was a lot more than three hours of practice, because we were getting the team into the season.”
During practice, which lasts around three hours, he assists the team and coaches with whatever is needed. After practice, he waits until the team showers and then washes gear and gets everything ready for practice the following day.
After practice, he attends more classes and then heads to work for intramurals.
“I’m usually there until 11:30 at night,” he said. “And then the next day, I get up and I start all over again. Sometimes I have no idea how I do it.”
Parker hopes his experience working with the team will someday lead to a career as a high school or college basketball coach.
“My future is going to be in a gym,” he said. “I have always wanted to coach basketball. Working with the team has (been) great preparation for that, and I’ve got to watch how a legendary coach runs his team.”
Though his schedule is packed and job is often thankless, Parker is enthusiastic about what he does and said he loves it.
“I just really enjoy it,” he said. “Basketball has been my whole life. It’s been such a good experience.”
– m.van911@aggiemail.usu.edu