For the people who play a sport
 

How do you make time for robotics without quiting your sport and still show up to both?

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

on our team we usually go from 2(when school lets out) to 5 or even six sometimes, and people usually just drift in and out of the meeting. or i personally do swimming which has practice a 4 in the morning so no confliction there. Best of luck balancing to two. dont give up one for the other!

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

I did football my freshman year, ... so it didn't effect me during build season

our mentor would let the sports players do their sports and let them work on the robot AFTER they were done with practice, usually they would be forced to stay later into the night because they would be considered "fresh hands" working, thus they would last longer.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

FIRST is my sport.

I used to run cross country which is in the fall so no conflict there. Our meetings during build season are from 5-10 PM so usually, kids are done with their sports.

My best advice is to try and make it work but if it doesn't, don't burn yourself out.

thanks, Vivek

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

i would love to give you a desirable solution but as
the former varsity swim captain at madera high i
regret to inform you that i was unable to find a way.
the captain of my robo team my freshman year quit
football for robotics, RC is in the process of dropping
basketball for robo, and i left behind swim.

if you find a way, let me know.
and good luck

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

I play soccer which ends about 3 weeks into the build season.
What I try to do is to make all of the sports games, because that is when the team really needs you. Then try to make as much of the practice as you can. If you talk to your coach he might let you out early. Then on the Robotics side I made as much of the during the week meetings as possible. And then we also have meetings on Saturday so I would make all of those.

I have been lucky and have been able to pull it off the past 3 years. But I have also had lenient coaches, and the first week is usually slow for Robotics so I get a break there. But it will be tough, I know I have thought many times about dropping soccer to just fully focus on Robotics. I hope you can pull it off with whatever your sport is, good luck.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

It definitely depends on what the sport is. We have two members who run cross-country, so it doesn't conflict too badly (though one is my co-captain, which makes it a bit difficult at times) but we are supportive of them, because that is what they want to do. They just come to meetings as soon as practice is over. However, my co-captain is planning not to do cross-country next year because of robotics.

Personally though, I had to quit competitive gymnastics for robotics. There are some sports that are impossible to do along with robotics. In my case, there simply were not enough hours in the week to do 20 hours a week of gymnastics practice, and do robotics (and homework, for that matter!) so I had to quit at the end of my sophomore year (I did do both gymnastics and robotics for the first 2 years, but that was because I only had practice 16 hours a week). Even though I knew it would come down to that eventually, it was still the hardest decision I have ever had to make.

So, I think it really depends on the sport, but also what your role on your team is. On our team, our public relations person also runs track, which obviously does conflict a lot- but she just does a lot of the work at home to make up for her not being there. However, that would not work if you are a builder, for example.

We lost one member this year who decided to concentrate on her sport. I wish you luck in whatever your sport is, and I hope that you can find a compromise that allows you to continue to do both.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

I Play Field Hockey, Soccer, and Tennis.
As I live in New Zealand we haven't had any FRCs yet. But I've had issues with VEX build sessions.
I'm dropping Soccer next year for many reasons - including Robotics.
This year we have a later regional which will clash with Field Hockey, but unfortunately I put Hockey first. My Head Mentor has said that I can take time off around games and practices (e.g. leave early before a game/practice then come late after)
Tennis will possibly clash with FRC when we start the official competitions but then I will just take a few hours off FRC each saturday morning and skip Tennis if we have a competition.
If we have a regional on a Hockey day, I will be utterly torn :( but will quite possibly attend Robotics as there are far more chances for Hockey Games than Robotics competitions (inc. both FRC and VEX)

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

Last year, toward the end of the frc season, I skipped rugby practice every other day and robotics meetings in bettween and I had to miss a few games for boilermaker and atl.
This year idk what I'm gonna do though, cuz I'm captian of robotics and rugby!


Suggestions???

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

I played lacrosse in high school so I never had any conflict with sports. However, for team members who play basketball they would show up after practice to see what was accomplished and attend the weekend meetings. Being a close group of friends they put in there share of work whenever they could even if it wasnt during a meeting time.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

Think about the amount of time that you have in a day. How much of that is committed to school, studying, fun and socializing, and responsibilities which include your participation in teams/organizations?

Now think about the teams/organizations that you are committed to - how effective will you be? How productive? How accountable? Demands of teams such as rugby and robotics are tough and unforgiving.

Are you being fair to either team and to yourself by doing this? Those are things to look at when trying to balance sports, activities, school. Your decisions/influence as captain will make an impact, positive or negative, and will have consequences, positive or negative. What type of impact do you want to make and how much do you want it?

Food for thought. Good luck with your 2009 season.

Jane

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

Talk to your robotics mentor about it. I play basketball and do FIRST both are in the exact same season. Because basketball is extremely mandatory, i talked to my mentor about it and we figured out a way i could do both. I now do a lot of stuff with fundraising and pr as well as the robot because i can do it at home.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

i think its very possible

more than 70% of our build team participate in track, swim, volleyball, and lacrosse during the season.

The team captain actually plays 2 sports and is the captain of both sports. She still manages to come to the meetings and stay active.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

You must remember the term student-athlete. Though FRC is an extracurricular activity, it is interchangeable with the curricculm taught at school dealing with STEM. Therefore, it is seen as an extra STEM course. A true student-athlete can excel greatly in academics, as well as athletics. We have several student-athletes on our robotics team, and because we see both activities as equally important, we are seeing great success and great strides early in the build period. It all comes down to your discipline and priorities.

Re: For the people who play a sport
 

Personally, this is my first year doing FIRST, but I have seen it done before...We had a FIRST program at our school, and I just decided not to join...in my freshman and sophomore years though, i played a total of 5 different sports...2 years football, 2 years wrestling, and 1 year of Track...It was really hard to balance that, which is why I stopped