Interview with a Vampire Part I
And by vampire, I mean hydrotechnician. And by hydrotechnician, I mean waterboy. Yeah, I don’t know why the Cal The Football Team calls its waterboys "hydrotechnicians." Perhaps it is for the same reason that Cal The Educational Institution calls its TAs GSIs. So they can pay them less? Makes about as much sense as calling them Vampires.
The point is, one of our friends just happens to be the "hydrotech" for the Cal football team. And he was kind enough to answer a few questions for us. He wanted to remain anonymous for a variety of reasons. To quote Jon-Luc (better than James T, count it!), "Make It So."
Hydrotech is short for Hydrotechnician. Basically, it’s just a fancy word for a waterboy. I suppose that they gave us this name just so we would sound a little more official.
The job primarily involves setting up the field with 10-gallon coolers prior to practice, carrying the water bottle caddies throughout practice, and cleaning all the coolers and bottles after practice.
Why a waterboy (sorry, hydrotechnician)?
[Are you asking why I took this job?]
I took this job because it sounded like fun. During my senior year I was looking for a part time job and logged onto the caljobs website to look for openings. I originally thought I would land a job at one of the libraries or something. But then my girlfriend said she had heard about a job pertaining to the football team. I’m a big football fan so naturally I became really intrigued about obtaining a student job that involved football. When I found out that there were hydrotech openings, I eagerly applied and took the job even though there were other openings that paid more money.
The best part of the job is the fact that I am around football. I love football. I love at the practices. What football fan wouldn’t want to watch some football and get paid to do it!
The worst part of the job are the early practices. Occasionally there are some extremely early practice sessions. If I recall correctly, there were a few practices at 5 or 6 am. I just remember going to sleep at around 10 or 11 pm - which is a lot earlier than I am used to - and getting up around 4 am to eat breakfast and walk all the way up campus to the stadium.
Tedford is god-like. When he talks, everyone stops and listens. It’s obvious that he takes his job very seriously. He always pays attention to the small things. Nothing goes unnoticed. While Tedford is very serious, he does have a lighter side too. You can tell he cares about the players not just as players, but as people. Tedford can also be intimidating too. Within the Cal Football there is an obvious chain of command. Tedford is at top and everyone fears his disapproval. A lot of people would get very stressed out over making sure everything went as planned or everything was set up correctly.
Coming soon, Part II. With an inside look at Player-Waterboy relations and an actual Waterboy’s view on Adam Sandler’s comedic opus (worse than Dirty Work tho, count it!) "Waterboy." Stay tuned! GO BEARS!
