Timing for Snacks

With swim team season now over, I can reveal my true motive for timing my kids' meets: access to free "Officials' Refreshments." While I enjoy unobstructed views of the swimmers from my poolside perch, I believe the genuine perk of being a timer is chowing down on free munchies during the mid-meet break. In fact, I'll keep my stopwatch dangling around my neck just so I can stride up to the refreshment table and unabashedly nosh on the spread without looking like a freeloader.

All pools offer cold bottled water to prevent timers, judges, referees, etc. from falling in the pool from heatstroke; however, each pool provides different treats. Norbeck Grove, for example, recently expanded its menu from vanilla Oreo cookies and mini-cinnamon rolls (at regular meets) to chocolate striped shortbread cookies, regular-size cinamon buns and watermelon slices (at last weekend's Divisional championships). Another pool served Planters Cocktail Peanuts and sweet breakfast pastries -- a yummy combination of salty and sweet!

The winner of Best Officials' Refreshments Award goes to a swim club outside of Olney (practically in PG county), which has offered hummus, grapes, veggie wraps, and M & M's; at a recent meet, this pool reaffirmed its award-winning status by serving panini sandwiches (your choice of roast beef, chicken or ham -- all topped with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and assorted condiments), pickles, potato chips, watermelon, soda and Italian ice. As soon as the mid-meet break started, I twirled my stopwatch around my fingers as best I could -- even though it was still hanging around my neck -- and casually but quickly strolled over to the beloved "Officials' Refreshments" table for a bite.

A timer's pinnacle achievement is the triple: when all three timers in the same lane achieve the same exact time, down to the hundredth of a second. After obtaining a triple, my fellow timers and I whoop in glee before remembering to tell the swimmer his or her time. At Norbeck Grove, a triple is rewarded with an announcement over the loudspeaker and ... a chocolate bar. Eating a melting (but much appreciated) chocolate bar while sipping from a water bottle and timing a race is tricky, but worth it! Alas, the joys of being a timer must wait until next summer's swimming season.