The State Track and Field Championship is certainly a place for athletes to showcase everything they have worked to achieve. However, through my own experience volunteering and competing, they are not the only ones working at this event.
From May 18 to 22, nearly one hundred people volunteered to work at the Championships, many of them present and former track coaches. Others are USA Track and Field officials. Some are even student athletes.
These volunteers help to keep the meet on schedule and are vital to the judging of athletes, as well as the entertainment of those in attendance. For example, two of said volunteers added a theatrical element to the triple and long jump, calling each jump with considerable volume and extreme enthusiasm for the event. Even though the median age of this group continues to get higher, so does the appreciation for the sport.
Moreover, these volunteers are diligent and focused in their jobs. A small group had to place, remove, and replace starters blocks for all the sprint, relay, and hurdle events. The efficiency is impressive, to say the least.
In the end, the competition between the athletes is nothing to forget, as it is the main spectacle. They are the reason the meet exists. But one cannot forget those behind the scenes, who make the meet work for everyone.