Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

i somewhat agree with most of you on the pda thing, but form a student perspective most of those rules against it that school boards make are to keep kids from getting jealous i think and i dont really see what the big deal is giveing your special someone a kiss or two in public.

the sports and stuff in the court yard i think is fun and you can meet alot of cool people by joining in on it, but also i agree time and place thing if your teams up you should be up there or if you have something to do for your team you shouldnt be there

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

A peck or two is not that bad, but making out for a good 5 minutes is a little too much. I do not think the adults are trying to prevent two people from loving each other, but they do not want the two going off on their own making out, when there is work is to be done. They also have to know where you are, because they hold some responsibility for the students during the championship.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

A few years ago, the comment was made that you should behave as if 'Grandma' were watching...

To a certain extent, that advice could apply here--to both parts of the inquirey.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

It's embarrassing to the team and the team's sponsors when a couple is being a little too affectionate or groups/individuals are clowning around, especially at the capstone event of FIRST. The Championship should indeed be a professional event and things like PDAs and goofing off should be kept to a minimum.

There is, however, a time and a place for everything, and its hard to go through stressful events like the championship without letting off a little steam (for some people i know that statement is frighteningly literal).


Yeah, that is pretty much the standard.





On the other side of things, this is an event dominated by mostly high-school students, so overreacting to things like PDAs and sunbathing and playing around could be a little harsh. Im not saying its right, but its sorta expected.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

While I agree that a FIRST event is not the best venue for PDA (our team must follow all school rules while on a robotics trip, for example) I think it's a little presumptuous to assume that all students should follow any one set of beliefs as to what constitutes appropriate behavior at a FIRST event. Schools and teams vary widely in what is considered inappropriate. Likewise, different teams have different policies regarding when, where, and how it is appropriate to "relax". I've seen mentors scold students for holding hands, and I've seen high school students allowed to openly smoke in front of their mentors (had to do a double take when I saw that). It's a long continuum.

I know that in the professional world, the range of acceptable behaviors is very narrow. But then again you don't see anthropomorphic mascots, painted faces, and team chants in the business world all that often, either. So I'm inclined to let each team make the determination of how professional to act for themselves and I will never tell them otherwise.

Though I have no pity for those naive enough not to realize that their behavior will be seen, and judged, by those around them.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

This wasn't an issue for us in Atlanta as I don't think there were any open relationships between team members that could make it to Atlanta but generally this isn't the kind of thing our team talks about. It just seems that we all "get" that we're representing our team at all times.

I'd like to think our team doesn't really need to have that rule written down somewhere...

I've always been surprised that teams have enough people working that there are people with free time to go hang out in the sun. If they have enough and these people want to hang out in the sun for a minute or two (or if they're taking a break from scouting) then I don't see why not.

I personally have a sleep schedule that works best if I take 10 minutes here or there to doze off for a bit. It makes me more alert for matches and the rest of the day, so I'll often try to sneak in a few minutes here or there resting on my cheese head. That's the best thing about them, you know?

I try to nap in out of the way places, like queuing behind Newton Field. Our team always loves to go out 20 minutes early so it's not like we have something better to do in that time ^_^

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

Our team doesn't have a rule about PDA, but our mentors have a lot of trust in us. I think we're on of the few teams that let the genders mix in rooms freely with no consequence (we're also an incredibly small team). For the only two students in a relationship, they know whats right and whats not.

Sporting and Sunbathing-
Sports are okay. The games were only big around lunch and towords the ends of the days, which allows you to assume they weren't busy.
If you call kids laying in the grass "sunbathing", then I'm pretty sure you were mistaking it for napping. Spending 3 plus days with your teammates ensures that you won't be going to bed at a reasonable time, and I can understand wanting a nap.

QUOTE=Chris is me;853807]
I try to nap in out of the way places, like queuing behind Newton Field. Our team always loves to go out 20 minutes early so it's not like we have something better to do in that time ^_^[/quote]

Our team is similar. I was on drive crew, and queuing was that only time I got to sit down, and thats when I'd nap. Otherwise I was on feet. At one point, when we had a particularily long break between matches, I litterally told the drive coach that "I'm going up stairs. And I'm going to just sit."

So I'm pro-napping, as long as its not excessive and is in the right place.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

I personally don't have an issue with PDA's unless it's during a match or in the pits, In my opinion, either a: your putting your relationship above the respect you give to the team(s). if your going to display some PDA, do it during matches (and i don't mean jsut during the teams matches, any match, I wouldn't want my students disrespecting any other teams). or outside of the pit area (the pit area in general). there is the hallway in the GWCC or the entry way into the GA dome for that.

I also don't have an issue with the kids outiside. It allwos some of them to make friends. remember, not all FIRST kids are into Engineering... some might have done animation, some might have helped with Chairmans stuff and writing the essay and could care less about the robots inside the two buildings bewteen them. Plus it gives some of us a chance to cool off from the heat of the action in those two buildings that the courtyard connects. :)

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

I actually think that is interesting. I don't think anyone's brought up the question (that I have yet seen) about opinions regarding hanging around the open field area during competition.

I personally don't have a problem with the kids who are just hanging around in the middle of the dome and GWCC just because if these are the kids on teams who don't care about whats going on, I'd rather them outside then complaining in the dome and potentially distracting people who actually have things to do during matches (i.e. scout).

Additionally, from my experiences people who hangout in the field usually are the ones who just want to relax for a while, hang out with friends, and meet new people from competition. Lets face it, not everyone can be on drive team and the pit crew and teams don't have matches back to back all day. Sometimes kids just don't want to sit in the dome restless and would rather go out and play.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

Although I needed the sleep, I did not sleep on the couches. However, our driver was having a rough day and needed some sleep. So he went to the couches upstairs and slept for 30 minutes or so. When he woke up, he felt a lot better and went into the matches with a better attitude. I think for the kids that work a lot and that put a lot of hard work into the competition deserve to take a short nap if they need to. I know for me, I get about 5 hours of sleep due to scouting meetings. A short nap is all I need to go into a competition fresh and awake.

Re: Noticed again in Atlanta
 

there you go... i reiterated (sp?) that point... our team is pretty lax about that, but we all know that if we are caught doing something wrong, we will be reprimanded, so we try to stay out of trouble...

::ouch:: ::safety:: (yaaay... new emotes... )