Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

This is NOT a 3-hour sporting event where a fan may buy one meal and a snack. The World Championships are a 3-day event with may students at the venue for 12 hours eating 2 to 3 meals. This means the FIRST MUST demand a much higher quality food product out of the Edwards Dome vendors than what they provide for a Rams football game. If the vendor is unwilling to provide that food, then FIRST MUST break that contract with vendor and seek outside vendors who can provide a full well-round menu plan that is suitable for teenagers over a 3-day period. The current situation is unacceptable and if FIRST is truly looking out for the interests of its student members, it needs to demand MUCH more from the current vendors.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

<PetPeeve>Referees where the striped shirts, they make the call on the field. Judges where blue shirts and come by your pits for interviews and high five teams during awards. Safety judges wear green shirts and make sure everyone is staying safe</PetPeeve>

And now back to our regular programming....

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I agree completely. I can only stomach so much grease laden food in 3 days. And while it would be nice to get food from restaurants outside the stadium, I would imagine the majority of teams do not allow students to do so during lunch break.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

For lunch every day we had a parent get food from a restaurant (usually something like subs or sandwiches) and bring it to the parking lot across from Entrance A. We saved money and ate better. There were a lot of teams eating out on the sidewalks and in that parking lot. I'm sure that whatever food vendor FIRST has a contract with isn't too thrilled about that, but given the choices that they offer it isn't difficult to see why so many people just don't eat their food.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I feel like the primary reason why it will be hard for FIRST to become a sport-like organization is due to the lack of adult equivalent. People who join a high school FRC team probably won't have a job in FRC in the future, at least not a televised sporting event.
Sports such as basketball, soccer, swimming, etc. can all be seen at a national level with adults playing. FRC is restricted to high schools, so it's a lot harder for people to see that kind of spread.
In addition, the competition that people really want to see is championships in St. Louis, because many of the robots are on par with each other. At regionals or lower levels, there is a more clearly defined line between uber-teams and not-uber-teams.

On the other hand, robots going at it definitely has its appeal for a lot of people. It puts it on par with something like football just for the cool factor and the mindset that "wow, kids built something like that?"
I think if FIRST advertised enough, like with flyers or posters, it would attract a lot more people to it. First they would come see the competitions, even at a regional level, then they would sign their kids up later.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

The adult equivalent is the job where you work with other people to solve difficult problems, applying many of the same skills practiced in FRC. Instead of an elite league that hardly anybody can get into, we have an entire economy that almost any properly prepared adult can participate in.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Keep in mind I was commenting about the food provided for Volunteers vs. the food provided for Teams in response to a previous post. I agree with you though: it's not a 3-hour sporting event; it's a week-long event with long hours for the Teams and the Volunteers. I wonder if the EJD VIP Suite catering could be more involved for the general attendee's special dietary needs. BTW I watched/heard an FLL team struggle with the breakfast menu in our hotel due to several of the team members having a vegetarian diet.

asid61 and Nemo, if you are looking for a transition event from FRC to the real-world, NASA Mining Competition can provide the undergrad and graduate student transition prior to the real-world.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Depends on what's in the salad. If the salad is mostly just lettuce yes.

The ones my wife makes for me have broccoli, spinach, zucchini, carrots, tomato, mushrooms, radish, onions, celery, and a bit of romaine lettuce; dressed with olive oil, vinegar, and a dash of salt and pepper. I could live on that. Some days I do :-)

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Yeah, I wish. NOPE. Most of them are some mediocre lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Guys please keep in mind that in many venues that FIRST works with (possibly including EJD), when you sign the contract to rent the venue, often your obligated to only use only the in-house retails locations to sell food to the public, and you have to use the in-house catering for any other food needs (Volunteers, VIPs etc.). There is a very good chance FIRST's hands are tied in this case.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I think most of us understand this. On the other hand, these events create positive economic impact where they're held, and cities want these contracts, right? Doesn't FIRST have any bargaining leverage to influence the terms of the contract?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Adding to this (very tasty) food discussion: 3 members on my team have prominent food allergies and it has made it very difficult to find food they can eat. At the two MN regionals I've been to, one sold hot dogs and I think ice cream down by the pits (I usually went out to eat), and in the other the only food they sold was pretzels, hot dogs, and nachos (and of course ice cream). Thankfully the hot dog buns there were gluten free. It's really unhealthy for growing teenagers to just eat greasy food all day on top of going to bed at 2 am to wake up at 6 am and exerting their bodies while under stress.

Another thing that seriously irked me were the prices. I had to pay nearly 5 dollars for a water bottle. I don't have the money to do that three days in a row (they check our bags every morning) on top of having to pay for dinner, and I can assume a lot of other teenagers can't either. I feel as though FIRST should at least try to lower the prices as to allow people with lower incomes to not become sick/faint at their competitons.

Sorry if this came off as irksome, but I am very irked.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

So wait, it's acceptable to ignore dietary needs of a significant portion of the population because it's convenient?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I didn't see the poster mention convenience, only contract obligations. The large arenas usually to require their in house services be used.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I'm a junior, and 2 sport athlete: Cross Country(where I'm a captain) and Track, all 3 years so far in high school. I've been varsity/near varsity for the past 2 years(though I've been deproving as I get more involved in robots, probably due to lack of decent rest, and build season eating habits :rolleyes:). Conveniently track and cross end at 5 and robots starts at 5:30, so I can attend meetings and practice, but it means not getting home until 9, and still needing to eat, shower, "do homework".

I have given up several track meets where I could have done well to go to robotics regionals(my coach was not pleased).

I tried wrestling for a while last year, but (among other reasons) its really hard to do a sport in the winter(build season) with robotics and IB-level homework, when you have robotics meetings and practice for 3 hours each every day. However, during the winter, I do attend 1-hour track conditioning practices 3-4 days a week and participate in chemistry olympiad.



I don't want to see the grades and/or sanity of a 3-sport varsity athlete who is truly involved with robots, if its even possible.