What fluid is better?

We can go back and forth about which is better for an athlete to drink... water or sport drinks. I prefer the athletes to drink water. The human body is made up of 60% water. At some point, however, the body may need some replacement of the electrolytes that are lost during exercise. Sport drinks such as gatorade, will help to replenish those lost electrolytes. So does that make a sport drink better to consume? No! I see a lot of my athletes bring several bottles of fluids. They begin with drinking water and then they will drink a sport drink, returning to water. Could they be onto something? Most of my outdoor sports tend to drink plain water. Just this past year at football practices, we placed a drinking trough near the field for the athletes to rehydrate themselves during the breaks. Since we have no lockers on campus, when the students bring their water "jugs", they must carry them around the whole school day to get it to practice. This may deter the athletes from bringing replacement fluids. But now that they have the water trough, at least they are able to access some fluids. My coaching staff is very good about recommending to the athletes to stay away from the "energy" drinks such as Rockstar and Red Bull. You will definitely want to stay away from those right before practice. So, which is better... water or sport drinks?