Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimmeh
Can we seriously talk about this subject instead of making posts about how a dead thread was revived? Please?
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Thank you...
I started in 2005 and FIRST sure has grown. Its really awesome how big its become. However, when I started it was just 6 weeks, then we met maybe once a week to prep for competition. Now its basically 4 months solid (not to mention off season).
For me I lived and breathed FIRST in high school, especially as a junior and senior. The only break I would take was for the golf team in the fall. Fall semester we mostly did fund raising so things weren't quite so "go-go-go" for those months. Spring semester however I was just like many others, at school from 7am til after 9pm. Similar jokes were said in my family of me just taking a cot and living in the shop (there actually were showers nearby too).
The best thing that happened to me was going to college where the nearest FRC team was 2.5 hours away. While my freshman year I missed being apart of a team, but it forced me to focus on school. I learned that there is a lot more out there other than FIRST. My time away let me grow up. I am really glad that I'm now able to come back as a mentor, but school, family, and career must come first. I've seen way too many people not finish school or take much longer than necessary because they want to stay with FIRST. Also I have spoken with mentors who have lost marriages and families over the amount of time spent with robotics...this is sad and should never happen.
I guess my question back would be, how much time would someone truly dedicated to a sport (football, basketball, baseball, etc) put in? My guess is it would be about the same. How many hours per week do high school football coaches put in in comparison to an FRC mentor?