Ball boy

For other uses, see Ball boy (disambiguation).

A ball girl at the 2014 French Open in tennis
The skaters in yellow vests in the foreground are ball boys at this bandy game.

Ball boys and ball girls,[1] also known as ball kids,[2] are individuals, usually human youths, but sometimes dogs,[3] who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, bandy, cricket, tennis, baseball and basketball. Though non-essential, their activities help to speed up play by reducing the amount of inactive time.

  1. ^ "Ball Boys and Ball Girls". Wimbledon. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Ballkids and Officials". Australian Open. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Rescue dogs acted as ball boys and girls at the Brasil Open tennis tournament — and the pictures are amazing". Business Insider. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.