[nitneylion452]

Originally Posted by Ninja_Bait

Honestly?

The difference between FRC and sports is that a lot of people show up to watch sports events, a lot of people pay for those events or the snacks or the jerseys or the hats, and a lot of money gets back to the school. In comparison, FRC looks like a mediocre, financially unsound, and dull waste of time.

However, once you're on the inside, you realize that what we're really doing is training the next generation of big thinkers. Regardless of how competitive we are against each other or against other forms of entertainment, we're preparing our nation to be competitive in the long run. And that is a great thing.

(EDIT: I actually have no idea how this applies to the morality of a practice bot, but I figured it was worth saying. )

His point was that in high school athletics, there are schools that have top facilities, and those that don't. But just because a team has a better weight room and better coaches, doesn't mean they are guaranteed to win a championship. It's more about motivation and desire. We often hear the phrase "Who wants it more?" This applies well to sports and FRC. In FRC, you need to want to do well. That's not to say that having better facilities and more resources doesn't help, but where do you think the teams with those facilities and resources came from? They also probably started with limited facilities and limited resources. Everyone starts somewhere, it's about building up from where you are to where you want to be.