Being a volunteer

My job today was managing the water in the buckets next to the starting blocks, where the young competitive swimmers could rinse their goggles. I was seated after the pre-start and next to the man with the whistle.
After some time, I swapped my place with the stair person. A new job and a chair to sit on.

As bucket filler I saw all swimmers enter in a regularly row, faces tight with tension. As stair guard, I saw swimmers relieved, dissatisfied, sometimes relaxed.
Who knows, I might have chatted with a future world champion!