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If you were anyone like me in the last week you simply had to stay hydrated to combat the heat. As every degree elevated I searched and consumed some type of fountain drink, sports drink or any cold beverage available.

I even went as far as to visit every 7-Eleven in San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and Monterey to get my complimentary Icee on 7-Eleven Free Icee Day, which was appropriately on July 11th.

Looking up every 7-Eleven location on my Icee GPS unit designed by Slurpee International, I found 57 local stores. If it hadn't been for my step-daughter's tip, I would have never thought of trekking around for a Pepsi Icee, which happens to be my favorite.

When it reaches an unbearable 107 degrees kids are no different. They'll drink just about anything. Well, just about anything. They do have their favorites.

I found this out recently at a youth sports camp where I conducted an informal taste test to find out exactly what sports drink youth players actually prefer.

Resembling the much heralded Coke vs. Pepsi comparison from bygone days, minus the carbonation, I set up cups with likeable flavors from a few of the top brands.

Lined up in a row on the table were Gatorade, Powerade and Vitamin Water. The kids weren't blindfolded and I didn't have any of them hooked up to an electrical shock machine to sway the vote.

Eager hands couldn't wait to sample these so called thirst quenchers, salt replacers and amino acid over loaders. None of the kids knew which was which.

What is Vitamin Water anyway? It reminds me of that little cup of something you receive at the hospital after surgery. Tastes like it too.

Powerade seems to be a cross between something carbonated and the distant taste of Kool Aid. Ah, Kool Aid. I can remember my camp days and the watered down version disguised as a refreshing substitute to a soda.

In case anyone can remember, or cares, I still have in my possession those Kool-Aid cups. Yep, Lefty Lemon still adorns my kitchen cabinet right next to Choo-Choo Cherry and Goofy Grape. You may laugh and snicker, but these antiques could muster up quite a pretty penny on E-Bay!

Invented and created in Florida, Gatorade was developed as a way to hydrate athletes with a flavored drink filled with nutrients. It's been a long standing favorite and now boasts more than 6,000 flavors, among them the new Tiger Woods variety. No one seems destined to dethrone the king of sport's drinks.

Until maybe today at our taste test.

Our participants tasted their first cup full of the unknown fluid. There seemed to be a dissatisfied look from everyone as they swallowed. To everyone in attendance that tried the cup labeled number one, this was not their idea of a thirst quencher on a hot sweltering day.

Everyone laughed when one little camper blurted out, "Boy, this Vitamin Water is terrible!" Now, how did he know that? Do these kids already have a favorite? I quickly ignored his comment, gave him a dirty look and we went on to cup two.

After tasting the second sample of our test, the kids wanted more. Look guys, this isn't how the test goes. They didn't seem to care and wanted more. Trouble is, I didn't have more. Did they have a clue it was Powerade? Smirks and grins kind of gave that away.

Finally, cup three was savored, actually gulped, and the test was over. Couldn't put anything past this group, though. They knew the last sample was Gatorade.

Of course they knew it was Gatorade. Each of them has probably consumed a reservoir full of every flavor imaginable at every sporting event they participated in from birth. I'm sure it replaced milk at the age of two.

Final results indicated that 70 percent of the group liked Gatorade over the others, while 20 percent favored Powerade and the remaining faithful 10 percent, who could stomach the Vitamin Water, staunchly favored it over anything else.

So the next time we encounter a heat wave, bypass the carbonated drinks and head right for the sports drink of choice. All you'll have to figure out is what flavor to get, which by the time you've made a selection, the summer might be gone!

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Rich Taylor Rich Taylor is the owner, head instructor and CEO of California Pitching Academy. He is a former pitching coach at Pepperdine University and Chicago White Sox scout. He founded the West Coast Baseball School. He has more than 20 years of youth coaching experience and wrote the book "Molding the Young Pitcher." His regular column appears twice a month. Send him an email.

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