Re: robotics as an official sport
 

What about the teachers/coaches? Many schools basically ignored them previously... after recognition from the MSHSL, they tend to earn a similar stipend as coaches for other activities, or so I've heard. That, in turn, helps to increase team retention.

There haven't been any downsides here - the MSHSL has worked very closely with the MN Regional Planning Committee from the start. Maybe the only additional rule is an additional Bag and Tag from the team's last event (Regional/CMP) to the State CMP. It ensures the event is treated more like a regular event, than an off-season event - team's don't have all the time in the world to make changes to the robot before the event starts, they're competing with the same robot they competed with at the regional.

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

For one team I'm familiar with, I think the funding from the school district was largely unchanged -- mostly zero, other than teacher/coach stipends and use of shop. That's just one data point.

Jon mentioned the bagging until the state tournament, which is probably the biggest pain. Bot stays in the bag until mid-May, other than for media events. Limits demo season a lot.

Students have to follow the MSHSL rules concerning drug use penalties, and other such things, and there may be some fees (minimal) as well. FIRST is the only high school state wide sanctioned robotics program, I believe.

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

That's not completely necessarily true. Chess is an officially recognized sport by the International Olympic Committee. It is considered a Mind-Sport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
http://www.olympic.org/mr-alexander-zhukov

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

Is it Ok to have corporate sponsors for sports teams?
Is it ok to use your robotics team to recruit kids to your school?
What about finances? Do you need to report to the state sports association?

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

You are getting out of my area of expertise in this level of detail, but I've not heard of any of those things changing due to the high school league getting involved. But then I'm not aware of any explicit recruitment of traditional sports students to a particular school. For public schools, you go based on district boundaries, unless you can petition for a legitimate reason, for example, we have one older high school that is not as suitable for wheelchair bound students as the newer high school.

Also, my understanding for MN, is that other than student rules about drug use and the consequences and such, they pretty much stay out of all the operations and their main involvement is providing trophies and showing up to award them-- all the usual FIRST volunteers run the tournament for the most part. They basically said, that's cool, we'll add you to our literature and web site, and get standard state tournament trophies made up for you, but you run the tournament. The first year they charged admission to the event for the public, but haven't since. Disclaimer: I have no direct first hand knowledge of this other than my team's experiences and hearsay from some others closer to the ones in charge.

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference) officially recognized FIRST Robotics teams in 2013. We have a state championship in May, sponsored by CIAC. I'm sure more states will come on board.

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

this is something I have spoken quite strongly before but I will do it again.

Im a full time athlete (gymnast) im in the gym 4 hours a day every day all year. I travel all around for meets and spend many hours training elite.

I go to robotics every day untill I have to leave for gymnastics. My schedule goes like this

2:30(end of school) - 5:00 Robotics

5:30 - 9:30 Gymnastics

As you can see i spend quite a bit a time at both; therefore can speak as a full time athlete and firster.

Robotics is challanging fun, exciting, and sportlike. But it is by no means a sport. It getting recognized as a sport would be a joke to me. Its just not a sport.

Now this changes when it is a "sport" for reasons of school funding, school hours, and free shirts stuff like that. But when I hear stuff like this state made robotics a sport it actually slightly angers me because Robotics is so much more then what a sport is.

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

I have expressed myself more fully about this in other threads. Here I'll write these two summary thoughts:

1) Be careful what you wish for. Oh so many things, about the ways oh so many teams operate, will steadily become forbidden once government bureaucracies put their camels' noses into the FIRST tent.

2) FIRST FRC is not the definition of the term "robotics". If you are going to press for a state-sanctioned STEM robotics competition(s), do it graciously and professionally by educating your states about ALL the competitive, student-oriented, STEM robotics programs, and then using neutral selection criteria to encourage them to sanction the one(s) that give(s) the greatest benefits to the greatest number of students at a low cost to the students and taxpayers.

[SOAPBOX]A "state FRC championship", is one STEM-competition tournament, built on top of only one of four programs run by only one of *several* popular STEM non-profits. Common sense should tell us all that a state FRC tournament should not be called "*the* state robotics championship" for any state, nor should any other single program's tournament get that title. Our tax dollars are for educating students, not for promoting FIRST, or any other single program.

Put the students and communities first, not the program(s).[/SOAPBOX]

Blake

Re: robotics as an official sport
 

Physical exertion? I use a lot of energy building a robot. But that's me :D