I had to referee a high school swim meet earlier today, and I was a little rusty. And by a little rusty, I mean that I actually Googled "high school swim meet referee when do you blow the whistle." It's not that I didn't know what to do, it's just that I didn't exactly remember exactly what to do exactly when. I had a pretty good overall idea, but the sequence was a little fuzzy, and I was a bit vague on details. Details like when to blow the whistle. It had been a while, but in very uncharacteristic fashion, I decided not to worry about it. It's like riding a bike, I reasoned to myself.
(That would be a funny comparison, if I could then immediately describe some hideous bicycle accident that I'd had at some point, but I'm pretty solid on a bike. I've fallen down while walking in or around my house three times in the last year, but no bicycle accidents to speak of. Unless you count the time that I got hit by a car when I was riding my bike. But that was a long time ago. And it wasn't my fault.)
Just to be on the safe side, I downloaded the 2016-2017 edition of the high school swimming rule book, and it provided lots of helpful reminders of stuff that I already knew pretty well. Nothing, though, about exactly when to blow the whistle. I decided to wing it, even though that approach doesn't usually work out too well for me. But all's well that ends well. I walked into the aquatic center, put on the whistle, grabbed a clipboard, and it all came back to me. Like riding a bike.
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